Luke Arnold, centre, as Martin Scarsden in hit BBC adaptation of Chris Hammer\u2019s Scrublands against b (Image: BBC \/ Easy Tiger \/ Getty \/ AP)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Being a political consultant is a high-risk job. Careers can be short and brutal. But former journalist Chris Hammer might just hold the record for the speediest exit, having spent just three weeks as a special adviser to an upcoming Australian politician.<\/p>\n Happily, a lucrative book and TV contract rather than scandal triggered his departure.<\/p>\n \u201cI quit because I got this wonderful deal and realised it was now or never,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cIt was a bit risky but I figured I could make a go of it. My former boss is a reasonably senior minister now and he\u2019s got half the cabinet reading my books!\u201d<\/p>\n Drawing on his experiences as a reporter, Hammer\u2019s debut novel Scrublands \u2013 set in a dying, drought-hit town where journalist Martin Scarsden arrives to write about the fatal shooting of five people by their charismatic local priest \u2013 subsequently came out in 2018 to critical and commercial acclaim.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It has since been adapted as a four-part drama, currently streaming on BBC<\/a> iPlayer.<\/p>\n The Aussie crime writer has published six further bestsellers, including his latest, The Broken River, becoming the master of setting.<\/p>\n His multi-layered, inter-generational plots take readers into the heart of rural Australia, exploring the loss of traditional industries like logging and mining, natural calamities such as drought and fire, and, with his political hat, tensions between \u2018haves\u2019 \u2013 sometimes known as the \u201csquatocracy\u201d because of their historic land holdings \u2013 and \u2018have-nots\u2019.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all been a bit of a rollercoaster, albeit one he\u2019s happy to ride.<\/p>\n Prior to Scrublands, Hammer had written two non-fiction books about the Australian landscape: The River (2011), exploring the remote heartlands of Australia, and The Coast (2013). While both were well-received (and are now being republished) they didn\u2019t make any money. But after three decades as a leading news reporter and foreign correspondent, as well as time working in politics, they set the stage for his latter career.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Aussie crime writer Chris Hammer is a leading exponent of so-called ‘rural noir’ (Image: Mike Bowers)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n And The River, as he explains during a visit to London during the cold-snap, braving freezing UK temperatures and an 11-hour time difference after flying in from his home in the Australian capital Canberra, is providing endless inspiration.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were nine chapters on different places and I\u2019ve used about six so far,\u201d he admits. \u201cBoth those non-fiction books showed me what I realised I love doing. It\u2019s not because the clock\u2019s ticking or I need the money or anything that I\u2019m now writing a book a year. Really I\u2019m just kind of addicted to it. It\u2019s like you\u2019ve got to have a cup of coffee in the morning, or go to the gym or go jogging. If I don\u2019t do a little bit of writing, I don\u2019t feel quite right.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cIt\u2019s such a joyful thing to do, especially when a book comes together at the end after all the problems.\u201d By \u201cproblems\u201d, Hammer, 64, means tying together his many plot twists.<\/p>\n He describes himself tongue-in-cheek as a \u201cpantser and a pounder, not a plotter\u201d \u2013 a \u201cseat-of-his pants\u201d writer \u2013 rather than someone who spends a lot of time planning, remarkable given the gloriously engrossing complexity of his work with storylines maturing between books. \u201cI\u2019ve made a rod for my own back, because there\u2019s multiple plot lines and multiple timelines and different points of view,\u201d he shrugs.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I still find it impossible to plot the book out and then write it. As a journalist, I\u2019m used to being edited. There\u2019s an expression in Australia, \u2018kill your darlings\u2019, meaning if you\u2019ve got a scene you really like but you\u2019ve got to chuck it out in the interests of the book, out it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n No wonder Hammer\u2019s fast becoming one of Australia\u2019s most exciting literary exports.<\/p>\n Having written three Martin Scarsden thrillers, The Broken River is the fourth book featuring New South Wales state detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A firefighting aircraft drops retardant chemicals on the LA fires (Image: Getty)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Dispatched to The Valley to investigate the murder of the town\u2019s deputy mayor, they are drawn into a mystery involving a flooded gold mine, anti-logging protests and an historic bullion robbery, in the case of Nell with dramatic personal consequences. It\u2019s classic Hammer territory \u2013 dubbed \u201crural noir\u201d by critics.<\/p>\n Initially, the author was worried that, as \u201cStaties\u201d, he wouldn\u2019t be able to take Nell and Ivan out of New South Wales.<\/p>\n But with the state covering an area of approximately 310,000 square miles \u2013 more than three times the size of the UK \u2013 with \u00adoutback, tropical forest and mountains, they\u2019ve plenty to go at.<\/p>\n \u201cI always have the setting first, the plot comes as I write the book,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u2019m casting a spell, \u2018Set your daily stuff aside and come with me\u2019. So the setting is the stage for the characters, it\u2019s going to explain their motivations.<\/p>\n \u201cBroken River is set in this verdant valley near the Pacific coast but the one I\u2019m working on now is based on the Paroo River, way out in the desert, a real Outback sort of place.\u201d Hanmer\u2019s books give UK readers a fascinating glimpse of a country many of us feel historically linked and warmly disposed towards. But for city-based Aussies like Hammer, the country\u2019s vast interior is equally alien.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people live in cities and towns and something like 90% of people live within about 50km of the coast. Everyone knows about rural Australia, and they feel this very strong connection to it, but they don\u2019t spend a lot of time there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now it\u2019s January and everyone\u2019s at the beach. They\u2019re not going to be in the Outback because it\u2019s too bloody hot.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to go to the Outback, you go in winter to places like Alice Springs and Uluru [formerly Ayers Rock].