Resurrection Bay

This starts with the lead character Caleb, covered in blood, holding the body of his colleague Gary and doesn’t let up.

“Caleb was still holding him when the paramedics arrived. Stupid to have called an ambulance – Gary was dead. Had to be dead. Couldn’t breathe with his throat slit open like that. The ambos seemed to think so, too. They stopped short of the blood-slicked kitchen tiles, their eyes on Gary’s limp form in his arms”.

Caleb has a hearing disability since having meningitis as a five year old. He and his partner Frankie, ex police women, formed Trust Works five years ago doing corporate security and fraud investigation; they are working on a case for the insurance company. A factory robbery netted the thieves two show more million dollars’ worth of cigarettes. The insurance company suspect an inside job. This shouldn’t have resulted in Gary, Senior Constable Marsden, being executed with his throat slashed.

The writing is sharp and punchy. The dialogue terse and believable.

"McFarlane turned down his thick lips like a disappointed father. ‘All right, Caleb, let’s say it wasn’t you. But immediately after he received that call, Constable Marsden made two phone calls to Resurrection Bay. Do you know who he called?’
‘No.’
‘We’re talking about your hometown, Caleb. Come on, take a guess.’
‘I don’t know – his mum? Why’s it relevant, anyway? No-one in the Bay’s got anything to do with his death.’
‘Relevant.’ McFarlane’s head bobbed. ‘That’s good. You speak really well, you know. I can hardly tell you’re disabled.’
It would be stupid, very stupid, to punch a cop in a police station.
‘Thanks. Your consonants could do with some work.’ "

The body count grows and this simple insurance job starts to look very complex and menacing. Those closest to Caleb become entangled in the mystery and are increasingly in danger.

I cannot wait to follow Caleb in his next saga “And Fire Came Down” show less

This was a very easy read and I whipped through it, thanks to the pacey plot and the engaging characters. It was a bit slight at times, a bit far-fetched at others, but central character Caleb Zelic is likeable and believable. He's deaf and stubborn, has an alcoholic ex-cop business partner, and an equally stubborn ex-wife.

The story centres around an insurance scam that Zelic and his partner Frankie are investigating. Zelic involves his childhood best friend, a serving police officer, who dies in Zelic's arms on the first page. The race is then on to find out why before Zelic and those he holds dear are also killed.

Resurrection Bay is the first book in a thrilling Australian crime fiction series by Emma Viskic featuring Caleb Zelic.

After Caleb Zelic receives a panicked text from his best mate, Senior Constable Gary Marsden, he is horrified to discover his friend has been savagely murdered. The police first seem eager to place the blame at Caleb’s feet, suggesting that the side work Gary has been doing for the security and investigation company Caleb operates with his partner, ex-cop Frankie Reynolds, is dodgy, and when that fails to pan out, instead insinuate that Gary was a bent cop who got in over his head. Caleb is determined to prove the police wrong and find whomever is responsible for the brutal crime, but in the attempt he, and the woman show more he loves, becomes the target of a dangerous criminal conspiracy.

Moving between urban and regional Victoria, Resurrection Bay is fast paced with plenty of action. Caleb suspects a link between Gary’s death and a recent warehouse theft, but before he can make much headway in his investigation his business partner goes missing, and Caleb is attacked, barely escaping with his life. A game of cat and mouse ensues, with the mysterious cabal seemingly always one step ahead, and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure Caleb doesn’t uncover their secrets. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story, which is tightly plotted, and includes a touch of dry humour, and even subtle romance.

Caleb Zelic is a compelling protagonist, in large part because he is deaf, having lost his hearing after a bout of meningitis as a young child. While Caleb is fiercely independent, skilled at lip-reading, interpreting body language, and seems to have an impressive memory, his impairment has both its benefits and challenges which I think Viskic portrays sensitively and realistically. Like any well developed character though, Caleb is a mass of contradictions, with strengths and flaws that makes him believable and relatable.

The book has quite a diverse cast of characters who vary in age, social status and race. Unsure who he can trust as he pursues the truth about his friend’s death, Caleb relies on his business partner, Frankie, and his ex-wife Kat. Though he trusts Frankie, a recovering alcoholic in her fifties, to have his back, it’s clear he harbours some concerns about her continued sobriety from the outset. Caleb is still in love with Kat, a Koori artist, and their marriage breakdown seems fairly recent, he is devastated when Kat is targeted to get to him.

