When review copies of Emma Viskic’s third Caleb Zelic crime novel became available, you can bet I leapt right on that review train and shouted PICK ME PICK ME PICK ME.

I loved the first two in this series – Resurrection Bay and And Fire Came Down – so hard that I compulsively live tweeted my feelz as I went.

Does Darkness for Light live up to the promise of the first two?

Reader, I compulsively live tweeted my (spoiler-free) feelz again. Spare a thought for Emma Viskic, who, when I wailed about Caleb’s terrible life choices, replied: "HE'S TRYING NARRELLE".

Darkness for Light is a fantastic crime thriller, drawing on thematic and plot threads from the first two. Caleb, the deaf security consultant protagonist, really is trying very, very hard to make good life decisions this time around, but with the detritus from previous the past clinging on, life is conspiring maliciously against him.

The blurb:

After a lifetime of bad decisions troubled PI Caleb Zelic is finally making good ones. He’s in therapy, reconnecting with the Deaf community, and reconciling with his beloved wife.

But he can’t escape his past.

A violent confrontation forces Caleb back into contact with his double-crossing partner, Frankie. When her niece is kidnapped, Frankie and Caleb must work together to save the child’s life. But their efforts will risk everything, including their own lives.

The title comes from a bible quote: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for better.” ~ Isaiah 5:20

Without giving away any of the key twists, turns, back flips and I-never-saw-it-comings, Darkness for Light not only matches the crisp writing and superbly crafted professional and personal tensions of the first two books, it ramps up the stakes.

The possibility of a better life is haunting Caleb, with his estranged wife Kat in the early stages of a pregnancy which they hope she can carry to term, this time. When Frankie’s niece Tilda is kidnapped in relation to a case he’s been reluctantly dragged into, Caleb is desperate to save the girl. (Narratively, it feels like Caleb’s instinct is that the fates of Kat’s developing child and Tilda are linked.)

For all his faults, Caleb remains likeable and you really want him to sort out his life, deal with all his issues and live the life he longs for with the woman he loves. And, as Emma Viskic points out, he really is trying, but old enemies, old frenemies and even old and new friends present such a deep blend of motivations and agendas that he has little hope of sorting out what choices constitute ‘good’.

Viskic is immensely clever and satisfying in the ways she weaves together the strengths and vulnerabilities of Caleb’s deafness, the textures of his complex relationships, and the weight of his past against the pull of a future he longs for.

All of this growth and pain plays out as Caleb first of all stumbles onto a dead body where he expected a rendezvous, is blackmailed into helping a Federal Police Officer into a job he’d rather not do, and finally gets horribly tangled up with money laundering, corruption, assault, and murder.

Oh, and he’s also trying to assist a friend from his community unravel a case of vandalism.

The story is engrossing from start to end. The key characters are textured and often sympathetic even when you doubt their motives and decisions. The plotting is clever and all the pieces fit together without being predictable.

In short, Darkness for Light is a thoroughly satisfying read, which adds to the flow and depth of its thoroughly satisfying predecessors. All the stars for Emma Viskic!

Thanks to taking part in the Australian Women Writers Challenge for years now, I've been reading Emma Viskic's Caleb Zelic series since the first in the series, Resurrection Bay, was published in Australia. I highly anticipate each new addition to the series and am thrilled she's getting more exposure in the U.S.

Caleb Zelic has been deaf since childhood which gives him investigative strengths in other sensory areas that hearing people haven't developed. On the other hand, his hearing loss can cause some problems, particularly when he doesn't wear his hearing aids (which cause their own set of problems for him.)

Darkness for Light is another fantastic entry in the series. It’s hard to make me LOL in the same story where people are being hunted down to be killed and a child is in danger, but Viskic pulls it off.

Darkness for Light isn’t out in the U.S. until June 2020, so you have plenty of time to read her first two in the series, Resurrection Bay & And Fire Came Down. I'll be reviewing this title for Criminal Element.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for approving the ARC. I also ordered the Australian edition from Book Depository to complete my set. #fangirl

Emma Viskic burst onto the crime scene a few years ago with an outstanding novel about deaf private eye Caleb Zelic. RESURRECTION BAY was one of the best debuts I read during the last decade; it went on to scoop numerous awards, and fully deserved them.

So it's great to see Viskic and Zelic back again for a third go round.

This time Caleb is trying to turn his life around, from seeing a therapist to interacting more with the Melbourne deaf community; all the while hoping to reconcile with his estranged wife Kat, an indigenous artist.

Caleb's efforts to make better decisions fall apart however when a potential client turns up dead, and he gets entangled in a spiderweb of dodgy federal cops, a kidnapped young girl, and Caleb’s ex-partner Frankie.

Viskic conjures a superb, pacy tale while offering plenty of character depth and emotional impact. Viskic delivers genuine insights into her deaf characters in ways that feel nuanced rather than token. An excellent read.

4.5★
“‘Make Good Decisions’ was his new motto. Very new motto. Plastic wrapping just off, a new-car smell to it.

