When One of Us Hurts

by Monica Vuu

Port Brighton hates outsiders. The small coastal town has its own ways of dealing with the evil, the foolish, the misled, and it holds tightly to them. But the seams start to split after two deaths occur on the same tragic night: a baby abandoned at the foot of a lighthouse, and a drunken teenager drowned in the storming sea.

Livvy is an insider. She keeps a watchful eye on what's happening in town while looking out for her troubled older brother. What has broken inside him - and why?

Marie is an outsider. She's escaped Port Brighton and started a new life, but she can't forget the night at the lighthouse - it changed her family forever.

As gossip fuels rumours and tensions erode trust, the bonds that keep Port Brighton together begin to fray, threatening to expose the truth about more than just the two deaths ...


Praise for When One of Us Hurts

'In When One of Us Hurts, Vuu shines a light into the darkest corners of small-town life. This a bold and compelling debut, and Monica Vuu is an author to watch.' Mark Brandi

'Monica Vuu is a bright new talent in Australian crime fiction. The twists and surprises came fast and deadly. I was up all night!' Candice Fox

'Twisted, mysterious and darkly creepy, When One of Us Hurts is a small-town crime fiction at its shocking best. Monica Vuu has crafted a memorable debut full of macabre surprises.' Ashley Kalagian Blunt

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Novels

320 pages, Paperback

Published June 27, 2023

About the author

Monica Vuu was born in Langley, British Columbia. She has a background in Cognitive Systems. After graduating she worked with Emirates airlines and lived in Dubai for a couple of years, where she met her Australian partner, who managed to convince her to make the big move to Tasmania in 2019. When One of Us Hurts is her first novel and was inspired by the remoteness of rural Tasmania.

Reviews

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

*https://www.instagram.com/mrsb_book_r...

🌊Author Monica Vuu was born in British Columbia but she now calls Tasmania home after moving to the state in 2019 with her partner. Inspired by the sheer remoteness and wilds of Tasmania, When One of Us Hurts is a murky small-town murder mystery novel.

🌊Based in the small seaside locale of Port Brighton, with just a population of three hundred people, When One of Us Hurts unfolds via the perspective of two narrators. Settling on the deaths of two people, one a teenager and the second just a baby, the resulting narrative focuses on delivering the truth as to what caused these shocking deaths.

🌊When One of Us Hurts came to me with huge thanks to the team at @macmillanaus in June 2023. Like many of my review books from last year, this one was put to the side. I am now on a mission to catch up on as many as I can, which is how I came to Monica Vuu’s debut crime fiction novel.

🌊Well, I think I am still in shock after reading this one and at the time of writing this review. I think I am still reeling from Monica Vuu’s first novel. This one started off quite tepid, almost slow burn style. However, once the story got going, what I witnessed was something alternating between darkness, negativity, horror, shame, sinister happenings and slight unbelievability. It is hard to describe this one, the narrators are unreliable and unpredictable. The wider cast are volatile and hard to read. The setting is definitely gothic, thanks to the presence of the lighthouse, the dangerous coastal backdrop and the creepy locked town vibes complete with a them versus us tone. I felt unsettled and almost quite sick through this novel, thanks to the deaths, especially when the crows came into play (I won’t say too much for fear of delving into a spoiler). For a debut novelist, Monica Vuu is pretty brave and bold to delve into this kind of territory. I do wonder what her future works will be like based on this very dark and unsettling release.

⭐️⭐️⭐️3 stars

🙏Thanks to the team at @macmillanaus for the copy!

[Gloria (Ms. G's Bookshelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3.5 Stars⭐️
I found When One of Us Hurts by Monica Vuu to be extremely dark and some aspects of the story on the point of morbid and I don’t know how I feel after reading it. It has an almost gothic feel about it and is set in Port Brighton, a small town with a population of about three hundred in Tasmania.

Young Livvy is an insider and keeps an eye on what’s happening, she also keeps a look out for her troubled brother.

The town community are tight knit and don’t like outsiders. There is some creepy stuff happening in this town and if you like something on the side of twisted and sinister you’ll enjoy this one.

It’s an easy read and a memorable debut from Monica Vuu.

