The fourth ‘Caleb Zelic’ novel from award-winning Emma Viskic, Those Who Perish holds its own as a stand-alone novel and may just leave you wanting to purchase the first three.
Caleb Zelic is a private investigator who has a hearing disability. He is finding a way to help his brother, Ant, escape from a sniper who is terrorising the residents of a remote island. Ant has been missing for months and struggles with addiction. Caleb has been trying to track him down but, until this point, it has proved futile. That is, until he receives an anonymous tip that divulges his brother’s whereabouts and alerts him that Ant’s life might be in danger. Caleb leaves behind his wife, Kat, who is pregnant with their child, and travels to the remote island. There he finds a community with a deep suspicion of outsiders and a killer on the loose, hell-bent on claiming more lives.
Emma Viskic was a former classical clarinettist, and the rhythm, the beat, the pulse, leap through the words on the page. Viskic understands Caleb like her own family and her research is impeccable, learning Auslan to assist her creation of the protagonist. The reader is placed in the shoes of someone living with this disability and the terrain they must navigate daily.
This is a fast-paced and chilling crime thriller that aligns the sniper’s crosshairs directly on the reader’s nerves. The twists and turns come at you like dumping waves at the beach, and you will be left guessing until the very end.
Reviewed by Samuel Bernard
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emma Viskic is one of Australia’s foremost crime writers. Best known for her multi award-winning Caleb Zelic series, her novels have sold around the world to popular and critical acclaim.
Emma’s debut novel, Resurrection Bay, took the crime fiction world by storm in 2015, winning the Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut and an unprecedented three Davitt Awards. It was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious Gold Dagger and New Blood Awards and was recently voted one of the decade’s best novels by Crime Time Magazine. The sequels garnered a further two Davitt Awards and nominations for international prizes such as the Dublin Literary Award and the USA’s Barry Award.
The series has been optioned for TV by renowned director Phillip Noyce(Rabbit-Proof Fence)
Emma learnt Australian sign language (Auslan) to create the character of Caleb Zelic, who is profoundly deaf. Her attempts to learn to lipread were a dismal failure.
Born in Melbourne, Emma made a name for herself as a classical clarinet player before becoming a novelist. She studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia and the Rotterdam Conservatorium in The Netherlands. Her musical career ranged from performing with José Carreras and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to playing at an engagement party that ended in a brawl.
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