I was in the mood for a good police procedural, and this delivered, as Garry Disher novels always do. Also, I have discovered a delightful piece of Australian vocabulary: 'whipper-snipper' for strimmer. I plan to use it myself in future. ( )

The last available entry in the Hal Challis series, as of this writing (May 2021). A lot of characters, a lot of threads in a bit of a tangle, and a rather incomprehensible competition between Challis and Destry's teams and a Senior Sergeant from the drug squad over who's going to "get" the bad guys who are distributing drugs, raping women and putting children at risk. Just a tad too much of everything. This one needed one less complication. I had a lot of trouble buying the Sergeant who would do anything to score an arrest and to hell with the missing six-year-old. Her stupidity got her shot in the end, but she should have been relieved before it went that far. ( )

Undoubtedly, the Mornington Peninsula is a very pleasant place to visit. But I have a suspicion that the local Tourist Bureau would prefer that Garry Disher used a fictional name for the location of his series of crime thrillers, as he does for the main town 'Waterloo' instead of its real name 'Hastings'.

This one, the seventh, is probably the best in the series, and possibly the funniest despite the bleakness of the crimes. It starts with an Abbott and Costello pair of contract hit men who actually phone the emergency triple zero number asking for advice on how to revive someone they're torturing for information. And then they're killed in a bushfire one of them started throughing a cigarette butt out of the car window.
This may be a crime novel, but there is plenty of humour, much of it quite black. The banter between the characters is entertaining, and there are, perhaps unexpectedly, plenty of laugh-out-loud moments as well as a good dose or two of irony.
While this is the seventh book in the series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone, although that’s unlikely to happen: readers new to the series will be unable to resist seeking out the earlier books; fans of Disher’s work will not be disappointed. Clever and topical, this is Aussie crime fiction at its best. ( )

This was an intriguing book. Some of the plotlines seemed unrelated but were cleverly linked in the end. I had some trouble keeping the characters straight, at first, but that's probably because I haven't read the other books in the series. It can be read as a standalone, though. I also liked how it's Australian but doesn't push it too much as an emphasis.
I received my copy for free through Goodreads First Reads. ( )

Gritty crime novel!

Set in the Mornington Peninsula region, south-east of Melbourne, Australia, makes this a fascinating read, as I happen to know that region reasonably well. So I was already hooked. But then again Garry Disher is one of my fav. authors. Local knowledge gives solidarity and legs to any reading.
The novel deals with drugs, deals, stolen equipment, and a serial rapist.
Laconic Inspector Hal Challis of the Drug Squad and his girlfriend Sergeant Ellen Destry of the Sex Crimes Unit find their cases merging.
The spread of methane-ice and it's consequences are devastating, the squalor real.
Like a fast-paced, noir criminal journalist, Disher leads us across state lines whilst paying attention to the minutiae that surrounds the desolate fate of the addict and the effect on those around them. Disher uses the background of rural Australia as a launching place for the very real issue of drugs on local communities, all the while spinning a mesmerizing story that weaves in and out of criminal, victims and law enforcers lives.
One cannot fault Disher's vivid prose. The situations come to life in that bald, bare way that is so nuanced and yet simultaneously in your face.
By the way I really like the cover!

A NetGalley ARC ( )