Publication Date 27 June 2023
Publisher Pan Macmillan Australia

A huge thanks to Macmillan Australia for a copy of the book. 🙏

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Pan Macmillan for sending me a copy of this book for review..

I was getting gothic vibes with this book. Set in Port Brighton, its all about dysfunctional families who all cover up for each other. The book is told by two POV, Livvy who is (Johnnys stepsister) and Marie (Johnnys mother) , they are both very protective of Johnny and will do whatever they can to protect him. All characters were unlikeable . The ending was the best part of the book , it was very vivid and creepy.

[Natalie M · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

All over the place with dreadful cohesion, inconsistent POVs and characters that seemed unrealised. A few reviewers have said the ending is good, but there’s no way I’m getting to be one of them.
I never DNF as it’s a pet-hate, and I especially try to finish Aussie authors, but this one I’m ditching at halfway. Just not for me.

[Sammysreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't you just love a book that's easy to read? I don't read a great deal of crime fiction, but I do love a creepy small town vibe so I was instantly addicted.

The small town of Port Brighton is a tight knit community who do not like outsiders. They protect each other and they do what ever they can to move on anyone that doesn't belong. Especially an out of town reporter who turns up to investigate two suspicious deaths by the lighthouse. The deaths have already been investigated by the local police and the people of Port Brighton are not interested in anyone else poking around.

This was such a page turner, and at times I was surprised and sickened by some of the secrets that emerged. The mind sets were also pretty scary although I guess you gotta give credit for their loyalty? 🙈

I especially liked the fact that you aren't made to feel like this is an idyllic town and atmosphere. The rubbish and crows are described which really gives more of a creepy feel to this place.

If you follow me on Threads, (or watch my stories) you may have seen mention of ✨️beaking✨️ in one of my posts that was described in this book. The local crows have gotten a taste for human flesh after years of *beaking*. I'm still really hoping it's not a real thing, although according to my googling, it doesnt appear to be (thank goodness). It is just a side mention of the concept in the book, it doesn't actually happen but still I was shocked to read it 😳🤣

(Beaking - laying on the sand nakey, covered in peanut butter until the crows come and draw blood - usually ending up in private area damage 😳) Also please don't do this.

Anyway, if you like a bit of a twisty, creepy small town crime fiction definitely check this debut novel out. I really enjoyed it overall and it was an easy read.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me a copy

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were so many characters and names it was difficult to follow. I even (embarrassingly) started to write down their names and relationships to see if I could follow any better. It turned out that I had several names written down with no real importance of being mentioned or tied into the story (or it felt that way to me anyway.)

I really wanted to read this book and finish it. I opted for the audiobook version. I restarted it 3 times after the first 2 hours because I was continually lost after that portion.

[Ashleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Idk how this ended up on my reading pile tbh. It’s not my sort of book and teenage narrators who think they sound older but aren’t should be banned.

Twist was predictable and there were no explanations as to why one town had so many psychopaths who were welling to murder everyone in it.

[Tom Boniface-Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crikey. Dark. But very readable. The creepy, sinister goings on of a small Australian town.

[abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fascinating book unfolds as a small-town crime novel against a mysterious gothic backdrop. Set in a Tasmanian seaside town, the narrative slowly peels back the layers of two murders that occurred on the same night – one involving a young man who was an outsider to the town, and the other a baby. The unsettling aspects of the story, include the baby’s gruesome death by crows and other bizarre occurrences, ventures into a dark realm that, while expected in a crime novel, occasionally pushed against realism. This for me was reminiscent of a Brothers Grimm-esque fairytale warning about the perils of closed-minded, insular small towns.

Despite my reservations about the mishmash of genres and the gruesomeness that at times defied believability, the book was nevertheless gripping and interesting. The author's ability to continually surprise, and the story, though unsettling, was undeniably striking. Monica Vuu's debut is a bold exploration, and I would be curious to explore more of her writing in the future.

[Michelle Hutchins · Rating 3 out of 5]

not that great
a bit confusing - had to rewind alot

[Michele (michelethebookdragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This started out as a fairly gentle story, sharing two points of view about a night when two deaths occured in the one town.

Then it starts to get a little sinister as bits of information are shared with the reader.

This story became a lot darker than I thought it would, and I liked it.

