If you have enjoyed Chris Hammer and are looking for your next read, may I recommend another great Australian crime writer Garry Disher.
In The Way it is Now we meet Charlie Deravin, a cop who has returned to his childhood holiday home on forced leave. This is the place where his mother went missing 20 years earlier. He now has the time to look more deeply into this unsolved case to hopefully clear his father, an ex-policeman. Then the skeletal remains of 2 people are discovered, and it is now essential that Charlie finds out what happened.
Like Chris Hammer, Garry uses the book’s location to great advantage – here it is a small coastal, beach shack Victorian town – filled with interesting characters, often flawed.
I enjoy a story when you can see the development of the main character throughout the story. In this book it is masterfully done by Charlie reluctantly attending counselling sessions. By the end we see the benefits, so kudos to Garry for including this in the narrative. Toss in a range of other topics, including a little virus that has popped up in China, and there is plenty to keep the reader interested and engaged.
This was the seventh book I have read by Garry Disher and I am sure it won’t be my last!
Cynthia, RRL Administration Centre
