5.0 out of 5 stars
Award Winning "Readers Choice" A Great Read
Reviewed in Australia on 31 August 2016
Review
How must it feel? Your best mate lying in your arms, dead, his throat cut, blood everywhere.
Caleb tortured himself with the thought that he should have got there quicker, if only he had read Garys' desperate text sooner.
This is how the book starts, by hooking the reader straight in from the very beginning and it never loosens it grip.
The murdered man was Senior Constable Gary Marsden, he and Caleb grew up together in Resurrection Bay.
Caleb, an insurance investigator, had taken on a big job investigating a warehouse robbery, a job that Frankie, his partner, had tried to talk him out of. The workload was more than Caleb had expected so he had asked Gary to help out for a bit of extra money.
Frankie, an ex police officer, had her own demons to deal with. Sometimes her behaviour was a little erratic and Caleb could never feel quite convinced that she could stay off the booze.
Detective Tedesco, the officer attending the crime scene, thought that Gary must have been involved with some shady dealings and this is what got him killed. Another cop, Detective Sergeant Mcfarlane, from Ethical Standards was also asking questions about Garys’ activities and movements.
Frankie and Caleb don't know why a detective from Ethical Standards would be involved in a murder case, both sure that Gary was a clean cop.
Caleb searched for answers and, in the process, got himself injured. With nowhere else to go he turned to his estranged wife Kat for help. He thought that the bad guys might come after Kat, and to protect her he must get her out of town. His health deteriorated and not wanting to risk attending a hospital, he and Kat returned to their home town, Resurrection Bay.
Kats mother is a doctor, the first Koori doctor in Resurrection Bay, she could be an intimidating woman, and she hadn’t thought too well of how he had treated her daughter, but Gary had no choice, he had to let her help him.
Resurrection Bay is where Gary and Caleb grew up together, when Caleb recovered enough he began to ask questions of all their friends. Caleb trusted no-one, including his own brother, Anton.
Instead of answers he found yet more questions but still got no closer to finding Scott, and the danger mounted ...
Once you start reading this story, your meals will be late, chores will be forgotten and you won’t want to stop reading, not even to sleep, it is relentlessly gripping.
Beautifully written with interesting, believable and well rounded characters. This really is a proper whodunnit that cuts no corners, and the reader is not cheated out of the chance to solve the crime. All the subtle little clues are cleverly woven in throughout the story but, I’m afraid I was truly hoodwinked by Ms. Viskic!
The ending is tension filled and unexpected - A wonderfully satisfying read.
Emma Viskics' "Resurrection Bay" has won three Davitt awards including readers Choice, and a Ned Kelly for Best First Fiction
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