Livvy and Marie tell the story of what happened that night in Port Brighton, what led to that night, and what happened after that night.

I don't know that I will ever look at any small coastal town in Tasmania the same way after reading this. If there ever was a collective conscience then Port Brighton has it.

A stellar debut novel with a dark, sinister and almost gothic story.

[Heloise Jacobs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like the author, I am also an outsider / incomer to Tasmania. And it is a fact that one is treated differently, one is always reminded that you are not from here. But I think it takes guts to write a book (and such a horrible book) to tell born-Tasmanians / insiders they are not sinless.
It is worrying that a person could think up all these horrible murders committed as described in this book. It really is a disturbing read.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was good, but this was just too dark for me. I persevered for around 80 pages but it just wasn't for me.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm - a bit of ‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest’ vibe.
A bit too much happening at once in a rural town.
Wouldn’t read it again.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great debut rural crime novel in an Australian setting, When One Of Us Hurts (Pan Macmillan 2023) by Monica Vuu is a story of an isolated coastal town, Port Brighton, where Outsiders are not welcome and Insiders are expected to behave a certain way. But when two deaths occur on the same night – a drunken, drowned teenager and a baby abandoned at the foot of the lighthouse – it is a lot even for the Insiders to deal with. And of course, the tragic news attracts the attention of the Outsiders, who want to uncover the truth.

The story is narrated by two women, Livvy and Marie. Livvy is an Insider who knows what to expect from her small town and keeps a close eye on everything going on, especially looking after her older brother, Johnny, who definitely has something broken or damaged about him. Marie no longer lives in Port Brighton but she can never forget the events that happened there years earlier, and how they irrevocably affected her life.

Are these characters reliable narrators? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe partially. As with many psychological thrillers of this genre, I became confused with the number of characters and their relationship with each other, especially as the timeline jumped backwards and forwards. But perhaps that is the point of such writing: to turn the reader inside out and upside down, to confuse and mislead. The reader begins to wonder whether what they’ve read is true, or half-true, or a complete lie; to doubt where the truth begins and ends; to clutch at facts only to find them dissolve into water in their hands.

This is a book about a closed community full of eccentric and strange characters and as readers we never know who to believe. Intimate scenes leave us thinking in one direction, and then a dark tendril pulls us away into an unsettling knot of secrets. We may change our minds about some of the characters who appear obviously malign, or about some who gain our trust before dissembling into a madness we didn’t see coming. But if you don’t try too hard to follow every thread, but instead allow yourself to be woven into the complicated and menacing tapestry, you will be rewarded with a story that nobody could predict, with a surprising resolution.

[Despina O’Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, a few weeks ago I did a poll and many of you said this had to be the book I picked up next. And so I did.

Now I’m going to preface by saying that September has been kicking my Butt. So we’re on the last day of the month and this is the only book I’ve managed to read. But holy cow, @vuumonica has created a doozy.

The book is set in the town of Port Brighton, in Tasmania. As a very close knit community with a huge hate for outsiders - and anyone who doesn’t belong - the town isn’t shy to let you know just how much you don’t fit in. They’re also quite happy to keep anyone’s secrets who DOES belong.

We have multiple POVs - Livvy, a fourteen year old local, and Marie her stepmother, who is considered an outsider, we begin to understand how harrowing their relationship is.

It’s not until there’s two deaths in the town - Baby Frankie who was found abandoned - and Sebastian - a teenager thought to have jumped from the lighthouse, after assuming killing Baby Frankie - the story slowly unveils exactly what happened.

Read this if you love:
✅multiple POVs
✅small town secrets
✅Australian setting
✅twists from all characters - including supporting
✅an ending that you couldn’t have predicted, even if you tried!

When One Of Us Hurts was dark, cold and saddening, and one too many crows for my liking 🤣

Thank you @macmillanaus and @vuumonica for the #gifted copy in exchange for my review.

[Clive Hodges · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two narrators for 'When One of Us Hurts': Livvy, aged 14, and her de facto step-mother, Marie.

Port Brighton, not far from Launceston, Tasmania, is a coastal town with secrets and the two narrators take it in turns to reveal them … gradually and gleefully.

Monica Vuu’s debut novel is not a cosy crime thriller. I discovered that when I read on page 14 the first of many distasteful exploits.

