Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Tallowwood
AUTHOR: N.R. Walker
NARRATOR: Antony Ferguson
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 10 hours, 13 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2020
BLURB:
Cold cases, murder, lies, and an unimaginable truth.
Sydney Detective August Shaw has spent the last decade of work solving cold cases. His work is his entire life, and he’s convinced a string of unsolved cold-case suicides are linked to what could be Australia’s worst ever serial killer. Problem is, no one believes him.
Senior Constable Jacob Porter loves his life in the small town of Tallowwood in northern New South Wales. He runs summer camps for the local Indigenous kids, plays rugby with his mates, has a close family, and he’s the local LGBTQIA+ Liaison and the Indigenous Liaison Officer.
When human remains are found in the camping grounds at Tallowwood Reserve, Jake’s new case turns out to be linked to August’s cold cases, and Jake agrees they’re not suicides at all. With Jacob now firmly in August’s corner, they face one hurdle after another. Even when more remains are found, they can’t seem to gain ground. But when the body of a fellow police officer turns up under the same MO, it can’t be ignored anymore.
August and Jake must trace the untraceable before the killer takes his next victim or before he stops one of them, permanently.
REVIEW:
I’ve been on cloud nine all day listening to this book. Tallowwood is definitely at the top of my ever growing list of favourites by N.R. Walker. I loved everything about it, the mystery, the characters and the thrill of the hunt. And listening to Antony Ferguson performing it made it so much more. It really came alive in a way that I can’t fully describe.
We follow August Shaw, a cold case detective who’s been hunting a serial killer for years. A serial killer no one but him believes exists. That is until Jacob Porter discovers a body in his territory and calls Shaw for help. The two set out to bring justice for all the men who were murdered and are set to take them down, no matter who stands in their way.
I loved Ferguson’s accent, it did so much for the feel and authenticity of the book. Now I say this as a non-native English/Aussie speaker, so make of that what you will. But to my untrained ears it was brilliant and I will gladly listen to many more of his productions in the future.
There were so many things I loved with Ferguson’s narration or performance. Everything from the pacing and enunciation was spot on. It was clear he lived in the story with Jake and August and drew the listener into the story with his melodic and captivating voice. He captured feelings and moments, made your heart race when they were getting close. Made you feel anger towards everyone that ignored August when he desperately tried to make people take notice of the serial killer hunting among them.
His voices for the characters, while not hugely different, still fitted them really well. I especially liked his somewhat gruffer voice for August really fit standoffish and aloof man. I mean he really captured August perfectly, his anger at the world in general oozed from every word, as did the hurt and the despair he tried so hard to mask. Also Jake was done really well, his voice was a shade lighter. But what’s more important, his positivity and happiness was equally clear, and I think that’s a tell-tale sign of a great narrator, being able to so accurately portray traits of a character without explicitly having to spell it out.
By the end of the book, my heart was racing, my min spinning and I had a hard time sitting still. I needed for things to resolve, hated the wait. The suspense almost killed me – and I already knew how it was all going to turn out (I read the book last year). And knowing all that, it was still a heart-pounding race – a definite credit to both Ferguson and Walker.
I can’t recommend this audiobook highly enough and will just end all this gushing with the prompt to pick up the book as soon as you can, it’s so worth every minute you spend listening.
RATING: 
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