Order of Chris Hammer Books

Chris Hammer is an Australian author who worked for more than 30 years as a journalist. He has worked a variety of places including SBS TV’s Dateline, as the chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, and as a senior political journalist for The Age. He had published some non-fiction work, but Scrublands was his first novel.

Hammer had quite the illustrious career as a journalist and it took him all across the world. He was a a foreign correspondent which had him reporting from more than thirty countries on six continents. He also did work close to home covering Australian national politics for television, newspapers, and magazines. He would then throw himself fully into his first novel and with it’s release has switched to writing fiction full-time.

Publication Order of Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan Books

Publication Order of Martin Scarsden Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

If You Like Chris Hammer Books, You’ll Love…

• Jane Harper
• Ian Rankin
• Michael Connelly

Scrublands was Hammer’s breakout novel debut that got a number of great reviews upon its release. The Guardian called it “A compulsively page-turning thriller where the parched interior looms as large as the characters.” The book also received a great review from author Val McDermid who said that it “Shimmers with heat from the sun and from the passions that drive a tortured tale of blood and loss.”

The book starts off with a young priest in an isolated Australian community who kills five parishioners. It is a huge story and a year later a journalist named Martin Scarsden heads to town to do a story on how everyone is coping with the aftermath. However, once in town he soon learns that the accepted story is far from the truth and his paper’s own story may be wrong. While working this angle, another a shocking crime hits the town which again makes national news and complicating Martin’s search for the truth.