The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

This is the discussion thread for Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic. Setting it up a couple of days early. CBRetriever will be your moderator

A separate thread will be set up for spoiler comments. Enjoy the book and the discussion.

Articles about and interviews with the author:

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/...

http://annabelsmith.com/?p=3355

https://wordmothers.com/2015/11/20/in...

I've just finished reading already. I'll wait for others to do so too.

I'll be joining in on this group read, but probably not right away. See you all later. :)

My first impression is that the main character is both a bit in denial of his deafness and uses the F word far too much. I loved the wife and her mother.

this book is spluttered with the f word and not just the hero. everyone is liberally using it.

I agree. I like the wife, through the book she really comes through for him and is also quick on the uptake. intelligent woman.

I loved the start, it blew me off.

I'm starting today.

enjoy!

I'm sorry , I voted for this as my library had it available to borrow on its ebook waiting list thingy, it said it would be available for me to read now, but it's bumped me back 2 weeks.

Annoying but it's happened before and second time around it's been OK, (it's a known glitch ) but now I find that around mid Augaust my library is changing ebook provider so I actually may have to start again with the waiting list with the new app. If they have it at all ( I can't see any adult fiction ebooks at all on there at the moment!)

It's very frustrating, I very much disapprove of voting for something and then not reading /taking part but I will keep my fingers crossed that I can join in later in the month.

Hope you are all enjoying ( I didn't dare read any comments yet) Sorry again

I'm sorry - you could always come back and visit this thread when you've read it

I just started it! I'm new to your book club.

this is the non-spoiler thread - there's another one for spoilers. You can post any observations about the book that you want to unless it''s a spoiler:

impression of characters
is it realistic?
does the plot keep you reading
did you figure out who did it?

I'm actually waiting for people to.fjnish reading and post comments so I can contribute my 2 cents. Actually it could be more of a rant. I loved the start and then it slows down quite a bit. It was quite frustrating and I wanted to just give it up but the last 100 pages was truly worth my perseverance. I liked the hero, Caleb especially his naivety. You definitely figure out the role of a probable mole but the final reveal took me by surprise. I didn't see that one coming though the signs were all there. I also felt the execution style killing of Gary a bit much - was it warranted?

I found it was a quick read. The ending took me by surprise.

I agree to that. I was very disappointed with her complete lack of geographical information regarding Melbourne.

Leena wrote: "I agree to that. I was very disappointed with her complete lack of geographical information regarding Melbourne."

me too - I didn't get a real feel for the book being set in any particular city. I am going to read the other two books featuring Caleb.

I've gotten bk 2 on my reading list. Hopefully, she redeems herself there.

I was also disappointed that the actual police procedures weren't followed. so, a lot of reveals could have been made much earlier, the book could have also been shorter.

I reallly wish these new authors would just go back to our classic writers to see how well they've strung their stories and this is much before the invention of www and/or the mobile phones. plain,simple leg work used to be the cling card of a good sincere detective. Sigh!

I'm on chapter 13.

Leena wrote: "I was also disappointed that the actual police procedures weren't followed. so, a lot of reveals could have been made much earlier, the book could have also been shorter.

I reallly wish these new..."

I'll admit to being taken with many of the old classics and how well the storytelling was done (and how creative some authors were), but stories have to move on with the times.

but Caleb wasn't a policeman, he's a private investigator. In most books where that type of person is the hero, they don't follow police procedures.

CBRetriever wrote: "but Caleb wasn't a policeman, he's a private investigator. In most books where that type of person is the hero, they don't follow police procedures."

good point!

I agree with Leena that the novel doesn't have a strong sense of place, despite the name; it's focus is predominately on plot and character. But I loved Caleb as a character and how he strives to hide his disability, and in so doing affects our own understanding - what he misses, we also miss. This filtering of information through the character is really well done, especially during the scenes of action and danger - removing information derived through hearing limits Caleb's understanding of where the danger is coming from.

agreed, caleb comes out a winner. I also liked his relationship with his ex . I cannot imagine what he must be going through when he realizes how his relationship with his brother was completely manipulated. Im hoping bk 2 addresses this a bit.

Leena wrote: "agreed, caleb comes out a winner. I also liked his relationship with his ex . I cannot imagine what he must be going through when he realizes how his relationship with his brother was completely ma..."

Aarrggh! I did note that I was at Chapter 13 & evidently I haven't come to that particular realization yet. I'm sure, since it's only a week in to this discussion, that others haven't either. For future reference, perhaps specifics like that ought to go in the spoiler thread? Thanks.

finished.

Danielle wrote: "I just started it! I'm new to your book club."

Welcome!

I let the author of Resurrection Bay (a goodreads author) know that we are reading her novel, and she sent me a link to pass on to you all for a reading group guide to the book.

https://www.emma-viskic.com/p/guide-f...

thanks for the links - I couldn't find much for this particular book. I am wondering if there is a difference between Australian and American sign linguage

Nancy wrote: "I let the author of Resurrection Bay (a goodreads author) know that we are reading her novel, and she sent me a link to pass on to you all for a reading group guide to the book.

https://www.emma-..."

lolol... We should talk more often. I got the same email from Emma.. lolol

CBRetriever wrote: "thanks for the links - I couldn't find much for this particular book. I am wondering if there is a difference between Australian and American sign linguage"

I wondered about that too, and found an answer at wiki...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auslan

My son is hard of hearing / deaf much the same way that Caleb seems to be, with one ear a little better than the other, plus losing conversation when people turn or face away, and with a dependency on hearing aids. Hearing problems are not necessarily problems of lack of volume, and while it wasn't explicitly described, all those ellipses when Caleb was trying to understand what was being said could have meant that certain pitches or word or letter combinations eluded him. Mistaking a word being said for a different word can not only be embarrassing, it can make the deaf person think either they are going crazy or the people around them are crazy because these mistaken words make no sense in context.

I applaud the author for taking on this challenge and doing the research necessary to make Caleb an authentic character, and now there is a fictional detective the deaf/Deaf community can relate to... a nice inclusion. Even tho' I don't think he reads much of this genre, I am going to send this book to my son because I think he will appreciate the author's intention... plus, it's a quick read and a decent mystery.

That's sad - I would have hoped that sign language would be more universal unlike the spoken word.

At first I found Caleb annoying in his overdone reactions to people recognizing he was deaf, but by the end, I loved him so much I bought all three books in the series!

My dad slowly went mostly deaf due to exposure to aircraft parts manufacture. He did not get aids for quite awhile, and by the time he did, he had become used to the silence. He hated wearing hearing aids - too noisy and often sounds were equally or abnormally amplified with no filtering for relevance, the way brains adjusting for relevance automatically do. He had lost the knack of tolerating environmental sounds. Plus after years of almost total silence except for loud sounds, he simply didn't want to really hear anymore except for TV or movies.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "At first I found Caleb annoying in his overdone reactions to people recognizing he was deaf, but by the end, I loved him so much I bought all three books in the series!

My dad slowly went mostly d..."

I ended up buying a reading all three books too