Under the Cold Bright Lights

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 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 show more 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

From an opening scene that's equal parts scary and hilarious, Australian author Garry Disher yanked me right into Under the Cold Bright Lights and made me stay. I was a willing hostage, and it had everything to do with Alan Auhl.

Every day, he's faced with "Oi, Retread!" and "Don't forget your Zimmer frame," but it doesn't matter to him. The Job matters to him. Figuring out what happened, bringing justice to each case. All he wants to do is right wrongs. He lives in three-story "Chateau Auhl" with his daughter, his ex-wife, Cynthia the cat, his tenants, and a motley tide of waifs and strays that ebbs and flows depending on their needs. Young Claire Pascal has the popular opinion of Alan Auhl until she starts getting partnered up with show more him, and the development of their relationship is another strong element in this book.

Disher has a turn of phrase that I enjoy. Reading things like "...she was as ugly as a hatful of arseholes" or (describing his boss) "Hers was a face that could stare down a cavalry division" not only provoke vivid mental images but they also add needed levity to a very serious tale. Under the Cold Bright Lights is a nicely mixed bag of cases. Sometimes you know whodunit, sometimes you don't, but you always get the pleasure of watching how Auhl handles each one. Alan knows what evil can show itself under the glare of cold, bright lights, and he is not afraid.

All he's ever wanted to do is to right wrongs.

Read this book and savor it. It's a good'un that should not be missed. show less

Fabulous standalone crime novel from versatile and prolific Australian Garry Disher, author of the excellent Hal Challis/Ellen Destry crime series, the Wyatt crime series* (sort of a reverse crime series, as it follows the thief), and numerous other novels for adults, YA and young children.

In this crime novel he focuses on an older cop, Alan Auhl, now working several cold cases. A skeleton has been found under a cement slab, clearly put there more than a few years ago; a family of a log-dead man still insists he was murdered and there’s a doctor who claims his latest wife is going to kill him (that last is connected to a earlier case Auhl was a part of).

Alan Auhl is a great character, a bit different than the usual perhaps. Alan show more inherited a big house and he big-heartedly rents rooms out to “random boarders and hard-luck stories” which sometimes includes his ex-wife. He can get a bit too involved in things, gets frustrated with the system, sometimes plays it too close to the edge, sometimes crosses the line. A few times I mused that perhaps he shares a common ancestor with Rankin’s Rebus. All in all, another top-notch book from Disher.

*I have only read one of the Wyatt novels. Not my thing. show less

Disher is a new author for me, although he's written many books, mostly set in Australia. This book was billed as a stand-alone, which seemed a good way to be introduced, but having read the book, I hope very much this will be the first of a series.

Detective Alan Auhl, a burned-out 50-something homicide cop, has returned after five years to work cold cases. He lives in an old 3-story house left to him by his parents, and he fills the house with troubled souls, students, and visiting professors; his estranged wife (who comes and goes to her second floor rooms and occasionally allows him to spend the night with her), and their college student daughter (third floor). His relationship with the other cold-case staff begins tentatively show more because of his age, but that changes as they realize what a valuable co-worker he can be. Auhl is a wonderful main character, a dogged detective who cares about the people around him and the victims and families whose cases he works, but capable of surprising actions when he feels they're warranted. I ended the book with great respect for him, tinged with wondering what this man is capable of doing in the future.

I was hooked from the first few pages. Highly recommended. And now I'm off to look for more by the author. show less

Garry Disher’s latest novel is a standalone story (at least for now) set against the backdrop of greater Melbourne, occasionally stretching as far as Geelong. UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS opens in a small town on the urban fringe. A dangerous snake has hidden itself under an old, unused concrete slab in the backyard of a young family’s home. When the slab is dug up as part of snake catching efforts a skeleton is found. We meet the book’s central character, Alan Auhl, when the cold case squad he works with is called in. At first they must identify the person, not easy due to the house’s history as a rental home, before moving on to discovering what led to their death and burial. The process the team has to go through is well show more depicted, giving a good sense of how painstaking it must be to investigate cases from even the relatively recent past.

Several other strands play out alongside the story’s main plotline. Auhl is contacted for news each year by the daughters of a man killed some years ago whose murderer has never been caught. Then there’s the tangled case of the doctor who alerts the police that his wife might be a murderer. Auhl is skeptical because he believes the doctor has killed two of his previous wives but was clever enough to get away with it. And we haven’t even gotten to Auhl’s personal life yet. He lives in the big old house he inherited from his parents and rents rooms out to a mismatched collection of waifs and strays. These include Neve Fanning and her daughter Pia who are trying to escape the clutches of Neve’s abusive ex husband who has the money and connections to use the legal system to his advantage.

These days picking up a new police procedurals is a bit risky as the trend for damaged central characters can make for repetitive reading. But Disher is a true master of his craft so manages to make Auhl stand out from the pack without using tired tropes such as the almost ubiquitous addiction. That doesn’t mean he’s all sweetness and light though. His nickname in the office is Retread because he’s returned from retirement and is the oldest person in the team by quite some years. I can attest personally to the authenticity with which the complexities of being an ‘older worker’ in a workforce entranced by youth is depicted. His marriage is…awkward to say the least and at one point he crosses a behavioural line that will surely haunt him but all this just makes for an interesting character that doesn’t feel like a rehashing of all those who have come before him.

And the story itself is a ripper. Disher juggles all the threads expertly and maintains just the right levels of suspense and heart. Readers aren’t led to believe that strange cold cases can be solved in a moment but nor are we bored to tears by too much detail. There is a good mix of the personal and professional too with Auhl’s home life offering lots of interest.

It doesn’t really come as a surprise that Garry Disher has produced another fantastic book but when someone is as consistently good as Disher it can be easy to take them for granted. UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS could easily be the start of a new series but stands equally well as a single novel, and is highly recommended for fans of top notch procedurals. It’s fast paced, sparsely written and genuinely surprising. show less

I've read quite a few of Garry Disher's books and enjoyed them all, including this one. Alan Auhl is an interesting character and he certainly does do things his own way in order to achieve results. Disher's characters often walk a fine line between what is considered inside and outside the law - and here we see that Auhl is no exception.

This is an intelligently written, very Australian (in a good way) crime novel. But as with most of Disher's books it is so much more than a crime novel, covering any number of pertinent social issues.

It's a stand alone book, but I really hope Disher will bring Auhl back again sometime.

This was well-narrated and I found the narrative compelling throughout. The hero, cold case detective Alan Auhl was a mature, thoughtful and kind character who worked well with others.

SPOILERS

It was a bit of a surprise then when he travelled to Bali to murder the vindictive and abusive estranged husband of one of the waifs and strays he had taken in. This was particularly odd, given that there was plenty of material available to deal with him using the courts and due legal process. Given that I always say how much I disapprove of characters taking the law into their own hands, it is a testimony to how well-written this book is that I'm still giving it 5 stars.