For Garry Disher aficionados, this eighth book in the inimitable Wyatt series leaves little to be desired.
The fast-paced plot shifts from Melbourne to the Gold Coast and quickly moves from double cross to double cross. The reader has to be well over halfway into this crime novel before encountering an honest person.
The reader is captured by Wyatt. After all, Wyatt is a professional thief not by necessity but by choice. He will kill if he has to, but is not a professional killer. He is also not a thrill-seeker – in fact the exact opposite, he is a cautious person to the point of paranoia whose meticulous planning and observational prowess keep him out of trouble, at least some of the time. When things go wrong, his ability to think on his feet and quickly devise a Plan B is enviable. Perhaps his attraction to the honest reader is that Wyatt is not only a gifted professional but also honest himself. A deal is a deal, a job taken has to be completed, you don’t drink when you work. Wyatt’s keen observation of the people he might avoid working with add depth to the quick moving plot:
“Send them to rob a place and they take everything…couldn’t tell the difference between a Rolex and a thirty-dollar watch. And if the job did come off they’d brag in public or give stolen valuables to their junkie girlfriends, who’d head straight for a pawnshop and smile at the CCTV mounted on the wall.”
Disher not only brings Wyatt to life but also colourfully evokes the the surroundings. So you glimpse the bikini girls and feel the heat and experience the traffic jam as if you were with Wyatt.
The fast-moving spellbinding plot keeps the reader turning the pages and makes it hard to put the book down and return to real life. So why the opening comment that this exciting thriller leaves little to be desired rather than leaves nothing to be desired? It is because there are one or two coincidences that are a little hard to swallow. But coincidences happen in real life and those in this novel do not diminish the thrill.
While Wyatt’s survival skills have taken him this far, the reader is left pondering whether he will survive to steal another day.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
By Gary Disher
Text Publishing
