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KITTYHAWK DOWN is the second in the excellent series featuring Detective Inspector Hal Challis who is trying to juggle his work with his personal life. An unidentified man has been pulled from the sea with an anchor wrapped round his waist; a meddlesome farmer starts his own crime wave and Challis's friend is being stalked. On top of all this Challis still cannot seem to stay away from his wife who is currently in jail for plotting his murder and is not above using emotional blackmail to keep him by her side despite what she has done -- much to the dismay of his current girlfriend who is the editor of the local newspaper. Even his fellow officers are hard to trust, as some of them do not appear to be able to distinguish between their personal and their work responsibilities. KITTYHAWK DOWN is a terrific and first-rate Australian police procedural set on what is known as the Peninsula which is not that far from Melbourne. This is a stylish, well-written novel with good characterisation. The author Garry Disher has provided numerous perspectives of other characters especially those of the Challis's colleagues and we see them investigate from the mundane to the precarious. The relationship between Challis' girlfriend and indirectly his wife is one of the most intriguing and fascinating that I have read in a long while. Disher has also made Challis one of those individuals whose emotional life is stressed and chaotic but also has a significant bearing not only on his character development but also on that of others in the book. With a storyline that is fast-paced, full of suspense, and has lots of action, it is no wonder that this series has garnered the praise that it has. As this series continues, it is bound to acquire a solid fan base of its own from those who have come to appreciate the tightly-written and atmospheric police procedural.
Reviewed by Ayo Onatade, May 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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