When I started reading Ripper, Shelley Burr’s follow-up novel to her bestselling award-winning debut novel Wake (my review), I thought about crime novels, about how they are often written in series and how I am not a big series fan. Ripper looked to me like a stand-alone novel – and it is, somewhat! I say somewhat, because a few chapters in we come across one Lane Holland.
The plot thickens…
Lane Holland, I thought. I know that name. Sure enough, Lane Holland is the private investigator protagonist of the aforementioned Wake. However, he is not the prime investigator in this novel, because he is in prison as a result of his previous investigation. (You’ll need to read Wake to find out more!) The result is an intriguing crime novel in which we have our prime, self-appointed amateur investigator, Gemma, plus the police working away in the background, and Lane who is pulled into the investigation by his prison governor, Patton Carver. Yes, you’ve guessed right, the plot thickens – except I haven’t really told you about the plot yet.
Ripper is set in a fictional town called Rainier, which, as Burr confirms in her acknowledgements, is partly based on the town of Tarcutta. Seventeen years before the novel opens, three murders had occurred in this little country town, the last one outside the door of Gemma’s little teashop. She – and the town – have never fully recovered from these events. The town has stagnated under its black reputation, and Gemma herself suffers PTSD from what she had experienced. Now a tour company has arrived wanting to run a true crime or dark tourism walking tour of the Rainier Ripper’s murderous path, but Rainier’s residents have mixed feelings about the idea. On the eve of the trial tour aimed at garnering their support, the tour operator is killed in what looks like a copycat murder. It has to be copycat because the Rainier Ripper is in prison, the same prison as Lane Holland. As I said, the plot thickens, and part of the thickening springs from why prison governor Carver is interested.
Once again, I enjoyed Burr’s story, because once again it is more than a crime story, exploring issues like the impact on a small town of having a reputation for violence, the impact on people who have been close to a violent crime, the idea of dark tourism, and the murky world of police investigations and the ways in which confessions are elicited. I am not an expert but Burr’s research into the relevant issues, including prison life, felt thorough but lightly applied.
I also enjoyed Burr’s characterisation. Gemma and Lane are well-evoked. Other characters are necessarily more sketchy, but they are individualised enough to lift them above pure stereotype, to make them feel true. There is an engaging exploration, through Gemma’s daughter and her friends, of how teenagers cope with a complex adult world. There are some truly “tangled” family relationships in the town. There is some diversity, including a non-binary teen and a Wiradjuri woman, which Burr introduces without trying to appropriate other experiences. There are farmers, business people, pub owners, and doctors whose lives are entwined through marriage and murders. It’s a lot to convey, and there are plenty of names, but I rarely got lost!
Ripper has some similarities with Wake, in addition to also belonging to the rural noir sub-genre. It’s told through roughly alternating third person voices (Gemma and Lane); the protagonist is privately investigating; and it deals with a cold case, which involves a missing person. But it is significantly different, too, including the fact that Gemma is an amateur unlike Wake‘s Lane, and that it is set in a different place with different issues to confront. This means that it is not formulaic, which keeps us readers on our toes. We can’t assume anything about where Burr is going.
Now, I am not a big plot-follower, by which I mean I don’t put serious brainpower into trying to work out who dunnit. Rather, I read crime like I read most books, that is, with a focus on the characters and the issues being explored. But of course, I can’t help following the actual plot, particularly when the characters have engaged me and I want them to fare well. In Ripper, I worked out one of the plot twists, but it had several – like those Christie and Christie-like TV shows I watch – and they left me for dead. They did make sense, though, which is the important thing.
On the basis of her manuscript for Wake, Burr won a two-book deal with Hachette, and Ripper is the second book. I do hope she is offered more book deals because, while there is absolute closure on this book’s crimes, there is also a clear hint at the end about where a next book might go – and I’m intrigued. Burr is a clever writer, with her wits about her. Ripper’s readers will guess the main investigation Burr plans for her next novel, but what will the context be this time? What will be the issues? Time will hopefully tell.
Shelley Burr
Ripper
Sydney: Hachette Australia, 2023
346pp.
ISBN: 9780733647857
(Review copy courtesy Hachette Australia)
Whispering Gums 
I haven’t been to Tarcutta for years, though you may have, but I see in truckie magazines that it’s suffering badly from being bypassed and no longer the driver swap point for Melbourne Sydney shuttles.
Like you I don’t read Crime to solve the mystery, so I’m glad this has some strength on the character side.
