Gritty and Authentic Australian Noir: Read Our Review of The Drowning Girls by Veronica Lando

One simple sacrifice is all they need.

Cast a stone. Aim true. Let her sink.

Nate can’t believe he’s dragged himself up to this backwater town. Port Flinders would have fallen off the map years ago, except for one thing. Tourists flock to its mangrove-lined shores for the annual Drowning Girl festival: sacrifice a girl at sea, and the fishing hauls that keep the town afloat will prosper. Or don’t and the whole town will sink.

But it’s just a legend, a gimmick. Everybody knows that.

As fireworks light up the night sky, a woman’s body is pulled from the inky waters of the gulf. Shock waves threaten to tear Port Flinders apart when she’s identified as Kelsey Webb: a local teenager thought dead for twenty-five years.

As Nate tries to find the truth about what happened to Kelsey, he uncovers a string of deadly accidents over the decades. All women. All drowned. And always during the festival.

In his search for answers, the legend of the Drowning Girl begins to take hold of Nate, weaving its way into his head and threatening to pull him under, and he begins to question which sacrifices are truly necessary…

Veronica Lando made waves with her debut crime novel, The Whispering, which won the 2021 Banjo Prize and garnered comparisons to Jane Harper. Her impressive follow-up returns to the oppressive heat and lush wilderness of Queensland’s far north; the ensuing mystery is just as gripping and well-crafted as her first.

From the minute Nate steps foot in Port Flinders, nothing sits quite right. Everyone knows everything about everyone else, but that only makes the myriad of unanswered questions all the more sinister. Who can be trusted? What are they hiding?

Lando scatters expertly-placed clues throughout this claustrophobic community as we shift from the overcrowded caravan park to the swampy mangroves to the (equally swampy) local pub. I felt like I was piecing together an intricate puzzle the whole way through, and more than once I found myself flicking back a few pages to appreciate a clever detail in the light of newly unearthed knowledge.

This is gritty and authentic Australian Noir as you’ve never seen it before. Fellow Aussie crime-writing superstar Dinuka McKenzie dubbed this book ‘Tropical Noir’ in her glowing endorsement, which absolutely hits the nail on the head. The story’s Gulf setting is thick, oozing, oppressive and disconcertingly alive. Even though I read The Drowning Girls in the depths of winter, I could almost feel the humid, sweaty Port Flinders air settling on my skin.

Lando has now proven herself twice over, and I feel like we’re witnessing the emergence of a major new force on the Aussie crime writing scene. I don’t think I’ll be the only one hanging out for whatever she has in store for us next…

Buy a copy of The Drowning Girls here.