Once again Garry Disher had me up way past my bedtime as I was drawn into this story of a burned-out copper, biding his time while on suspension, whose digging around in the past unleashes a storm of unforeseeable consequences.
Set on the Mornington Peninsula, a far cry from the arid South Australian outback scenes of his most recent series, we meet Senior Constable Charlie Deravin, who is staying at his family’s beach shack while on disciplinary leave from his work, after an altercation with his Inspector. His marriage has ended and he has returned to his childhood home, to hone his surfing and with a vague notion to continue looking into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of his mother some 20 years earlier.
From the outset, there is an undercurrent in the town that was once a haven for off-duty police and their families. Some of the old guard are still around and Charlie is warned more than once to leave the past alone. But he can’t. As he starts to track down leads that may unravel the mystery, skeletal remains of two bodies are discovered on a building site, close to where his mother lived, and he doubles his efforts, putting himself, his family, and his new partner in danger.
This is storytelling at its best, with brilliantly drawn characters, and a cracking plot involving a case that has its roots in another time, when the ‘boys club’ of the police force reigned and ethical standards were viewed as more of a guideline than best practice. It is the enduring themes of the author’s reflection on justice versus the law that elevate this novel in the genre. Yet another sophisticated and compelling offer from an author at the peak of his powers.
Reviewed by Maryanne Vagg
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Garry Disher has published over 50 highly praised, prize-winning and widely translated books in a range of genres: crime thrillers, literary/general novels, short-story collections, YA/children’s fiction, and writers’ handbooks.
His growing international reputation has seen him tour Germany and the United States, where his crime and YA novels have appeared on best-books-of-the-year lists and won various awards.
His latest titles include a literary novel, Her, the ninth Wyatt thriller, Kill Shot, the stand-alone crime novel, The Way it is Now, and Day’s End, the fourth in his bestselling and prize-winning ‘Hirsch’ series.
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