By Laura McCluskey
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia, 2025
Review
By Kristin Murdock
Don’t be surprised if you feel like you need a rug and a hot chocolate while reading The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey! Set on an isolated, storm-battered, freezing-cold island off the coast of Scotland, the vivid location descriptions are enough to make you shiver!
That’s not the only reason to shiver though. As we follow two mainland police officers, Georgina (George) Lennox and Richard Stewart, the suspicious, secretive islanders offer no help to the event they have been sent to investigate – the death of a young local man – but was it suicide or murder?
Trapped by a storm, a number of unsettling events occur, and conflict is everywhere. Tension even mounts between the two police officers, as George battles with the demons of a previous terrible incident. This is her first case after nine months away from the job, and she is secretly reliant on pain medication that used to dull her pain. Her partner, Richard, is a conventional police officer, and he is concerned about his impetuous, sometimes risk-taking partner.
The islanders hate outsiders, and are highly suspicious of the intrusive police. They hold secrets close to their chests, and a century of isolation has seen them deal with things in their own way. There is a gothic feel to this isolated community, one which is strongly influenced by the Catholic Church and old superstitious beliefs.
The Wolf Tree is a slow-burning debut by Laura McCluskey. It has a wonderful sense of place, and although it starts off slowly, the tension picks up and draws you into the intriguing world of this closed community. An atmospheric and edge-of-your-seat story that keeps your heart beating overtime, right to the last page.
Publisher’s blurb
A gripping and atmospheric debut crime thriller set on an isolated Scottish island … where outsiders are not welcome.
‘There’s always someone whispering about something.’
On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse – an apparent suicide.
DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for five days. And the locals don’t take kindly to mainlanders.
As George and Richie question the island’s inhabitants, they discover a village filled with superstition and shrouded in secrets.
But someone wants those secrets to stay buried. At any cost.