The Wolf Tree

Laura is a writer, editor and actor. As well as writing novels, she has penned several film and television projects for her production company Sibylline Films. Laura is also co-founder of Three Fates Theatre Company, and has performed across theatre, film, and television. The Wolf Tree is her debut novel. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne.

The Wolf Tree is a stunning debut: a wild, vivid landscape and a propulsive mystery you simply have to know the answer to. It will have you on the edge of your seat, desperate to know what the small Scottish community is hiding -

Laura McCluskey offers a powerful debut in this atmospheric thriller infused with unsettling folk horror tropes…McCluskey skillfully blends procedural details and looming alienation in this well-constructed mystery; highly recommended -

Atmospheric and immersive, The Wolf Tree's isolated and storm-battered Hebridean setting is vividly evoked, and McCluskey has a sharp ear for rhythm and cadence, which lends a persuasive authenticity to her dialogue. Her descriptions of the sodden landscape and its outwardly welcoming but secretly watchful inhabitants creates a mounting chill that seeps into the bones -

An exciting new voice in crime fiction -

Absorbing, unsettling, and deeply accomplished -

The Wolf Tree is an exquisitely executed tale. Laura McCluskey’s debut is a great gothic slow-burn that will keep you thinking and guessing even after you’ve reached the end -

Laura McCluskey’s thrilling debut blends detective novel and folk horror to terrific effect. Eilean Eadar’s ancient secrets and vibrant present-day characters—including our beautifully complex mainlander heroes—had me riveted to the page -

Mare of Easttown meets The Wickerman in Laura McCluskey’s deft, intricate, perfectly executed debut thriller. The Wolf Tree is a darkly brilliant synthesis of hard-nosed procedural and folk eerie -

Laura McCluskey has created two wonderful new detectives in George Lennox and Richie Stewart. I would follow them anywhere – even to the forboding, windswept island of Eileen Eadar, where they must grapple with the dark secrets of the small and insular local population. THE WOLF TREE is a marvelous mystery, rich in atmosphere and quick in pace. And with such well-drawn characters, one can hope it marks the beginning of a terrific new series -

Congratulations to Laura on such an atmospheric story. I loved her writing style and the setting and the character of George in particular -

An impressive crime debut dripping with atmosphere and threat, Laura McCluskey’s The Wolf Tree will take you to a chilling cliff-edge of suspense, then hold you there until the very last page -

Set on an isolated island in the Outer Hebrides, The Wolf Tree weaves a complex web of tradition, suspicion and murder … Tense and increasingly claustrophobic, The Wolf Tree is seething with atmosphere, intriguing relationships and a community determined to protect itself at all costs. Gripping -

McCluskey is masterful at building suspense around a sense of place and a feeling of otherness -

[An] eerie, gothic-tinged debut mystery… Thanks to McCluskey’s expert melding of modern crime procedural and ancient folklore, suspenseful slow burns and intense high-stakes action, fans of stories set in closed communities with something to hide will revel in this assured and absorbing debut -

Filled with atmosphere and suspense …The plot is full of twists and turns with several surprises along the way … this was a compelling, creative, disturbing, and suspenseful story with good characterization, and a great plot -

McCluskey’s gripping debut features an isolated island with a brooding, storm-tossed atmosphere, reminiscent of Ann Cleeves’s “Shetland Island” mysteries. The violence and collusion lead to a shocking conclusion -

[A] haunting debut gothic mystery…McCluskey skillfully crafts a gloomy, brooding atmosphere of tension and isolation through her descriptions of the little isle caught between sea and sky and its inhabitants living at the mercy of both. The mystery underpins a plot that weighs the strength of community and tradition against the dangers of never questioning what has always been…Readers desiring a generous helping of spine tingles with their justice need look no further -

A gripping, thrilling and assured debut, not to be missed -

Atmospheric -

Georgina and Ritchie are a great pair of characters and McCluskey’s descriptions of human and meteorological violence are convincing -

Gripping -

McCluskey’s blend of intrigue, paranoia, folklore and hints of the supernatural keep us guessing until close to the end […] The Wolf Tree is a strong debut in many respects, McCluskey building the suspense slowly but with the assurance that it’s all going to pay off, and for a writer born, raised and still living in Melbourne her evocative depiction of Eilean Eadar is impressively convincing -