Just So Stories

Penguin Australia

August 2023

• ISBN: 9780143791812
• Imprint: Puffin
• RRP: $16.99

I’ve been a fan of Tristan’s work since back in the Mac Slater days, especially after attending one of his presentations on making book trailers (can’t even remember which event that was, it was so long ago!) and I’ve particularly loved his ‘crime/thriller’ books – like a series that’s not, if you know what I mean.

Starting with Two Wolves which I’ve now shared with absolutely dozens of kids but still remember the first Year 7 English class to whom I was reading it, clamouring ‘NO! don’t stop now!’ at the end of a chapter. In each subsequent book in this genre, I have been deeply engrossed in the narrative, and connected with the characters, whom Tristan always manages to invest with authenticity and a genuine ‘voice’.

From page one of this new novel, I was getting a total Goonies vibe, so was most gratified that the iconic 80s movie was referenced not so far along, but I also detect throughout a more general and discernible 80s feel. I’m reminded of Stand by Me – but then the newer (but also of that decade) Stranger Things in this tense and exciting excursion into a small town filled with secrets.

In the same way that Old Adaminaby/Eucumbene disappeared underwater to make way for the Snowy Hydro scheme, so too is Scarborough Town drowned and replaced by Scar Town, where Will and his besties, twins J and Dar, live.

It’s a depressing place to live really, but even more so for these young teens. Will’s police officer father went missing seven years earlier, along with a bunch of other locals – presumed dead, but no significant investigation has been undertaken. His friend’s mum left them with their dysfunctional father, and still hasn’t reclaimed them.

An unusually severe drought combined with major issues with the dam wall has seen much of what’s left of the old town being exposed, and it’s J’s idea to go investigate the house they can all see looming out of the receding waters.

What they don’t expect to find is a huge stash of cash, and human bones hidden in a wall cavity. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are a dazzling prospect for these kids but within just twenty-four hours things are going so far pear-shaped that their entire lives are not only turned upside down but their very existence is becoming an endangered commodity.

This is a taut and fraught fast-paced rollercoaster of hidden dangerous secrets, family betrayals, misplaced trust and the bonds of friendship that can sustain in the most terrible of circumstances. Tristan provides his readers with just enough clues along the way for them to make some useful predictions but then – BANG! – comes the whammy that nobody is expecting.

It’s a fabulous and thrilling journey this one, and readers will eat it up, just as I did over just one night’s binge-read. I would seriously urge you to not delay but get this on your order list now, and, dare I say, more than one copy because you are so going to need it, once the word gets out.

Highly recommended for readers from upper primary upwards.