Deaf since early childhood, Caleb Zelic is used to meeting life head-on. Now, he’s struggling just to get through the day. His best mate is dead, his ex-wife, Kat, is avoiding him, and nightmares haunt his waking hours.
But when a young woman is killed, after pleading for his help in sign language, Caleb is determined to find out who she was. The trail leads Caleb back to his hometown, Resurrection Bay. The town is on bushfire alert, and simmering with racial tensions. As Caleb delves deeper, he uncovers secrets that could ruin any chance of reuniting with Kat, and even threaten his life. Driven by his own demons, he pushes on. But who is he willing to sacrifice along the way?
And Fire Came Down, Emma Viskic
Emma Viskic explores difference, and its consequences, in this sequel to Resurrection Bay. Reviewed at Newtown Review of Books
And Fire Came Down, Emma Viskic (review by Andrea Thompson)
Australian author Emma Viskic depicts a community well used to living with constant tension, disappointment and outright hostility. It’s a unforgiving world for sure, and we are reading of people who are not living their best lives by a long shot. The summer heat and the threat of bushfire are tangible creatures in AND FIRE CAME DOWN, adding another possibility of potential hurt for the residents who are already tense with the anticipation of more destruction and violence to come.
Lead character Caleb is adrift and somewhat frustrating; you want to take him out of harm’s way and set him on his feet back in Melbourne where is he is well clear of all that is going on in Resurrection Bay. There is no thin veneer of civility here; it’s all out there for all to see and the residents of the town need to negotiate their way around old hurts and hostilities, the alarmingly high crime rate and the worrying activities of the local drug trade that seem to be on the rise.
Reading this novel cold (as not having read the first book in the series), there was a bit of work involved in putting together the pieces that have led to such a shattered lead character; one who often leaves good sense behind and enters into more chaos perhaps in order to quash bad memories. It was easy to visualize and appreciate the dry bush setting, which was economically and precisely sketched, as were the residents of Resurrection Bay. What it difficult to find was someone to root for in this novel. These people simply aren’t that likable and the town itself is only making the most desultory of attempts to cope with what it is experiencing. We have a bit of snappy dialogue which is most welcome in this bleak novel; maybe a tad overdone on the Ocker overtones but who is to say what could be considered too much for a fictional Australian bush town.
Wondering what will happen to Caleb’s brother Ant (who provides the comic relief in this dark, bleak novel) is perhaps one of the most intriguing of the unresolved plot threads to anticipate and could be a good incentive for readers to pick up the next release in the series. The stage is well set and there is much more to discover about Caleb’s motivations and whether he can successfully pick himself up (again) and escape the demons from his past.
AND FIRE CAME DOWN is the sequel to the 2015 series starter, RESURRECTION BAY, which was awarded the 2016 Ned Kelly award for Best Debut Novel.
And Fire Came Down, Emma Viskic (review by Gordon Duncan)
“…last night’s dreams had slipped into waking hours again, plucking at his thoughts with their blood-stained fingers.”
With her first novel, Resurrection Bay, Emma Viskic not only announced herself as a novelist to watch she also created a lead character in Caleb Zelic who you hoped could be sustained through a series of novels. That hope does however place a weight of expectation on subsequent novels and when I sat down to read And Fire Came Down, the second Caleb Zelic novel, I wondered if it would carry that expectation? I certainly think it does, and then some.
Firstly, Caleb Zelic is not only an excellent character, he is for many reasons not a particularly likeable one. He is prone to causing ‘train wrecks’ and it is often those closest to him who are injured, either physically or emotionally. He is also not a patient person and although some of this is due to his deafness, he has reckless determination to find answers whatever the cost doesn’t always endear him a character. He is not however a boring character and the same can be said for many of the supporting characters. Novels can sometimes have so much invested in the main character that the other characters are dull and lifeless, this is definitely not the case with And Fire Came Down. The story line is also very good and there are times when it moves at a cracking pace and, I think more importantly, there are also times when the story is slowed down allowing it and the reader time to breathe.
In conclusion And Fire Came Down is an excellent follow-up to Resurrection Bay and I’m looking forward to the next Emma Viskic novel with an eager anticipation.