Resurrection Bay (2015)It's remarkable how much goes on in Emma Viskic's award-winning novels. Busy is the least of it, and we're not just talking plot. The protagonist, fraud investigator Caleb Zelic, is deaf. He has a Slavic background, a Koori wife and a drug-addicted brother. The minutiae of streetscapes and locutions are precisely laid out, as are the subtle and not-so-subtle topographies of racism, sexism, ableism and other interpersonal landscapes. And then there are the police procedurals.As will be apparent from the first paragraph above, Caleb Zelic has a whole lot going on in his life. As if the hook of a deaf detective weren't sufficient, we get the drug addict brother, the alcoholic partner, the possibly corrupt best friend, the mixed-race marriage, etc., until there so many gimmicks and issues piled on top of the story it threatens to break apart into parody. It does not help matters that Caleb is so resistant to being characterized as deaf that he tries "passing," even though that helped destroy his marriage and is now a danger to him and those around him as he risks missing clues and physical threats. He leads the killers in the tale to friends, family and witnesses and gets beaten up so often one fears his CTE scan would look like Junior Seau's. To be honest, I don't know enough deaf people to know if his relationship to the condition is realistic--particularly since his deafness came in childhood, not recently--but as much as I was pulling for him to solve the case I found him exasperating. Over twenty years of these reviews we've often noted that first time authors have an understandable tendency to try and cram everything they have to say, and every plotline and scenario they can imagine, into their text lest they never get a second chance. There's a good bit of that going on here. On the other hand, if you read the next three paragraphs of that excerpt above you find that the author herself has an awful lot going on and maybe the overstuffing seemed natural to her. At any rate, this first installment in the series is enjoyable enough, but I suspect that if she slims future entries down a bit they'll be even better. (Reviewed:) Grade: (B) Tweet Websites:-AUTHOR SITE: emma-viskic.com -WIKIPEDIA: Emma Viskic -AUTHOR TWITTER FEED: @emmaviskic -AUTHOR PAGE: Emma Viskic (Pushkin Press) -AUTHOR PAGE: Emma Viskic (Sue Leonard) -BOOK SITE: Resurection Bay (Penguin Random House) -ESSAY: Rural Australia: The Perfect Setting For Mystery: 5 Crime Novels Set In Small-Town Australia (Emma Viskic, October 25, 2018, Crime Reads) -ESSAY: The Best Australian Crime Fiction (recommended by Emma Viskic, 5 Books) -ESSAY: The Unexpected Benefits of Writing a Deaf Character (Emma Viskic, April 12, 2018, Amazon Book Review) -ESSAY: Small Beginnings 13 (Emma Viskic, 6/20/16, Feathers of the Firebird) -ESSAY: How Crime Writing Is Like Music: A Musician's Secrets for Writing a Lyrical, Rhythmic Crime Novel (Emma Viskic, May 14, 2018, Crime Reads) -PODCAST: Emma Viskic - Only One Rule, MAKE YOUR OWN RULES - JoinedUp#86 (Joined Up Writing Podcast, Sep 25, 2018) -VIDEO DISCUSSION: Authors Emma Viskic, Karina Kilmore and Natalie Conyer on flawed heroes in crime fiction (Sisters in Crime Australia, 4/03/20) -Emma Viskic Books In Order (Book Series in Order) -PROFILE: The long and winding road that leads to Emma Viskic's gritty fiction (Miriam Cosic, November 30, 2019, The Age) It's remarkable how much goes on in Emma Viskic's award-winning novels. Busy is the least of it, and we're not just talking plot. The protagonist, fraud investigator Caleb Zelic, is deaf. He has a Slavic background, a Koori wife and a drug-addicted brother. The minutiae of streetscapes and locutions are precisely laid out, as are the subtle and not-so-subtle topographies of racism, sexism, ableism and other interpersonal landscapes. And then there are the police procedurals. -PROFILE: It's a crime spree as Emma Viskic snaffles four writing awards (Jason Steger, August 26, 2016 , The Age) -PROFILE: How crime writing is like music: Emma Viskic’s secrets for writing a lyrical, rhythmic crime novel (Sisters in Crime) -PROFILE: Emma Viskic returns to the scene of her crime spree (Jason Steger, August 10, 2018, Sydney Morning Herald) -INTERVIEW: On the burn: Q&A with Emma Viskic (Sisters in Crime) -INTERVIEW: Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Emma Viskic (Reading, Writing and Riesling, December 23, 2015) -INTERVIEW: Emma Viskic answers Booktopia’s Ten Terrifying Questions (Anastasia Hadjidemetri, February 1, 2016 , Booktopia) -INTERVIEW: Q&A with Emma Viskic, author of And Fire Came Down (Better Reading, 20 September 2017) -INTERVIEW: #WhereIWrite: Crime author Emma Viskic (Australian Writers' Centre) -INTERVIEW: And Fire Came Down: Emma Viskic Talks (Sean O'Leary, Crime Time) -Interview: Sound and Silence: Emma Viskic on Creating a Profoundly Deaf Protagonist (Foyle's, 9/14/17) -INTERVIEW: Hear No Evil: PW Talks with Emma Viskic (Lenny Picker, Feb 09, 2018, Publishers Weekly) -PODCAST: #37 – Emma Viskic – Write Through The Roof (Madeleine D'Este, July 15, 2018) -INTERVIEW: Casting a Deaf Character in a PI Role: Author Emma Viskic on avoiding tokenism and learning sign language (Joanne P, Apr 5, 2018, Booklover Book reviews) -INTERVIEW: Solving crimes in silence: EMMA VISKIC AND HER AWARD-WINNING AUSSIE TALES (Crimespree Magazine | Dec 10, 2018 | M?wake Crime Review) -INTERVIEW: Sophisticated spies and surprise reunions: an interview with Emma Viskic (Crime Watch, June 20, 2018) -Stop You're Killing Me: Emma Viskic -ESSAY: The New Class of Australian Crime Writers: Your Guide to the Best of Outback Noir (Chris Hammer, January 23, 2019, Crime Reads) -ARCHIVES: Emma Viskic (Crime Reads) -VIDEO ARCHIVES: "emma viskic" (You Tube) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic (Publishers Weekly) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Nicola Mira, Thriller Books Journal) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Simon McDonald, Written by Sime) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Louise Truscott, Single White Female Writer) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Tracey, Carpe Librum) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Mysteries in Paradise) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Fleur Morrison, readability) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Shelley Rae, Book'd out) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Mrs B's Book Reviews) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (DeathBecomesHer, Crime Fiction Review) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Raven Crime Reads) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Fiona Hardy, readings) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Sue Turnbull, Sydney Morning Herald) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Booklover Book Reviews) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Chris Roberts, Crime Review) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Clover Hill Book Reviews) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Jacob Collins, Hooked from Page One) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Northern Crime) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Mystery in Minutes) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Laura Wilson, The Guardian) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Arts Review) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Reading Matters Blog) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Craig Sisterson, Mystery Scene) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Last Word Book Review) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Karen Chisolm, Australian Crime Fiction) -REVIEW: of Resurrection Bay (Jon Coates, Daily Express) -REVIEW: of And Fire Came Down by Emma Viskic (Publishers Weekly) -REVIEW: of And Fire Came Down (Simon McDonald, Written by Sime) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light by Emma Viskic (Saturday Paper) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Simon McDonald, Written by Sime) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Anna Creer, Canberra Times) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Rod Mclary, Queensland Reviewers Collective) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Paul Burke, NB) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Murder, Mayhem and Long Dogs) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Better Reading) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Debbish) -REVIEW: of Darkness For Light (Narrelle M. 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