Day’s
End, by Garry Disher.
Demoted South Australian Detective Paul Hirschhausen has (after three action-packed books) settled satisfactorily into small-town life in Tiverton as the local constable with a huge rural beat; his patrols around the local farms can take all day – a huge amount of driving, but necessary to establish relationships with those who live in remote areas by choice and/or necessity. Like rich newcomers Sam and Mia Dryden, who have purchased a huge spread which was the last point of contact between Professor Janne Van Sant and her son Willi, on a backpacking holiday in Australia. Professor Van Sant has come from Belgium to search for Willi because he has not emailed or phoned; in fact he has disappeared without trace. The Dryden property was his last known place of employment: she needs to know – and see – where he went missing and Hirsch is her escort for the day.
And all should be well, for the Drydens explain that
Willi and his girlfriend just up and left one day as young people do, so sorry,
can’t help. But attached to the gate at
the beginning of the long drive is a new notice:
Unvaccinated visitors welcome here. We refuse to enforce unlawful directions
from a government that would microchip its people.
It would appear
that not only are the Drydens anti-vaxxers, but about as Far Right as it’s
possible to be, and as Hirsch investigates further into the nasty underbelly of
mis-and-disinformation (even the regional police station has ‘believers’!) he
is also appalled to find that various criminal acts attributed to a new family
of no-hopers in town have shown that they will stop at nothing – even murder –
in their efforts to gain a foothold in a sleepier, safer, less-policed place
than Adelaide. Hirsch’s plate of
calamity is full!
But Hirsch’s problems multiply a hundred-fold with the
report of the disappearance of a light plane used by local Pete Aronson for his
aerial photography business: he and his
plane haven’t been seen for twenty-four hours.
Something is wrong, and when the downed plane is finally found, crashed
and burned-out, Pete’s incinerated remains are found in the tiny cockpit. An accident?
Maybe – until bullet holes are found:
Pete’s little plane has been shot out of the sky. What did he see that cost him his life?
As always, Garry Disher does a wonderfully competent job
of keeping up the suspense, and he portrays with his great characters the sorry
state that the world Post-Covid is in at the moment – I say at the moment
because I hope against hope that previously rational, reasonable,
logically-thinking people will eventually stop believing nasty fairy tales and
start living without fear again. I
hope. FIVE
STARS.
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