Review: Warra Warra by John Scott

The residents of Warra Warra, a small regional town in country Australia, have their quiet lives turned upside down when a commercial passenger plane is the target of a terrorist attack. The plane crashes in the middle of town, killing all passengers on board and several townsfolk, leaving the community reeling. As the survivors attempt to piece their lives together without loved ones, strange things start to happen. The ghosts of those onboard the doomed flight have risen and, unable to return to their homes, seek to claim Warra Warra as their own. Slowly they begin to pick off the remaining residents one by one, in horrific and violent ways.

As somebody with an overactive imagination and prone to nightmares, I tend to avoid horror stories as much as possible. But I had to read Warra Warra for class and I’m so glad that I did because I was truly surprised at how much I enjoyed this story. It sufficiently gave me the creeps and Scott is excellent at using the skill of simple statements. Some authors become lost in the beauty of language and their story suffers for it. But Scott manages to create this vivid and compelling image without an abundance of superfluous words. His stark writing style emulates the bleak setting of the remote country outback perfectly. While I could easily see where this story was headed, I still thoroughly enjoyed devouring it and I can see this making an excellent horror film.

If you feel like something different to read then I definitely recommend you give this story a go. It’s great to see an Australian author using quintessential Australian style in a way that still captivates instead of bores. Though perhaps you might want to skip it if you’re about to catch a flight…

4/5 stars