He tries. Caleb Zelic really tries – to make good decisions, I mean. But somehow, he manages to get himself tangled up with the wrong people to the point that he (and I) couldn’t tell the friends from the enemies. Except for Tilda, a clever nine-year-old girl. I was always pretty sure she was okay. He did get into some dreadful trouble in his previous outings, and he’ll always be looking over his shoulder.

Caleb is deaf and even with his hearing aids he relies heavily on lip-reading. It’s a major part of his personality, and I think Viskic does a commendable job of illustrating the kinds of barriers he’s up against. Dark alleys, candle-lit restaurants, moonless nights, beards. And that’s when he’s facing the right way.

When someone walks up behind him in broad daylight and sticks a gun in his back, he’s entitled to be as jumpy as any hearing person would when a prankster sneaks up silently and pops a balloon behind you. He is surprisingly calm, but then he’s used to being in dicey situations and being unexpectedly assaulted.

His wife / almost ex-wife Kat, is her delightful self, and her close-knit family – sisters and their kids – hang around her house and eye him warily. They are Aboriginal and naturally a little suspicious of this white fella who seems to have hurt Kat in the past, but he’s determined to make good – to make good decisions!

I admit that I got confused about who the baddies were. There is white-collar crime and bloody-collar crime, and Caleb was never quite certain which crime belonged to whom, so you can imagine how I fared. There was no respite and little time to enjoy Kat, because he was either chasing someone or escaping from them, and part of the time he had the nine-year-old in tow.

There was also a bit of a side-story involving his old mate Alberto who runs an Italian Deaf restaurant, employing all deaf employees and catering especially to the deaf community. He seems to be being targeted for some reason, attacked and threatened, but he refuses to shut down, worried about his staff.

“‘You know how hard it is for us in the job market.’

Not just the market, but often the jobs themselves. Caleb had hated every minute working at the insurance companies where he’d begun his investigative career. Constant battles about phones and group meetings, co-workers’ irritated sighs.

There is a very entertaining scene showing the other side of the ‘battle’ when he goes to an office, asking to see someone and the woman turns her head as she answers.

“‘Sorry, could you look at me when you speak? I’m deaf. I’m lip-reading.’

She spun back to him, mouth open. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. You poor thing, how terrible.’

S**t, a mourner. A very loud mourner. Her lamentations had drawn the attention of everyone in the room, including
. . .
‘You speak very well, you know. A little quietly, but just like a normal person.’ A meteor, a weapon, something to end this now.
. . .
‘It must be so hard for you. Do you know about cochlear implants? My neighbour’s cousin’s son got –’

Caleb looked away until she’d lowered the receiver. ‘You’re in luck,’ she said. ‘Down the hallway to the last office. Do you need help?’ She glanced at [X], who was coming towards them. ‘Or is that your carer?’”

I was ready to drop a meteor on her myself! This has a nice mix of mystery and thrills and warm characters you don’t want to see get hurt. The deafness is an interesting aspect of the stories and makes you realise how much we assume about other people.

As a personal aside, I’ll just mention that some of what I see being interpreted as dementia is largely due to people nodding and smiling inanely at comments and questions because they can’t hear them properly but don’t like to ask people to repeat themselves. That’s especially true of jokes and funny remarks, where you’d feel like a killjoy asking someone to say it again – clearly. Once they’ve lost momentum, the moment has passed.

But I digress. This is much more than a story about a deaf guy – it’s a very satisfying addition to the series about an interesting man and his people (and their people). I look forward to the next one!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.

Having read the two previous novels about PI Caleb Zelic, I was really looking forward to this third in the series. Caleb is a character you can’t help but engage with, not because he’s deaf but because he’s got that core of determination despite all the things he stuffs up, and the people he trusts when he probably shouldn’t.
One of these has been his ex-partner, Frankie, and it was inevitable that she’d reappear in Caleb’s life and cause more trouble. Given their past history, Frankie should be grateful for his help when her niece is kidnapped, but as usual she’s playing by her own rules. This sense of things always being out of Caleb’s control, or being played out when he’s not looking, keeps the tension sky-high. As readers we often expect our detectives to steadily work through clues and leads and diversions until the solution is revealed – this book throws those expectations out the door. The ensuing constant chaos can be tricky to keep track of at times, but it’s worth the effort.
There are a lot of interesting juxtapositions in this book – Caleb has to find Frankie’s kidnapped niece while his wife, Kat, is navigating a tricky pregnancy, Caleb’s deafness works both for him and against him, and the issue of who should be trusted is played out over and over with finesse. The most dangerous woman in the story has a secret of her own.
Viskic portrays two different communities with authentic, deft writing – the deaf community and Kat’s Aboriginal family. Whereas the deaf community trust Caleb to help them, Kat’s family don’t really trust him to do anything right. He’s constantly being tested and having to prove himself, and it’s part of his character that he doesn’t give up. Some of the ultimate twists in the story work so well because, like Caleb, we learn we can’t take anything for granted.

