Resurrection Bay

After reading this excellent debut novel, I assert that Australian author Emma Viskic is certainly a name to watch out for in the crime genre.

Caleb Zelic hasn't found life easy; profoundly deaf since he was a young boy he's had to work exceptionally hard just to fit in. Our protagonist uses lip reading, examination of facial expressions and small movements of body language (discernible by him alone) as just a few of the techniques he deploys to understand the world around him.

When Caleb's childhood friend, Senior Constable Gary Marsden is murdered, he's determined to discover the identity of the perpetrator especially as he is among the list of suspects. The only clue he has is the name 'Scott', which Gary texted immediately before he was murdered. Caleb enlists the help of his friend Frankie, but ex-cop Frankie has some major issues to deal with herself.

This is a really exciting, fast paced investigation and an extremely dangerous one too.

The bad guys appear to have no moral compass whatsoever while the plot is original and the narrative peppered with observational humor taken from Caleb’s surreal take upon life.

The author has created a wonderfully intriguing protagonist in Caleb, for besides his great sense of humor, she provides the reader insights into just how difficult the profoundly deaf struggle in society using the protagonist as the foil.

I would use superlatives such as exciting, funny, original and deftly plotted without reservation in describing this remarkable debut novel.