Will is nearly 13. He loves hanging out with his best friends Dar and Juno Carpenter, not that he ever calls J by her full name. He knows she’d punch him if he did. Dar and J are twins and complete opposites. Dar is gentle and a worrier, and J is always keen for action. After getting in trouble a few times, Will’s mum tells him to stay away from the twins.

Ever since his father disappeared nearly seven years ago, Will’s mum has been unhappy. Not only did they never find out what happened to Will’s father, eight other people vanished from the town. Known as the Scarborough Nine, Will wants to believe his father wasn’t one of them, and he might see him again one day.

Life was okay before Dad disappeared. Will’s grandfather owned a successful trucking firm in town and when a dam was built, intentionally flooding part of Scarborough, the family business did well. Pop’s trucks were busy either moving houses to a different area or helping build the dam itself.

Now, Pop has had a stroke and the business is failing. Mum is worried about the bills, and the dam is failing too. Along with a drought, the leaking dam is slowly revealing the drowned houses from seven years before. One of them is too tempting for J not to swim out to and explore.

Dar and Will aren’t keen, but don’t know how to say no to thrill seeking Juno. Climbing in a window, they find a rotting house and a staircase. Upstairs is hiding enough money to transform their futures, but could they really take it for themselves?

With only a drunken Dad at home, J doesn’t think twice and looks for more of the plastic wrapped packages of cash. This time they find bones, and it’s obvious they are human. This is more trouble than they’ve ever been in before, and not just with Will’s mum. The money belongs to someone and they want it back.

Will wants to know more about these people and if they had anything to do with his missing father. The more he digs, the more shocked he becomes as clues point back in his direction. What happened seven years ago, before Old Scarborough slipped under the waters of the new dam?

Scar Town is a thrilling read from very early in the story as three friends explore a partly submerged house. What might be in there? What they find brings more trouble than they can handle, unravelling secrets deep within the framework of their small town.

The plot is fast moving and the emotions swirl constantly between doing the right thing or being able to finally change lives for the better. Loyalties are pushed and family secrets are revealed as tension rises and young lives are suddenly at risk. Several chase scenes are tense and heart pumping, and the character’s resulting fears very real.

I loved feisty Juno, angry at the world and her fractured family, but fiercely loyal when her twin or friend is in danger.

An action-packed and exciting read.

Author – Tristan Bancks

Age – 10+

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(2023, Penguin Books Australia, Mystery, Family, Grief, Action, Adventure, Crime, Murder, Chase, Flooded town, Dam, Corruption, Money, Poverty, Human Bones, Secrets, Father missing, Trucking business, Grandfather, Poppa, Pops, Stroke)