Chain of Evidence

by Garry Disher Narrated by Drew De Carvalho

Overview

Garry Disher crafts sharp police procedurals with a distinctive down-under flair. A young girl has been abducted on Australia's Mornington Peninsula and Sergeant Ellen Destry takes the case in Inspector Hal Challis' absence. ". Disher . deserve[s] to be as well known as Michael Connelly and Ian Rankin. Moody, inventive, and extremely hard to put down."-Booklist, starred review

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Australian Disher's fine fourth novel to feature Insp. Hal Challis, head of Peninsula East's Crime Investigation Unit in Waterloo, Queensland (after 2005's Snapshot), opens with the kidnapping of 10-year-old Katie Blasko. In Challis's absence, Sgt. Ellen Destry leads the investigation while her boss visits his dying father in the South Australia sheep-farming village he came from (and does some unofficial sleuthing on the mysterious disappearance of his brother-in-law five years earlier). When the girl is discovered, viciously abused, Destry's supervisors are a bit too eager to close the case as the inquiry widens into something much larger. Disher deftly weaves in layers of complexity, particularly the resentful antagonism that separates Waterloo's lower-middle-class families from the town's power structure. A compelling mix of procedural detail and action round out a fully credible plot and characters. Though some of the multitudinous subplots dilute the novel's overall impact, it's nonetheless a deeply satisfying read. (July)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Library Journal

A kidnapped girl, a ring of pedophiles, and a dead husband spell trouble for Challis and Sgt. Ellen Destry in the fourth of the series set in Australia. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In this engrossing Australian police procedural, cops battle hard to enforce the law-at least, the good ones do. It's a motley group charged with keeping the peace in Victoria, a smallish town southeast of Melbourne. They're smart, dumb, scrupulously honest, irretrievably bent, cops born to be cops and cops hopelessly miscast. Detective Sergeant Ellen Destry is among the best, but as she faces up to new responsibilities, she admits she's got the willies. Detective Inspector Hal Challis, her boss, is away on compassionate leave tending to his dying father, and Ellen's in charge. Though she mostly knows she's absolutely up to the task, a devil's advocate keeps gnawing at her confidence. It's this part of her that officious, would-be martinet Superintendent McQuarrie, who hates women almost as much as fears them, enjoys exploiting. When ten-year-old Katie Blasko goes missing, it restores perspective, and Ellen goes into full cop mode. Has Katie merely wandered off? Has she been kidnapped? Is a pedophile ring active in Victoria, as has long been rumored? If so, have senior police officers been enablers, or indeed have they actively participated? The case widens and goes off in unpredictable directions. As Ellen struggles to crack it, she remembers Hal Challis's iron dictum: Trust no one. Disher (Snapshot, 2006, etc.) creates the kind of complex, edgy, principled yet flawed characters it's a pleasure to worry about.

APR/MAY 08 - AudioFile

Here's a police procedural with a clever reading that's out of the ordinary. What's so different? The action takes place in Australia's Outback, and Drew de Carvalho's narration makes you think you’re right there. While Inspector Hal Challis is away attending his dying father, his subordinate, Sergeant Ellen Destry, investigates the kidnapping of a child. When the abused child is found, Destry realizes she's dealing with much more than meets the eye. Meanwhile, even away from his job, Challis finds another mystery to solve. De Carvalho's reading is too quick to savor, but you'll never mistake his Australian accents. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170937585
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	11/26/2007
Edition description:	Unabridged

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