The town is divided into ‘insiders’ – those born in Port Brighton - and ‘others’.

Friends of insiders will forgive them anything – and I mean, anything. They will provide false alibis and commit perjury without a flicker of remorse.

A baby and a teenager are missing. The baby’s body is found at the foot of Port Brighton’s lighthouse; the teenager’s body is washed up on the rocks a few metres away.

One has been pecked to death by crows; the other has drowned.

Two more deaths: one claimed to be a car accident; the other said to be an accidental fall.

A newspaper reporter arrives to make enquiries.

Gossip and rumour, allegations and confessions are intelligently analysed by the narrators.

I was confident I had the truth by the time I’d turned the last page.

'When One of Us Hurts' is audacious, sinister and disconcerting.

[Melissa Kincaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️Thank you to Pan Macmillan AU & NetGalley for generously providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review⭐️

Firstly, I want to say that this book isn’t my usual genre, but WOW, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

When One Of Us Hurts is a murder mystery set in Tasmania, in the little town of Port Brighton, a place where nothing is as it seems.

I thought I knew where the story was going but my gosh, it twisted and turned so much that I was on the edge of my seat. The pacing was good, the timeline of events did confuse me a touch but by the last three chapters it all made sense, I really enjoyed Monica’s writing style, and the internal monologue was as Aussie as Vegemite toast. I found it relatable and refreshing. There were macabre moments and moments I was not expecting, and I think because I’m not usually a reader of crime fiction, those things caught me off guard. Having said that, it really churned up a riot of emotions in me, and that is a sign of a very well written book, I think.

Murder mystery readers are sure to devour this one, a bold and compelling debut that is a must read for Australian crime fiction fans!

[Racheal Curry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a small coastal town crime fiction read that kept me interested from page one until that final sentence.
 
The story starts out from two POV’s following two deaths in the same town. The book starts out as a usual crime thriller does, but things start to become more sinister as we start to learn more about are characters and the town. Things get darker as the book continues.
 
“Port Brighton hates outsiders. The small coastal town has its own ways of dealing with the evil, the foolish, the misled, and it holds tightly to them. But the seams start to split after two deaths occur on the same tragic night: a baby abandoned at the foot of a lighthouse, and a drunken teenager drowned in the storming sea.

Livvy is an insider. She keeps a watchful eye on what's happening in town while looking out for her troubled older brother. What has broken inside him - and why?

Marie is an outsider. She's escaped Port Brighton and started a new life, but she can't forget the night at the lighthouse - it changed her family forever.

As gossip fuels rumours and tensions erode trust, the bonds that keep Port Brighton together begin to fray, threatening to expose the truth about more than just the two deaths ...”
 
Overall this was a relatively fast paced read that kept me engaged in the story.
 
Recommended to crime thriller fans who like a small town mystery.

[Poppy Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut novel by Monica Vuu is a stand out crime novel. I read a lot of crime novels and this one has that elusive, compelling quality which I'd define as an original, unique voice. This author doesn't write like anyone else I can think of.

I also loved that it's set in a fairly ghastly Tasmanian seaside village. Intriguingly, this village is not drawn in the way I like to imagine Tasmanian seascapes, with white beaches, turquoise water and soaring seagulls. This weather-battered summer resort town is inhabited by unfriendly locals and it's overrun with crows... there's an underlying Hitchockian sinister theme running through the novel connected to these menacing birds.

There are two narrators. Marie lives in a psychiatric facility. She's not a good person but I was enthralled by her, even as she torments her fellow resident Ethel. The other narrator is her step-daughter Livvy who knows some of the most shocking secrets harboured by the townsfolk.

The major question driving the novel is regarding the mysterious events that happened at the lighthouse during an evening festival. A young man drowns, and a baby is abandoned. When a reporter tries to investigate, the insular locals thwart his attempts to find out what's going on.

This is an incredibly well written, deliciously dark novel, with unexpected twists.

Books I recently enjoyed that this story reminds me of include Strange Sally Diamond, The Quiet Tenant, and Girl A, in terms of what you think is going on, is not.

Highly recommend!

