Those Who Perish
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3.9 • 19 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
'You should be careful, Mr Zelic. Because the person who killed Peter Taylor will almost certainly kill again.'
The detective's glassy eyes didn't blink. 'And you're already in their sights.'
Deaf PI Caleb Zelic has always been an outsider, estranged from family and friends. But when he receives a message that his brother, Anton, is in danger, Caleb sees it as a chance at redemption.
He tracks Anton down to a small, wind-punished island where secrets run deep and resentments deeper. When a sniper starts terrorising the isolated community, the brothers must rely on each other like never before.
But trust comes at a deadly price ...
PRAISE FOR THOSE WHO PERISH:
'I rate Emma Viskic as Australia's best crime writer - vivid characters, ingenious plots and a passionate social conscience' - PHILLIP ADAMS
'Emma Viskic is a terrific, gutsy writer with great insight' - EMILY MAGUIRE
'Tense and atmospheric' - GARRY DISHER
'Compelling' - CHRIS HAMMER
'Addictive' - DERVLA McTIERNAN
'Thrilling' - CHRISTIAN WHITE
PRAISE FOR THE CALEB ZELIC SERIES:
'A mazey delight of a mystery' - IAN RANKIN
'Outstanding, gripping, violent' - THE GUARDIAN
'An Australian thriller at its finest' - JANE HARPER
'Superb cast of characters' - THE TIMES
'Trailing literary prizes in its wake ... superbly characterised' - FINANCIAL TIMES
Customer Reviews
‘Resurrection Bay’ is still the best
Author
Australian chamber musician turned multiple award-winning crime novelist. This is the fourth instalment of a series based around deaf private detective, which began with ‘Resurrection Bay’ (2015).
Precis
Having thrown off the yoke of a dodgy, and deadly (as well as dead) partner, our boy is doing okay solo. He’s also reunited with the love of his life, a First Nations woman in his fictional coastal Victorian hometown: Resurrection Bay. She is heavily pregnant with their child. Home for a quiet visit, Caleb finds his drug addict brother being shot at by a sniper in pouring rain. He’s then approached to investigate some shenanigans at the local footy club, but goes looking for his brother too. Finds him at a rehab facility on an island in the bay (Resurrection Bay, remember) where all manner of strangeness is going down. Yada, yada. Red herrings galore, irascible island types, twist and turns; beatings, bullets, explosions, sundry other close calls for our boy; childbirth; relationship breakdown; hope for the future; the end.
Writing
Crisp, spare prose, good pace, with a plot that’s a tad all over the shop for my liking, although individual mileage may differ. The spareness of the prose, which aims to mirror the ideas rattling around in the head of a deaf man trying to understand what’s being said (at least I presume that’s what it’s supposed to do) felt overdone at times.
Bottom line
‘Resurrection Bay’ is still the best of the series.
Dragging it on too long
While I immensely enjoyed Emma’s first 3 novels this novel felt like more of the same at this point she has dragged out the main characters relationships and pregnancy through 3 novels with little to show for it, similar for many of the relationships in the book. The plot also felt repetitive and I ended up skipping pages just trying to get to the end. And what a disappointing ending too.