Gritty, edgy and original, Resurrection Bay is an exciting read and I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series, And Fire Came Down show less

Caleb findet seinen besten Freund Gary brutal ermordet in dessen Haus vor. Da Gary, hauptberuflich Polizist, ihm auch bei seiner Arbeit als Privatermittler unterstützt hat, macht er sich gemeinsam mit seiner Kollegin Frankie auf die Suche nach dessen Mörder. Und stellt bald fest, dass ihm der Mörder immer schon eine Spur voraus ist.

Calebs Behinderung ist nicht nur eine Einschränkung um ihn interessanter zu machen, sondern ist tatsächlich prägend für seine Persönlichkeit und damit auch für die Geschichte. Da er beispielsweise ungern auf seine Taubheit hinweist, wird immer wieder deutlich, wie schwierig es für ihn ist, einem Gespräch mit Hörenden zu folgen, wenn diese aus Unkenntnis oder einfach rücksichtslos undeutlich show more sprechen oder ihr Gesicht abwenden. Geschickt wechselt die Autorin auch zwischen Gesprochenem und Gesten, wenn sich Caleb mit Frankie oder seiner Ex-Frau unterhält – für mich war diese Art der Unterhaltung nachvollziehbar wie auch amüsant.

Bei der Geschichte selbst habe ich so lange wie selten im Dunkeln getappt. Irgendwie hatte ich überhaupt keinen Schimmer, in welche Richtung sich das Ganze wenden würde und entsprechend überraschend war dann das Ende. Dass so ganz nebenbei noch eine Liebesgeschichte abläuft und Alles in einem riesen Showdown endet hätte nicht sein müssen – das Buch wäre trotzdem gut geworden. Vielleicht sogar noch ein bisschen besser show less

4.5 stars.

With outstanding characterization, an intriguing mystery and a wonderful setting, Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic is a spellbinding debut. This first installment in the Caleb Zelic series is fast-paced, engaging and impossible to put down.

Caleb Zelic and his partner, former police detective, Frankie Reynolds, own and operate a security firm, Trust Works. Assisting them from time to time is his best friend from childhood, Senior Constable Gary Marsden. When Gary is brutally murdered, Caleb is stunned to discover the investigator assigned to the case, Detective Tedesco, is convinced his friend was a dirty copper. Equally shocking is the discovery that since Gary was working on a case with him, Tedesco and Detective Sergeant show more McFarlane also believe that Caleb is involved in some type of illegal activity. When Frankie unexpectedly goes missing, he is afraid she will meet the same fate as Gary and Caleb turns to his ex-wife Kat to help him after he is attacked. They then return to their hometown in Resurrection Bay but will this protect them from the people who determined to silence Caleb?

With a profound hearing loss, Caleb sometimes misses key parts of conversations but he is a force to be reckoned with following Gary's murder. He stubbornly refuses to stop trying to figure out who killed his best friend and he knows beyond any doubt that Detective Tedesco's assertion that Gary is involved in something illegal is wrong. But Caleb is a little puzzled by some of the phone calls Gary made right before his death, and he is soon quite busy trying to uncover the truth.

Caleb is very surprised to learn that his brother, Anton, is one of the people whom Gary phoned. Caleb's relationship with Anton is not very close due to his brother's problems with drug addiction. They have been somewhat estranged for quite some time so Caleb is a little taken aback when he realizes things with Anton have changed for the better. Yet given his brother's history, Caleb is rather skeptical that he can be fully trusted.

The next person Caleb questions gives him reason to doubt that he knows Gary as well as he believed. The information that is revealed to him is eyebrow-raising but this unexpected revelation does not necessarily mean his friend would cross the line and do anything illegal. Caleb continues to be loyal to Gary's memory but will another inconsistency discovered by Detective Tedesco change his mind?

Meanwhile, Frankie finally turns up unharmed and they are quickly embroiled in a quest to see if there is a link between their current case and Gary's murder. As they re-examine every bit of evidence they have unearthed, they learn that two other people connected to their investigation have also turned up dead. When Caleb finally stumbles onto the truth, he is absolutely stunned by the identities of the people who are involved.