[B.P. Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Disclosure: review written for Tasmanian Times]

Debut Canadian-Tasmanian author, Monica Vuu, has written a firecracker of a crime novel with, mercifully, barely a cop in it. Rather than a ‘procedural’ novel that plays out the twists and turns via an investigation, When One of Us Hurts is a dual confession that cunningly provides surprises to the end.
Smart, humane writing combines an intriguing ensemble of characters, the harsh realities of a small Tasmanian community, and a deep empathy toward the two deeply flawed narrators.
Vuu’s novel is worth slow-reading in the first half to take in the sights, the cast and their connections, but it’s a hard call not to binge-read to the end as the pieces fall more rapidly into place, as questions pile up like a car crash on an icy motorway. Dark, engaging, clever and fully realised writing. Recommended.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an atmospheric mystery/thriller set in a very remote and insular seaside community in Tasmania. A dead baby and an apparent suicide are at the heart of the mystery, and more is revealed over the course of the story by the two narrators: Livvy - a fourteen year old town local, and Marie - an outsider who never really felt like she belonged. Vuu plays around with unreliable narration and time jumps.

It moved a little slowly for me, and - if I’m honest - when I read about a twisty little small town where everyone is all up in each others business, I want more twistiness than this book offered. Not a bad read, just not a favourite for me.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so it takes a while to get into this book but once you do it’s so so so twisted. If I would’ve stopped reading the book halfway through then I would’ve given it 3 stars because it was a bit dull but it really picked up in the second half. I just wish it had me hooked for the entirety of the novel.

However, just considering the second half, it’s one of the most twisted and insane books I’ve read. None of it makes sense but all of it makes sense. The character development in this book is insane and that is what contributed to how twisted the book is. I can’t put into words how thought out the character development is…

[Camille Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this copy of Monica Vuu’s recently released debut, WHEN ONE OF US HURTS in a giveaway from @thewomanbookerprizeclub and I loved it for it’s...

macabre and haunting, small (coastal) town suspense

dual POV

dark and sinister, unexpected and atmospheric murder mystery

unreliable, unbalanced narrator

spooky lighthouse and creepy crows

Thank you for this great prize and congrats again on a gripping debut, Monica. It has more twists than a lighthouse’s staircase

5 black crow feathers

🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this small-town crime debut when I was in Hobart recently (nothing like picking up a local book while on holidays!). It’s dark, creepy, twisty and compelling. The complex cast of characters are largely unlikeable, and the plot gets pretty sinister and depressing (probably too morbid for me I’m afraid). I’m not sure if the wild Tasmania setting that I was hoping for would have helped or hindered!

Worth a read if you like well written, menacing stories with unreliable narrators and themes of exclusion and trauma, not to mention a fair number of Hitchcockesque crows!

[Cassandra Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not my usual genre but a dark tale set in a small Tassie town drew me in, and I wasn’t disappointed! I really enjoyed the writing style and the book gripped me from the start. To begin with it’s just your typical small town reacting to a tragedy, sure there’s family drama and some not so savory characters but that’s pretty normal. But the more you read and the more layers you peel back you begin to realise everyone is totally fu

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich in gothic-esque themes and keeps you guessing to the end.
Set in a small community in coastal Tasmania, Vuu takes you on a journey of an eclectic family and their experiences in their local community. There are a few notable community members who surprise with motivations. After a slightly clunky start the book becomes quite easy to read and draws you in. I thoroughly enjoyed this debut!

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't help but wonder how rural Tasmanians feel about a Canadian author being so inspired by her new Tasmanian home that she writes a novel about a town where essentially all the locals are deeply disturbed. This was too dark and twisted for me to really enjoy, but I did stick with it, and thought it was a decently propulsive plot.

[Mitchell Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this !!

The dark secrets of a small town, the instability of Marie, the continually peeling back of the next reveal.

I really liked Livvy's character.

Every time I had to put Monica Vuu's debut down to pause - I was saddened.

LOVED the ending, but also brought a rear to my eye if I'm being honest.

Congratulations Monica - WOW.

[Griflet · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I wanted to read for the Tasmanian setting, I'm over the dark gothic bad town Tassie thing.
I also found the characters overwritten and overwrought - everything but the kitchen sink was thrown in for the voice/pov and it ended up being irritating and kicking me out of the story rather than drawing me in.