As Challis heads for an isolated outback town to visit his terminally ill father, Destry receives word that 10-year-old Katy Blasko never arrived home from school the day before. Tough and focused, Destry assumes command of a team of constables, but nagging performance anxiety requires she keep in contact with Challis, her mentor. As the team canvasses the streets searching for Katy - and too much precious time passes fruitlessly - they must assuage the growing fear that it may already be too late to find the girl alive and unharmed. ( )

An excellent police procedural set in Australia. Garry Disher has been compared to Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson, and based on this book, I agree. The characters are complex and the mystery is excellent. This is the 4th book in this series, and I plan to go back and read the others. ( )

A fine addition to this detective series, coupling sharp description of Australian culture with a procedural that moves in interesting directions. The main mystery was much more compelling than the side plot about the usual star detective, who was off at his home in the bush. ( )

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/node/... ( )

Garry Disher has given us two fascinating protagonists to follow in this excellent series. DI Hal Challis, still coming to terms with the fact that his wife tried to murder him and was imprisoned for it, goes home to South Australia to wrestle with other family ghosts. He leaves behind his DS, Ellen Destry, to manage the unsettling case of a missing child in an eerie atmosphere of menace, both inside the station and without, as she struggles to keep control in his absence. Impossible to put this down until the last full stop! Very deserving of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel. ( )