Peace by Garry Disher

First Sentence:  This close to Christmas, the mid-north sun had some heft to it, house bricks, roofing iron, asphalt and the red-dirt plains giving back all the heat of all the days.

It has been a year since Constable Paul Hirschhausen was branded a whistleblower and transferred to a rural territory covering hundreds of kilometers.  Except for his lover Wendy, and her daughter, Katie, he still doesn't feel welcome in Tiverton.  However, between Brenda Flann driving into the front of the local bar, a stolen ute containing stolen metal, a ranch tragedy, a woman clearly hiding from someone, and a discovery which brings in way too many outside cops, and results in Hirsch forming an unexpected alliance.                                                                                               

Disher has a real skill for descriptions--'He liked to walk every morning, the dawn a time to cherish with only the birds busy, the air quite still and everything sharply etched.  ...by 9 a.m. the mid-north would be lying limp and stunned beneath a molten sun and the overnight reports of villainy, idiocy and shitty luck would have landed on his desk." 

Even his style creates reflects the location as the story begins more as a series of vignettes rather than one straight-line mystery.  These are interesting and give a real sense of the types of things with which Hirsch has to deal, but one finds oneself waiting.  It's interesting because it's so real.  

Never fear, when the pieces start coming together, one realizes things aren't a tranquil as seemed and the level of involvement turns to high.  "Peace inside. That's all a cop wants at Christmas, he thought. Not a heavenly peace, just a general absence of mayhem."

Hirsch is such a well-done character.  Although assigned to this one-man territory, he has the instincts of a city cop---"...the house felt unoccupied rather than touched by junkie-offspring violence, so he left it at that.  It was a sense all cops developed, knowing when a situation behind closed doors was right or wrong."--but the compassion of a community policeman.  There is a nice balance between his former colleagues who dislike or dismiss him and those who know and respect his capabilities.  This establishes a basis for future relationship development.

The story has its share of dark elements, suspense, and unexpected twists, all of which are perfectly executed.  "Peace is the second book in this series, with "Bitter Wash Road" having been the first.  One need not have read that book to enjoy this one, but Disher is such a good writer, why not?

"Peace" is a thoroughly engrossing story shattering one's perceptions of a peaceful small town and of knowing who one can trust.  It builds slowly with a number of seemingly unrelated incidents, only to have the pieces coalesce to a well-done ending. 

PEACE (PolProc- Paul Hirschhausen-Australia-Contemp) – VG

      Disher, Garry – 2nd in series

      Text Publishing – 2019