Detective Inspector Challis is the hub of a story (first of the Challis series) narrated from multiple points of view. Although certainly readable, the story suffers from inconsistent pacing, an unappealing locale, and a surfeit of unlikeable people. Not to mention that you'll spot the killer miles away. Perhaps the series improves as it goes along? ( )

Garry Disher’s The Dragon Man is a decent, but pedestrian, police procedural. The thing I like best about the previous Soho Crime books is their flavor of the different. This novel is not so different though. It’s set in south Australia in a suburban beach community. Take away some slight language differences and some slight procedural differences from the U.S., and you have a typical American mystery. Suspects don’t get read their Miranda rights here, they get cautioned. And tires are tyres. But otherwise, you’ve read this.

(Full review at my blog) ( )

Garry Disher is one of Australia's best crime writers. The Dragon Man is the first crime novel to depart from Disher's Wyatt series of crime books. This book is set in the coastal area of Victoria around Frankston. Disher has managed to capture in great detail community life in that region. The main character, detective Hall Challis, is up to his elbows trying to hunt down a killer who's working his way up the Old Peninsula Highway. Christmas is around the corner and the heat is unbearable. For Challis and his team, the nightmare begins. An enjoyable read with really good feel for Australian settings and people. ( )