She breathes deeply, trying to quell the rising sense of panic. A detective came to her home, drugged her and kidnapped her. She tries to make sense of it, to imagine alternatives, but only one conclusion is possible: it's the past, come to claim her.
Martin Scarsden's new life seems perfect, right up until the moment it's shattered by a voicemail: a single scream, abruptly cut off, from his partner Mandalay Blonde.
Racing home, he finds an unconscious man sprawled on the floor and Mandy gone. Someone has abducted her. But who, and why?
So starts a twisting tale of intrigue and danger, as Martin probes the past of the woman he loves, a woman who has buried her former life so deep she has never mentioned it.
And for the first time, Mandy finds denial impossible, now the body of a mystery man has been discovered, a man whose name she doesn't know, a man she was engaged to marry when he died. It's time to face her demons once and for all; it's time she learned how to trust.
Set in a Sydney riven with corruption and nepotism, privilege and power, Trust is the third riveting novel from award-winning and internationally acclaimed writer Chris Hammer.
'The best Australian crime novel since Peter Temple's The Broken Shore.' - The Times on Silver
A gripping new instalment in the Martin Scarsden series
I honestly think Trust, Chris Hammer's third instalment in his Martin Scarsden series is the best yet!
In Trust, Hammer takes us away from the rural and regional settings of Scrublands and Silver, to the high-stakes world of banking and property development in Sydney.
Martin is dramatically reeled back in to his former life as a well-connected investigative journalist when Manderlay is abducted from their idyllic home at Port Silver. He follows hot on her trail south to Sydney and begins uncovering a sordid story of money laundering, underworld connections and secret society backroom deals in the merchant bank for whom Mandy worked, years before they met.
While I've found Hammer's ability to capture the nuances of the harsh Australian landscape and the struggles of regional Australia superlative in his previous works, I really enjoyed the gritty urban setting he employs in Trust. His own history as a high-ranking political and international affairs journalist really shines through, both in his characterisation of Martin Scarsden and in the complex plotting of this novel. This is a well-constructed and engrossing novel, with many multi-faceted central and supporting characters and plenty of edge-of-your seat action.
I really can't recommend Trust highly enough to all readers who enjoy contemporary Australian thrillers, political intrigue or just a rollicking good read. That said, there are multiple scenes depicting fairly graphic violence, which may present an obstacle for some readers.
Many thanks to the author and publisher Allen & Unwin for granting me the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this title.
Sarah, 08/11/2020
