Emma Viskic

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book pre-publication in exchange for a fair review.

The second Caleb Zelic novel picks up the story of the deaf detective from Viskic's debut Resurrection Bay. I strongly recommend reading these books in order, as the second book totally assumes that you've read the first.

In this outing, Caleb is accosted in the street by a frightened woman who is seeking his help. Pursued by a mysterious stranger, she steps into the traffic and is killed. Caleb has no idea who she is, or why she sought him out. Haunted by her desperation, he is driven to investigate, which eventually leads him back to Resurrection Bay.

The Bay is in the grip of a heat wave and seething with seemingly race-motivated attacks. In true style, Caleb stomps around this minefield and brings down a world of trouble, both for him and for others.

Caleb is one of those crime novel heroes that I warm to; comprehensively messed up and struggling to deal with life as well as crime-solving. I probably did not enjoy this one quite as much as Resurrection Bay, mainly because Viskic had Caleb doing a few extraordinarily stupid things, which didn't ring true. That said, it had a very pacy plot with an ending that surprised me. I'll certainly be sticking with this series.… (lisätietoja)

Dead detective Caleb Zelic was a refreshingly original character in Emma Viskic's first novel, but he is now starting to grate. In this latest entry, Caleb spends almost the entire novel being 100% wrong about everything, including the crime that he is investigating, the silly footy club sub-plot, and his fraught personal life. This level of incompetence is only interesting when played for laughs by somebody like Peter Sellers; here, it is just annoying. I wasn't more than about a third of the way through the novel when I started wishing that it would just be over.

Like a lot of Australian crime novels, this series is starting to suffer from what I call the Midsomer Effect: the ever-decreasing plausibility of a continued series of major crimes in a tiny place like Resurrection Bay. Arthur Upfield solved this problem almost a hundred years ago by sending his detective, Bony, to different locations to solve crimes. Modern outback noir writers need to find a way to do the same.… (lisätietoja)

When I started reading this book I kept wondering if my copy was missing the first couple of pages? It starts starts in a way no other book I’ve read does, in that a murder has happened but you know nothing about those involved and when you are told who each character is it is so boring and confusing you don’t care. Turns out there this is one of many story telling flaws in that book. Gary is laying dead bleeding all over Caleb. Gary texted Caleb. Caleb didn’t kill Gary. Caleb runs a security company with a alcoholic drug addict female partner who once was a cop. I also kept wondering was this book part of a series and I should know these people. If felt like the reader was supposed to already know who these people were and why they acted the way they do. It turns out it is just bad storytelling.
Here is why this book, in my opinion got so much press. Political correctness!
Caleb has a handicap- he is deaf.
His ex wife is aboriginal whose mother is a surgeon.
Here is what is wrong with the book.
1. The story starts with a murder that is meaningless to the reader
2. Not one interesting character and zero character development.
3. Sadly in addition to being deaf Caleb is also stupid.
4. The plot/storyline is boring, the crime is far fetched, the criminals completely 2 dimensional, stereotyping throughout the story. The ending is so idiotic I thought an 8 year old wrote it.
This book was a complete waste of time.
… (lisätietoja)