Yes, I have popped into the town on a couple of occasions, and have eaten at the hotel but it does look as though it’s suffering even though it’s not that far off of the Hume. How do some places survive and some don’t. (Berrima, Holbrook, Jugiong, for example, are all going gangbusters in their different ways. Jugiong is possibly the best model for Tarcutta as it’s very small like Tarcutta, but I don’t know what else it has going for it region wise that Tarcutta may or may not have.) Maybe literary tourism will put it on the map after this book!
Oh and, yes, re crime. I thought of you as I was writing this, thinking how will Bill respond to this!
LOL You don’t ‘do’ crime like I don’t ‘do’ poetry!
Exactly Lisa …
I’m reading a lot less crime these days but I liked WAKE so much, I’ll read this one, too.
You can’t read everything can you Angela … but I think this is a worthy successor.
Don’t know whether it was the teashop setting 🤭but I found this “cosier”than Wake.And I agree..we will see more of Lake.
That’s interesting mementominnie. I guess for me the teashop itself played such a minor role it didn’t have that Impact on me, though Burr was probably aiming to play with that genre a bit by having that job for Gemma.
And I’m going to follow up Dark Tourism.One always needs another genre…..
Ha ha, one does – or, it never goes astray.
I’m going to try “Wake”, then, having recently become a fan of Aussie crime – engendered by my involuntary discovery of the marvellous Jane Harper – terrific writer !
You are funny with your strong dislikes, ST; but the good bit is that while you’re happy to enunciate ’em, you never let them prevent you from reviewing something featuring one. 🙂
Haha MR – part of enunciating them is sending myself up a bit. I’m really talking preferences than strong dislikes I think. Do try Wake, for a start, and let me know what you think.
Nice to see an Aussie crime book reviewed on your blog, Sue. I don’t read as much crime as I used to, but this sounds good. I’ve recently discovered (as in last year) Garry Disher and have enjoyed the 4 or 5 I have read by him. I also like David Whish-Wilson (from Freo) and Alan Carter (ex-Freo, now NZ), who both write excellent police procedurals. Sadly, I’ve given up on Jane Harper, because I’ve found the last few disappointing, but The Dry is one of the best crime books I’ve ever read in terms of atmosphere and setting.
Thanks Kimbofo. I read and enjoyed the Disher I read, and also a couple of Temples. I saw The dry but didn’t read it. I’m more likely to watch crime than read it. I’d love your thoughts on Wake and Ripper.
I laughed when I saw you reviewing a crime novel. It sounds good and I might grab them on Kindle. I never like paying a bigger amount for crime books. I read them too fast. . Lol. I love my British crime dramas or police procedurals on Netflix and Prime but don’t read as much as I once did. These sound good. I have never been to this little NSW town or heard of it. So a new town in my brain.
I understand the Kindle decision Pam – and if you like crime I think you would like these two. Do read Wake first because there is a little spoiler about it in Ripper.
Yes, I gathered that. The only reason I’m going to kindle more is because of the loss of so much vision. I need bright lights to read a regular book. My left eye is pretty dodgy now though right eye has corrected vision. Kindle lets me use brighter light and bigger font. Though I do read books in mornings generally when light is good. I still support Fullers😀🌻
Oops, Tarcutta, although now bypassed, is well-known as the midpoint town between Melbourne and Sydney.
Haha, you made me laugh with the idea that all the plot details left you for dead. How appropriate! Like you, I really enjoy character-rich crime stories; they reveal such interesting patterns in human nature.
Ha ha, Marcie, I yes realised the appropriateness of that. I’m glad you liked it! I’m not surprised we like similar sorts of crime.
I wonder if this means you are a serial reader, so long as the author is new and comes out with a new book after a respectable time length (e.g. not like George RR Martin). The plot here reminds me a bit of a few different horror movies actually. Well, books too. In Silence Of The Lambs, they must have Hannibal Lecter help them while he’s inside prison. In the book Clown In A Cornfield Part 2, tourism comes to town, and the community must decide if they are okay with someone making money on their trauma. It also reminds me of the movie Scream, in which the media shout to the victim, “how do you feel, people have a right to know how you feel!!!”
I’m thinking about this comment and don’t have many good responses! I know Shelley, albeit briefly through a blogger program, as I think I mentioned in my first review so I’m interested in her trajectory. But certainly churned-out-in-quick-succession series would not interest me.
Fortunately Lane and his role is nothing like Hannibal Lechter!