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n King Charles addresses Parliament House, Canberra, in October, shortly before being heckled (Image: PA)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n \u201cSo even for Australians, it\u2019s exotic, and these small country towns are a closed environment. My books typically have two or three plotlines so the reader is guessing, \u2018Are they connected? How are they connected?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier to do in a small town. I guess it goes back to Agatha Christie and those grand country house murders.\u201d<\/p>\n Water, either too little or too much, flows like a common theme through many of Hammer\u2019s books, as do tensions between \u201cgreenies\u201d and developers. \u201cDrought is a hugely contentious issue,\u201d he admits. \u201cAnd, of course, there are fears that climate change is going to accelerate that. That said, in recent years we\u2019ve had flooding in Queensland and New South Wales.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s the story of Australia \u2013 either droughts and bushfires or floods, and seldom nicely in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019re talking as California wildfires have devastated huge swathes of LA and Michael Connelly, whose iconic Harry Bosch novels are set in the city, pondered on social media earlier this week: \u201cWill we need to face the possibility of nature turning against us again and again in these extreme ways?<\/p>\n \u201cAre we now to pay the price for building a city in a desert so long ago?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a concern Hammer relates to as an Aussie. \u201cWhat\u2019s driving this is two systems called El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a based in the Pacific,\u201d he tells me.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a pendulum so, when we\u2019re in drought, California and South America are getting rain. But for the last three or four years, we\u2019ve had rain and they\u2019ve had drought. The scary thing is that these fires in LA are in winter. We share assets and normally those big aircraft that drop the fire retardant would be in Australia helping fight our bush fires. Equally, we can\u2019t send our own because we need them at home.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got to ask Hammer about the recent controversy over celebrity chef Jamie Oliver\u2019s children\u2019s book, Billy and the Big Escape, which was withdrawn from sale Down Under amid a furore because it featured an Aboriginal girl with spiritual powers abducted from her foster home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sydney Harbour Bridge after torrential rains; Australia has seen flooding in recent years (Image: Getty)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Oliver\u2019s publisher claimed consultation with Indigenous Australians \u2013 known as First Nations people \u2013 had not happened due to an \u201ceditorial oversight\u201d.<\/p>\n Hammer shakes his head: \u201cEveryone in publishing in Australia would have gone, \u2018What the f***?, why weren\u2019t they told that? Why don\u2019t they know this? You can\u2019t do that?\u2019\u201d Even for local writers, indigenous issues remain sensitive. \u201cThe topsoil of Australian history is very shallow, just 200-250 years and then you hit a bedrock of 60-80,000 years of indigenous history,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you start doing point-of-view indigenous characters there\u2019s an issue.<\/p>\n His own previous book, Cover the Bones, featured an Indigenous character which he admits was \u201cpushing the envelope\u201d. \u201cIf you write several rural-set books like me, you have to have Indigenous characters but they are there for a reason, not just diversity,\u201d he continues. \u201cI thought I might get some blowback but there\u2019s been nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n With his previous career as a political observer and operator in mind, I wonder if he feels ongoing grumbles over the country\u2019s status as a constitutional monarchy, with King Charles as a head of state, will ever explode into full-blown republicanism?<\/p>\n The state visit in October saw a headline-grabbing protest by an Indigenous Australian Senator who heckled the King after he had addressed Australia\u2019s Parliament House in Canberra. Is that a sign of a looming republic? Hammer thinks not.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one\u2019s gonna propose a referendum on republicanism,\u201d he says. \u201cI seriously think it\u2019s more likely that Britain becomes a republic before Australia. That story clearly played bigger in the UK than it did in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Aussies had predicted the end of Queen Elizabeth\u2019s reign might see a sea change because, while Her Majesty was \u201chighly respected\u201d, other royals were less popular.<\/p>\n But as Hammer explains: \u201cThen she died kind of suddenly and everyone\u2019s moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n He points to the decisive defeat, also in October, of a national referendum to amend the country\u2019s constitution to give greater political rights to Indigenous people.<\/p>\n All six states voted against recognising First Nations people and creating a body for them to advise ministers. Hammer adds: \u201cThe government burned through all its political capital on that vote and lost badly. There\u2019s no chance of another referendum now.\u201d<\/p>\n With the first series of Scrublands having been a hit, the second Martin Scarsden book, Silver, has been adapted for TV and there are plans for an Ivan and Nell series in the works.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat streaming services judge is not overall ratings but completion rate,\u201d Hammer explains. \u201cScrublands had a really high completion rate so they\u2019re very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the darkness his books explore, I wonder if Hammer feels optimistic for the future of his relatively young country?<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I do, it\u2019s got a lot going for it,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chris Hammer’s The Broken River sees the return of his State Detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic (Image: Wildfire)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n \u201cThe natural environment is very good here \u2013 clean air, clean water \u2013 and it\u2019s a very inclusive society in many ways, very much a migrant country. Essentially, if you\u2019re not Indigenous, you\u2019re a migrant of some sort.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I am optimistic, especially if you look at a place like, say the US, and see the advantages they have but what a mess it is.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Luke](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/1200x712\/secondary\/5895543.jpg?r=1737131036618\" "\\"Luke")
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