I absolutely adored crime writer Hayley Scrivenor’s award-winning debut, Dirt Town. Her second novel, Girl Falling (Pan Macmillan 2024) is another tight, taut, well-plotted narrative with unexpected twists and turns, and also digs a bit deeper into societal issues.
Narrated by 20-something Finn, the story is about the friendship between her and Daphne, who went to school together in the Blue Mountains and bonded because each of them had lost a younger sister to suicide. Daphne has moved away to attend university, but Finn remains in the mountains and has begun a tender romantic relationship with Magdu. One day the three young women go rock-climbing, a sport that both Finn and Daphne enjoy and in which they are very experienced. The idea is a little frightening for Magdu but she goes along to please Finn. In one terrible moment, Magdu falls to her death, with much controversy over whether this was suicide, a tragic accident, or perhaps even something more sinister. The book propels the reader along the course of events after this incident: the investigation, the family and community response, Finn’s internal interrogation of what occurred, and the gradual realisation that Daphne’s life is perhaps not all she claims, and her friendship with Finn is not something she’s willing to share.
Scrivenor’s skills lie in the development of a dark and twisty narrative with plenty of suspicion, suspects, motives and threads; her depiction of landscape, which is detailed and evocative; and her ability to create believable characters that inhabit the pages of her novels with an ease and familiarity that coaxes the reader into imagining that we could step right into the story and not miss a beat.
There were a few too many coincidences in the first half of the book, which for me raised the question of plausibility. Also, the themes of the book were somewhat didactic. I sensed the author had plenty to say about certain issues and this sometimes leaked onto the page in a way that was slightly distracting from the story; I occasionally felt it was the author speaking to me rather than the character/narrator. However, a huge twist in the middle of the book tilted everything on its head, and for the entire second half, it was as if the author had said everything she’d had bottled up and could now concentrate on the story, which she does with effortless skill and energy. The pace and tension ramp up, the characters reveal layers and sides to themselves that are surprising, and the plot takes a few unexpected leaps. I felt less of the author and more of the characters themselves telling me the story. The motivations, disappointments, choices and interiority of the characters felt authentic and meaningful, and the final twist at the end was something I completely did not see coming and so was all the more shocking and thought-provoking.
Scrivenor does not just write a damn good crime / psychological thriller story, but she combines this with heart, ethical questions, and debate around socio-economics, class, race, gender and sexuality. She is a talented writer and I look forward to enjoying where her next book takes us.