Under the Cold Bright Lights
Garry Disher
Alan Auhl has come out of retirement to look into cold cases. He’s got himself a flock of needy cases at home, and is bound to run into some more at work. With a soft heart but an inability to express himself, will Auhl be able to see justice done?
Ugh, I spent this novel reading it in a sort of daze of disbelief. To start with, I didn’t really connect with the main character, and the style of writing just didn’t take me into the novel. And then, funnily enough, the protagonist talks about reading a book with no discernable plot-line. This one was just the same!
It’s nice to have a home-grown novel, for once I actually know the distances between the places that are mentioned. By the end of the novel though, I started running out of room in my head for place names and everything.
I find it hard to believe that a psychological expert could still make such statements about child sexual abuse being ‘made up’ by the child. Children rarely make things up as serious as that – unless they have been subjected to it, they probably don’t know even what it means to be sexually abused. That’s why it’s important to teach children the real names of genitals and so forth.
Is this the sort of novel that needs a sequel? I’m not really sure. All I can tell is that Alan honestly doesn’t seem to have much to live for, or much of a drive for life, and so he doesn’t care about how the ‘right’ outcome occurs. I’m giving this 2 begrudging stars. I felt like I had to finish it because I requested it, but honestly I shouldn’t have wasted my time.
Text Publishing | 30th October 2017 | AU $29.99 | paperback
I wonder if we read the same book. I found it evocative of time and place, the characters were well developed and the description of the poor and ill educated contending with the justice system rings all too true. One only has to sit in the Magistrate’s Court for a couple of days to see the truth of that.
I hope Gary Disher gives us another outing.
That’s why it’s so important to have a range of reviewers for novels! I guess I compared it to the Amos Decker novel and Irene and found it wanting. Have you tried either of those? I’d love to hear your opinion.