Chain of Evidence and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Start reading Chain of Evidence on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Chain of Evidence [Paperback]

Garry Disher (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition CDN $9.79   -- --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback, Large Print CDN $26.24   -- --
Paperback, July 1 2008 --   -- --

Book Description

Release Date: July 1 2008

“Delightful. . . . BUY IT.”—New York Magazine

“Engrossing.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Moody, inventive, and extremely hard to put down.”—Booklist (starred)

“The story is full of unexpected twists and brilliant clues.”—Library Journal (starred)

Hal Challis’ sister summons him back to the small town where he grew up; his father is dying. While Challis’ past comes back to haunt him, Ellen Destry is left to find a serial pedophile before he strikes again.

Garry Disher is the author of over forty books for adults and children. Chain of Evidence won the 2007 Ned Kelly Prize for Best Australian Crime Novel.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Australian Disher's fine fourth novel to feature Insp. Hal Challis, head of Peninsula East's Crime Investigation Unit in Waterloo, Queensland (after 2005's Snapshot), opens with the kidnapping of 10-year-old Katie Blasko. In Challis's absence, Sgt. Ellen Destry leads the investigation while her boss visits his dying father in the South Australia sheep-farming village he came from (and does some unofficial sleuthing on the mysterious disappearance of his brother-in-law five years earlier). When the girl is discovered, viciously abused, Destry's supervisors are a bit too eager to close the case as the inquiry widens into something much larger. Disher deftly weaves in layers of complexity, particularly the resentful antagonism that separates Waterloo's lower-middle-class families from the town's power structure. A compelling mix of procedural detail and action round out a fully credible plot and characters. Though some of the multitudinous subplots dilute the novel's overall impact, it's nonetheless a deeply satisfying read. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Australian crime fiction flies below the radar of most American fans, but Disher and compatriot Peter Temple are making the case that they deserve to be as well known as Michael Connelly and Ian Rankin. Despite broadening his Inspector Hal Challis series to include Sergeant Ellen Destry, Disher keeps the partners apart for the entire book, each of them solving crimes that share odd resonances. Challis has gone to Mawson's Bluff, his dusty hometown deep in the "never-never," to attend his father's imminent death. Destry, homeless following her sundered marriage, is house-sitting for Challis in lush Waterloo, near Melbourne, and filling in for him at work, too. She is tested by a horrific child abduction, departmental politics, and rogue cops--while he finds himself facing personal history and investigating the long-ago disappearance of his unlikable brother-in-law. There's strong sexual tension between Challis and Destry, despite the fact that they communicate only by phone. This is a procedural, with careful, realistic casework, but the character development suggests Peter Robinson, with enough darkness and ambiguity to suit fans of Rankin, and a kind of which-way-is-up sense of the police force that recalls early James Ellroy. Moody, inventive, and extremely hard to put down. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Product Description

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

5 star
1
4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A first-rate Australian author Sep 19 2007
By ladyblues
Format:Hardcover
The much anticipated 4th book in Garry Disher's series featuring Inspector Hal Challis (The Dragon Man, Kittyhawk Down & Snapshot)

Challis has come home to watch his father die but it's not going to be easy. Uncompromising and awkward, the argumentative old man who used to be a lawyer is still capable of provoking an asthma attack in his son. Challis needs to remind himself that he is now head of a crime investigation unit on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and he seeks distraction from the inevitable by trying to discover what happened to his sister's husband, an RSPCA inspector who disappeared five years ago.

Sergeant Ellen Destry is left to head an investigation into a ring of pedophiles that has descended on the peaceful Mornington Peninsula, a resort community near Melbourne. A little girl has been abducted from the fairgrounds at the annual Waterloo Show; it takes her mother twenty-four hours to report her missing. By then, hope is slim that the police will find the child before it is too late.

Praise for the Hal Challis series
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.7 out of 5 stars  9 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Pedophiles who make fools of mothers and victims of their daughters... Jan 24 2009
By Laurie Fletcher - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Dang it! Disher's at it again. I really like his writing and especially like the setting of his stories in peninsular Victoria, Australia. But the man doesn't seem to have met a story line that he didn't want to include in his novels. His last book, "Snapshot" wasn't as busy and it was much better for the manageable number of subplots and crossplots.

This time, Inspector Hal Challis is called away to his childhood home, Mawson's Bluff, in the Outback of S.E. Australia. His father is dying and there are relationships to resolve and ghosts to chase. Challis's interactions with his sister and father are lovely pieces of this book. The mystery to be solved in Mawson's Bluff is a bit of a clunker but it isn't awful.

Meanwhile, Sergeanty Ellen Destry has been put in charge of Challis's Crime Investigation Unit and is staying at his house in his absence. She's left her marriage and is unsure about a budding romance with Challis. (Just the usual complications at the office.) Because Challis is gone, Ellen must pull together the team to investigate an awful crime - the abduction of a child by a pedophile with a clever system that makes fools of mothers and victims of daughters. This is a tough storyline and flinchingly close to today's headlines. But it is well-written and tells a necessary story about how fiends acquire and exploit children.

I've been a pretty faithful Disher reader since "Dragon Man" and I see no reason to stop - I just wish he'd flesh out his good main stories and give a few of the side stories a rest, even if it means we don't get such detailed insight into the lives of our complex police unit.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars His best yet May 21 2009
By Scott - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've liked Disher's writing since first reading "The Dragon Man." For me, this was his best since that debut. "Kittyhawk Down" and "Snapshot" were both very good, but not quite as good as "Dragon" or this one. Excellent character development, especially with Ellen Destry, very well plotted and a good sense of setting. And I have to disagree with another reviewer about too many subplots. Can't wait to read his next one.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars engaging investigative thriller July 3 2008
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
In Australia Police Inspector Hal Challis returns home to Mawson's Bluff in the Australian Outback, as his father is dying. Sergeant Ellen Destry takes over running the Peninsula East's Crime Investigation Unit in Waterloo, Queensland temporarily. At the annual Waterloo Show, ten years old Katie Blasko vanishes; shockingly her mother waits twenty-four hours before reporting her missing to the cops, who know how critical the first few hours are in terms of retrieval. To her shock her superiors want her to close the case though she fears a pedophile ring may be operating in the peninsular.

Meanwhile in Mawson's Bluff, a corpse is found inside a plastic bag lying on top of a coffin buried four years ago. Inside is Challis' odious brother-n-law who vanished at the same time the coffin was interred. Challis' sister Meg assumed he was alive as she has been receiving junk mail that she thought came from him since he left her. He unofficially investigates.

There are obviously two major subplots; both are well written and could stand alone as investigative tales. However, rotating back and forth subtracts from the overall impact of each in spite two well written multilayered story lines that come across as rotating novellas. Still Gary Disher provides his audience with an engaging Australian police procedural as Challis is out of town conducting an unsanctioned private investigation re his family while Destry works a police procedural inquiry into a kidnapped child. Putting Destry in charge of dealing with media, the brass, and politicians refreshes this excellent series.

Harriet Klausner
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

    Your Shopping Cart is empty.

    Give it purpose—fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics, and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    View Cart (0 items)

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback

      Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?