A review by never4get
Darkness for Light by Emma Viskic
4.0
A continuation of the Caleb Zelic investigator series - number 3 in the series. I love the carefully crafted description of Caleb's deafness and his interaction in the world by a combination of lip-reading and his hearing aids, or sign language with others who share that with him. The difficulties of lip reading when people mumble, speak too quickly or have facial hair are quite illustrative - and amusing.
'Make Good Decisions' was Caleb's motto after the previous traumas he'd endured.
But Caleb again gets drawn into a crime against his will when there are a number of brutal murders and a child is kidnapped when he was 'looking after' her. This brings his former partner Frankie back into the scene [because Frankie is her aunt] and together they frantically try to work out the background and locate where she is. Meanwhile Caleb is being pursued by a federal police agent Imogen who is determined to get information she wants from Frankie's sister - who has been brutally attacked and is in an induced coma.
As always, the delightful interaction between Caleb and his wife Kat are a welcome respite from the harrowing pace of what is going on in Caleb's life. Their relationship is still undefined - with another Aboriginal man hovering on the periphery and helping Kat with her artwork. So far Kat's pregnancy is going OK, but both are always on edge that she will suffer another miscarriage.
In this book Frankie is eliminated completely, and is revealed once again as a traitor to Caleb. The daughter is eventually returned to her sister, but because Caleb had revealed all her illegal trading, she tells the daughter that he is a 'bad man' - which confuses the daughter because she had liked him very much.
There is also a side story of a restaurant owned by a deaf owner with totally deaf employees, which was being sabotaged by someone. Caleb solves that issue, but not without putting the elderly owner offside for a time at least. The end of the book is quite hopeful, after a successful ultrasound and a joyful party at the restaurant. I look forward to the next book.
'Make Good Decisions' was Caleb's motto after the previous traumas he'd endured.
But Caleb again gets drawn into a crime against his will when there are a number of brutal murders and a child is kidnapped when he was 'looking after' her. This brings his former partner Frankie back into the scene [because Frankie is her aunt] and together they frantically try to work out the background and locate where she is. Meanwhile Caleb is being pursued by a federal police agent Imogen who is determined to get information she wants from Frankie's sister - who has been brutally attacked and is in an induced coma.
As always, the delightful interaction between Caleb and his wife Kat are a welcome respite from the harrowing pace of what is going on in Caleb's life. Their relationship is still undefined - with another Aboriginal man hovering on the periphery and helping Kat with her artwork. So far Kat's pregnancy is going OK, but both are always on edge that she will suffer another miscarriage.
In this book Frankie is eliminated completely, and is revealed once again as a traitor to Caleb. The daughter is eventually returned to her sister, but because Caleb had revealed all her illegal trading, she tells the daughter that he is a 'bad man' - which confuses the daughter because she had liked him very much.
There is also a side story of a restaurant owned by a deaf owner with totally deaf employees, which was being sabotaged by someone. Caleb solves that issue, but not without putting the elderly owner offside for a time at least. The end of the book is quite hopeful, after a successful ultrasound and a joyful party at the restaurant. I look forward to the next book.