Darkness For Light is the third book in the superb Private Investigator Caleb Zelic series, set in the stifling heat of Melbourne, Australia. Although preferable it certainly isn't essential to have read any of the preceding instalments to understand and enjoy this one so feel free to jump right on in. Caleb is still trying to pick up the pieces of his life since the fire that ravaged everything a few months previously. But when a prospective client he was about to meet is murdered and Frankie's niece, Tilda, is kidnapped he is forced to wave goodbye to his promise to make good decisions and must team up with Frankie who everyone wants a piece of it seems. To make matters worse Caleb is being blackmailed into either handing over the file Frankie has possession of or Frankie in person. If his luck is in, Celeb might just find redemption by the end of the story, but then again who knows when discussing someone so eager to follow one disastrous decision by an even worse one.

From the moment the story begins with a bang we are treated to an action-packed narrative which never gives you time to breathe and demands to be read in a single nail-biting sitting. Full of brutal violence, betrayal and double-crosses, from the time the first body drops they pile up left, right and centre. This is the very definition of an unputdownable page-turner, and I thoroughly enjoyed the riveting plot, the heart-pounding atmosphere and number of shocks which seem to be neverending and extremely clever in nature. Caleb Zelic is an unforgettable protagonist brought vividly to life and despite constantly tripping over his good intentions he is a likeable and admirable character. Viskic has undoubtedly proven herself to be among the masters of the crime genre. Calling this a read would be to do it a disservice; this is an experience and an exhilarating and fantastic one at that. Unreservedly recommended. Many thanks to Echo for an ARC.

This is my first taste of this incredible award winning Aussie crime series by Emma Viskic featuring troubled and deaf PI Caleb Zelic, set in Melbourne. I was plunged into the series where significant events had taken place previously, but Viskic gives sufficient information that I didn't feel like that I was flailing around too much. The story opens with Caleb at a children's farm to meet a new client, a meeting organised through the exchange of emails, only to find him dead, shot through the back of his head, and being questioned by Aussie Federal cops. Life continues its downward spiral for him when he is tasered by a woman he has met previously, claiming to be a federal police officer, wanting him to find Frankie, his business partner who had betrayed him. She has information that could destroy Caleb's life, giving him two days to locate Frankie.

Frankie is 58 year old former Sergeant Francesca Reynolds, with whom Caleb has a complicated relationship, her addictions had her working with criminals, endangering his wife, Kat, but she had also risked her life to save them both too. After a lifetime of bad decisions, Caleb's marriage to Kat had been heading towards divorce, but they are slowly working their way back to each other, Kat is pregnant. After a devastating history of miscarriages, this is a fraught and worrying time for Caleb, he has had to change and be more open and communicative with Kat, take only safe business assignments, and make sure Kat faces no danger from his cases. However, life has other plans for him when he comes across Maggie, Frankie's sister, deeply involved with the criminal underworld, so badly injured that she has to be hospitalised. When Maggie's adorable bright young daughter, 9 year old Tilda, is abducted, Caleb and Frankie once again work together to find and save her. As the bodies pile up, Caleb additionally has to find who is sabotaging his friend Alberto's catering business and vandalising his deaf community cafe.

Viskic writes a gripping and atmospheric crime mystery of double crosses and betrayals, with an unusual protagonist in the deaf Caleb, giving the reader insights into the world of the deaf and Aussie sign language. We are given the perspectives of a deaf person, their everyday life and challenges, the way they are treated, often as invisible, stupid, dismissed, and even facing an over-solicitousness on occasion. With Caleb's friendship with Alberto and others, we additionally get a fascinating and rare picture of deaf culture and community in Melbourne. Viskic has a winning protagonist in Caleb, a flawed man, seeing a therapist, trying to do his best in a world that brings unavoidable trouble to his door step. One of the highlights for me was seeing his relationship develop with the enchanting Tilda. This is a terrifically memorable addition to what is clearly a superb series that I think will appeal to most crime and mystery readers. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Bonnier Books for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for an advance copy of Darkness for Light, the third novel to feature Melbourne based PI Caleb Zelic.

An unfortunate encounter with a State Police detective forces Cal to get in touch with his ex-partner, Frankie, a woman on the run. With neither of them trusting each other they are forced to work together when Frankie’s niece, Tilda, is kidnapped.

I thoroughly enjoyed Darkness for Light which is a rollercoaster read full of violence, double crosses and questionable motives. The novel opens with a dead body and never lets up after that as the bodies pile up and Cal comes under repeated attack. If that’s not enough excitement the double crosses come equally thick and fast. Every character has their own agenda and doesn’t mind lying to fulfil it. The bombshells just never seem to stop and I lost count of the number of times I was surprised by a turn of events. The motives are all different but everyone is looking for the same thing and Cal is caught in the middle. This is clever, exciting read and I couldn’t put it down.

Caleb Zelic is an unusual PI in that he’s deaf. This presents problems as he lip reads to get by and it doesn’t always work in some of the situations he gets into. Recently he’s been trying to make good decisions and avoid trouble, helped by his therapist and incipient fatherhood, but this latest situation is out with his control. I like Cal, finding him resourceful and well intentioned but he’s a trouble magnet.

Darkness for Light is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.