Review: Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic

Title: Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
Caleb Zelic Series Book One
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 288 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

The acclaimed debut thriller from Australia’s most exciting new crimewriting talent.

The 2nd Caleb Zelic title, AND FIRE CAME DOWN, will be published October, 2018, and the author is already writing a 3rd installment.

Caleb Zelic can’t hear you but he sees everything, and he never forgets a face.

Caleb Zelic’s childhood friend has been brutally murdered – fingers broken, throat slit – at his home in Melbourne. Caleb vows to track down the killer, but he’s profoundly deaf; missed words and misread lips can lead to confusion, and trouble. Fortunately, Caleb knows how to read people; a sideways glance, an unconvincing smile, speak volumes. When his friend Frankie, a former cop, offers to help, they soon discover the killer is on their tail. Sensing that his ex-wife may also be in danger, Caleb insists they return to their hometown of Resurrection Bay. But here he learns that everyone – including his murdered friend – is hiding something. And the deeper he digs, the darker the secrets…

Review:

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 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.