The Rip & The Scholar: Mark Brandi & Dervla McTiernan

Join critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Mark Brandi and Dervla McTiernan in conversation with Chris Hammer as they discuss their incredible new novels, Mark's The Rip & Dervla's The Scholar. Both books are already among our favourites of 2019! Ticket options are listed below.

About The Books

The Rip is the stellar follow-up to Mark's bestselling novel, Wimmera, which won the coveted British Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger, and was named Best Debut at the 2018 Australian Indie Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Book of the Year, and the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year.

The Rip is an urban crime novel that slowly and masterfully hooks you in... then shocks with the horrific crime and the dread that the characters you care about aren't going to make it out alive.

'It's funny how quick it happens and without you really noticing. Anton said once that it's like walking out into the sea, and you think everything's fine and the water's warm, but when you turn back you're suddenly miles from shore. I've never been much of a swimmer, but I get what he means. Like, being caught in a current or something. A rip.'

The Scholar is the masterful follow-up to Dervla McTiernan's much acclaimed debut The Rúin. The Rúin was our Book of the Month on its release, and became an instant bestseller, ending 2018 as one of the top five bestselling Australian crime novels, as well as hitting the bestseller charts in the UK and Ireland. Admired by critics and readers alike, the film rights were quickly snapped up by Hopscotch Features.

The Scholar sees the return of the much-loved DS Cormac Reilly in a compulsive new crime thriller that brings his objectivity and integrity into question. Late one night outside her laboratory at Galway University, Cormac Reilly’s partner Dr Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit-and-run. Cormac is thrust into investigating the high-profile and high-pressure case, and soon evidence begins to mount that the death is linked increasingly to Emma herself. Cormac is sure she couldn’t be involved, but as his running of the case comes under scrutiny he is forced to question his own objectivity. Could his loyalty to Emma have made him a liability?

Praise for Mark Brandi's The Rip

“A superb book – beautifully conceived, masterfully executed. A winner.” – Chris Hammer

“The Rip pulled me into its unpredictable waters, and refused to let go; authentic, heartfelt without being sentimental, and original. Though the lives of The Rip describes are tough, their beauty and connectedness shine through. In tragedy and darkness sparkles our humanity.” – Sofie Laguna

“What held me close in this novel was not the idea of a hidden population of drifters and addicts but the writer’s reassurance that dignity and small kindnesses have a place in that world. Dystopia is becoming a lazy default – it takes a brave storyteller to back the less fancied prospect: the decency of others.” – Jock Serong

Praise for Dervla McTiernan's The Scholar

"The Scholar is even better than The Rúin, which was so good it became our Book of the Month! Red herrings abound, the who-actually-done-it is obscured, and you're hooked right the way through. Big thumbs up to this gritty police-procedural. I’m now a devoted fan." - Dean Allan, Head Book Buyer, Better Read Than Dead.

Praise for Dervla McTiernan's The Rúin

"Spectacularly good … Excellently written and at times, heart-catchingly sad" - Marian Keyes

"Dervla McTiernan has rocked the crime fiction world with good reason. Taut, tense and darkly addictive. A treat for lovers of fine crime writing.' - Candice Fox

About the Authors

Mark Brandi's shorter work appears in The Guardian, The Age, The Big Issue, and in journals both here and overseas. His writing is also sometimes heard on ABC Radio National. Mark graduated with a criminal justice degree and worked extensively in the justice system, before changing direction and deciding to write. Originally from Italy, growing up in a rural Australian town continues to influence his creative focus. He now lives in Melbourne.

Dervla McTiernan was born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family of seven. She studied corporate law at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and the Law Society of Ireland, and practised as a lawyer for twelve years. Following the global financial crisis, she moved with her family to Western Australia, where she now lives with her husband and two children. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla now writes full-time.