Resurrection Bay is a fast-paced and riveting whodunit. The characters are quite unique and superbly developed. Caleb is a fantastic protagonist who is a little naive but he is very personable with some well-honed instincts. The investigation into Gary's murder is very interesting and Emma Viskic brilliantly obscures the perpetrators' identities until the novel's action-packed, dramatic conclusion. Fans of the genre will be impatiently awaiting the next installment in the Caleb Zelic series. show less

RESURRECTION BAY does not waste any time letting you know what kind of book it’s going to be. It opens with one young man cradling the presumably lifeless body of a mate while paramedics look on warily. At least Caleb Zelic assumes Gary is dead. “Had to be dead. Couldn’t breathe with his throat slit open like that.” Indeed.

We then piece together that Caleb and Gary were childhood mates. Caleb, runs a private security company and had asked Gary, a policeman, to help him on an investigation. Which has apparently resulted in Gary’s death.

Fueled by a mixture of guilt, paranoia and a desire for justice Gary and his business partner, a fifty-something, female, ex-cop called Frankie, search for the killer. They are thwarted by having show more precious-little information with which to start, not knowing which police officers involved in the official investigation are corrupt and which aren’t and an assortment of personal baggage that could, in fact does, derail them at any point.

It’s bloody gripping tale that doesn’t let up for a single one of its deliciously short 262 pages. That alone would be enough to recommend it. But there’s more.

Its characters are intriguing. Imperfect, sometimes outright daft, fallible. Humans. Caleb is profoundly deaf from a childhood illness. He prefers to lip read and talk to communicate though he signs as well with people he loves. What he won’t do – to the point that it sometimes causes him more harm than needs be – is let on when he needs help. For reasons that a psychologist wouldn’t need too many billable hours to discern, I found this quality, this stubborn pride or whatever it is, endearing. Though at the same time I could understand why it drove his ex-wife mad with frustration. Without making a show of it Viskic does a great job of giving readers a glimpse of what life might be like for someone deaf – its challenges and compensations – but her real skill is in making Caleb a complete, well-rounded human being for whom deafness is just another thing to deal with.

Everyone we meet in this ensemble cast is connected to Caleb in some way. Frankie battles her own demons – addiction and the resultant social isolation – and is difficult for Caleb – and readers – to know well. Kat, conversely, wears her emotions more openly, and it’s not hard to see why Caleb is still in love with her despite their separation. As regular readers of this blog would know I’m not much of a romantic but I was rooting for them to work out their troubles. The other players – the in-laws, the childhood friends, the suspicious cops – are all vibrant even if they only appear for a few lines.

The book’s title comes from Caleb’s home town, Gary’s and Kat’s too for that matter, and action eventually moves there from Melbourne when Caleb needs a place to lie low and recover from injuries he’s received in the course of the investigation. There’s a nice juxtaposition between city and small town life and both settings have a very authentic feel to them which rounds out all the elements I look for in my reading.

RESURRECTION BAY is sad and funny and thrilling and very, very good. It’s even got a kicker of an ending. You should read it. Now. show less

Emma Viskic burst onto the Australian crime writing scene back in 2015 and I'm just catching up now. Winning a bunch of awards, Resurrection Bay is the first in the series featuring Caleb Zelic.

Caleb has been deaf since childhood and has learned to adapt by lip reading, closely observing his surroundings and by actively interpreting other key signs and signals. Caleb is an investigator and runs his business with an ex-cop by the name of Frankie.

Caleb is such a fresh and unique character I immediately warmed to him. Caleb's deafness is very much part of who he is and reading about him and the danger he soon finds himself in really helped me to understand the challenges those hard of hearing inevitably face every day.

I can't recall a show more character like him in crime fiction, perhaps with the exception of John Stefanovitch; a New York cop confined to a wheelchair after being shot and left for dead in the 1989 novel The Midnight Club by James Patterson.

I found myself invested in Caleb way more than the plot, and knew early on this was a series I would continue reading. There's plenty of action, tension and diversity as well as Aussie references and recognisable settings in this debut.

I've already read the next in the series - And Fire Came Down - which I believe is better than this one, which has directly informed my rating below. I'm giving it 3.5 stars rounded down. Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic is highly recommended for crime fiction fans. show less