Garry Disher

The first in Disher's series about Wyatt, a high stakes burglar who isn't squeamish about killing associates who screw up or compromise his operation. He is competent, cool in a crisis, and totally unappealing to me. Disher's writing here is as fine as always, his plotting creative but not overdone, the twists and turns interesting to follow--until they turn deadly and Wyatt blithely eliminates human obstacles. Disher has turned the caper story on its head, making no attempt to make his show more readers like his protagonist. Oceans Eleven it's not. I'm not about it. Give me a flawed hero any day, but don't give me a man with no scruples at all whose primary satisfaction is pulling off a big job, and then sitting back in style "somewhere warm" until another great opportunity comes along or the money runs low. YMVV. show less

Garry Disher writes a good yarn, no doubt about it. Although he is mostly known for his crime fiction, this one is different. I thought that 'Play Abandoned' was an engaging story, masterfully told. The characters are complex and real, their private agonies and desires slowly revealed to the reader. The atmosphere is as oppressive as the Aussie summer, there are hints of danger everywhere, half seen strangers, posters of missing children, the smell of smoke in the air, all of this leading up show more to the out-of-control climax. The subtleties are wonderful, this author should never be pigeonholed as a 'crime writer'. show less

A stand-alone (at least so far) from Garry Disher, who is just. so. darned. good. I really tore through this one. Acting Sgt. Alan Auhl has returned to work after a brief retirement, and is now assigned to Cold Cases and Missing Persons. Nevertheless, he seems to run across a lot of pesky recent crimes, which he'd much rather be working on. And then there are the domestic troubles of the tenants who share his three-story house in the Melbourne neighborhood of Carlton. Auhl has been hosting a show more sort of safe house for "waifs and strays"--friends or family members between jobs, women escaping abusive relationships, his own underemployed daughter, troubled teenagers needing a time-out, and since his wife moved out, the occasional overnight visit from her as well.

As a procedural, this was pretty good, my only quibble being that everyone in Auhl's work circle seems to be a bit too snarky and uncooperative just for the hell of it. But Auhl's personal set-up is the most intriguing part of the story; he has a bit of a messiah complex, and can't resist trying to help "fix" things for people who he sees as having got a raw deal. This leads him into some murky moral dilemmas, and left this reader slightly discomfited about her own reactions. Auhl is a very interesting character, and I hope Disher isn't through with him.

Unfortunately, some of Disher's books are very hard to come by in the U.S. I'll read everything I can get my hands on. show less

Disher turns the standard crime novel on its head with this series. It follows a clever thief named Wyatt as he works the shadowy world of crime. Wyatt is the perfect anti-hero. He's a criminal, he'll steal certainly and will kill if he has to, but otherwise we the readers admire his skill and cleverness, and make note of his strange loyalties and vulnerabilities. Instead of being the character you love to hate, he's the character you hate to love.

In this tale, Wyatt gets a job to break show more into the home of a politician on the take, one with a load of cash in her safe. Wyatt does the job beautifully (it's really hard not to admire such caution, organization and efficiency) and nabs a beautiful Tiffany butterfly brooch from the safe as a bonus. He learns when he tries to fence brooch that it is already stolen goods and before long some very powerful men are looking for him. It all gets quite complicated. There's a reasonably high body count but, damn, you can't help yourself but root for Wyatt to come out okay....

This is certainly not my usual literary crime fare, but it's difficult not to get drawn into this story, seduced by the job details, and pulled along by the slowly increasing suspense. In Wyatt's world it's hard to tell who the bad guys really are. Wyatt as a character is crafted well, a Disher trademark, and the story is well done. All in all, it made for an enjoyable few hours of reading. Note: I believe this is the 2nd in the Wyatt series. show less