The Dragon Man by Garry Disher

Publisher's Synopsis

It's December, and the police of sleepy Peninsula towns are preparing for the general summer madness - beach houses broken into; New Year's Eve celebrations; joyriding kids...

But this time there's a killer at work on the Old Peninsula Highway. And someone's torching houses and cars.

For Detective Inspector Hal Challis dealing with the demands of the media, expedient colleagues, a troubled past and his beloved Dragon Rapide means that the Peninsula, his port in a storm, will never be the same again.

The Dragon Man introduces a compelling new crime series from the author of the internationally acclaimed Wyatt thrillers.

My Review 

Garry Disher author of the hardboiled Wyatt series, introduces a brand new protagonist, this time on the right side of the law. The Dragon Man is an intense police procedural that starts off with a frightening crime before digging deeply into the lives of the police who will attempt to solve it.

Christmas is drawing near and Victoria is baking under endless clear-skied days. The small town crimes that usually occupy the local police's attention, such as domestic disputes, joyriding kids, burglaries and the like have been vastly overshadowed this summer. The prospect of a serial killer snatching women off the streets has struck fear into the whole community.

Challis heads the investigation at Waterloo Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) and almost immediately finds himself under pressure from his Superintendent to close the case quickly. Meanwhile, his job isn't made any easier when the killer begins sending mocking letters to the local newspaper describing how he will proceed to his next victim. Although Challis asks the paper not to publish them, his request goes unheeded. The result is an even greater shudder of fear that passes through the locals.

While the Old Peninsula Highway murder investigation plods along with little progress, we are treated to a rich array of side stories that ensures that the interest level is kept high. In fact, it's the private lives of the officers of Waterloo CIB that take over the story, their own personal hardships and inter-relationships on the job. As well as giving these characters depth and appeal, these insights will prove crucial later on in the story.

Just when Challis needs his officers to keep their minds focused on the job they begin to fall apart, finding that their attention is being captured elsewhere. Sergeant Van Alphen is responsible for drugs going missing from the evidence locker, stolen to feed his new girlfriend's habit; Sergent Destry has started to fantasise about one of the local tradesman and has even resorted to lifting money from a crime scene; Scobie Sutton seems to be totally wrapped up in his 3 year old daughter. No-one can be said to have their minds wholly on the job and it's going to come back to hurt them.

Hal Challis is an interesting protagonist who puts on an outward appearance of calm, preferring to deal with his emotions internally, occasionally erupting only when he feels it necessary to get someone's attention. As one of his fellow officers notes to himself, Hal Challis is a "lean, hard-working man driven by private demons".

He jealously guards his solitude out on his property barely bringing himself to be civil to his neighbours, behaviour he remonstrates with himself over but rarely corrects. The most disturbing scenes involving Challis come when his wife calls him, virtually a daily occurrence, from prison. The reason for her incarceration is a real jaw-dropper.

From a heart-racing start in which the killer's second victim is snatched from the side of the road, the story settles into a more settled pace as we get a feel for the lay of the land. The Peninsula and the towns that comprise this part of southern Victoria are set out for us. Once we get a feel for where we are, we're then gradually introduced to the police whose lives are about to be laid bare before us. Disher does an excellent job of controlling the opening few chapters before gradually dialling up the intensity as we head to a calamitous ending. In fact things become so frantic with numerous crimes taking place at once, we almost forget that the cloud of the serial killer still hangs over the community. That is, until we are very rudely reminded of his presence.

Garry Disher has written a tight, character-driven thriller that works extremely well. Although he has turned a normally quiet part of the world into a mini crime capital to keep things moving along, it makes for a very entertaining story and an introduction to Hal Challis that will prompt me to read more.