Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
In the endless tracts of the New South Wales bushland Ranger Cal Nyx finds a dead body under unusual circumstances. It soon becomes apparent this is a historic death. Growing attention on the crime puts the blowtorch to a murderer who’s managed to evade justice. For now.
Detective Inspector Liz Scobie leads the police investigation while her partner, Nyx, uses her own considerable - some might say unorthodox - methods to chase down a killer. With speculation growing in the small community, someone privy to information becomes a new target for the killer.
Join Nyx and Scobie in their dogged pursuit of a bold predator with everything to lose?
The third Cal Nyx novel, THE FREEZER, would possibly work as a standalone, but the connections between this and the second novel, THE QUARRY in particular, make the characters here make a lot more sense. Nyx and her partner, DI Liz Scobie, her cousin Dif, and boarder Spike (complicated) are a great group of real feeling people and there's a backstory to how they all got here, together.
Hunt is from New Zealand, but this series is set in Australia - New South Wales - where Nyx is a ranger, working way out in the bush. She comes and goes from her city base, a house that was left to her, and the job, where, during a work outing to check the state of bush trails and general maintenance after a storm she comes across a dead body in unusual (maybe unless you're a ranger) circumstances. It may be an historic death, but the discovery creates attention, and a murderer who has evaded justice until now, is worried that may all be about to implode. Whilst Nyx's partner, DI Scobie is leading the police investigation, Nyx is busy deploying her own, somewhat unorthodox methods in a small community, where it turns out, something that she unearths becomes very dangerous information to know.
Nyx is one of those characters who leaps off the page at the reader. Physically capable, emotionally not always so much, she's loyal, hardworking, brave, and a bit daft on occasion. It's rewarding to read a female character who is independent, strong and good at her job, despite the physical challenges, and remote locations she's working in. Her partner, DI Scobie is a good cop too, and whilst they don't work "together" as such, they compliment each other, when Nyx isn't driving Scobie mad.
And then there's Dif - who goes way back with Nyx, and is capable, and complicated all at the same time. That backstory from THE QUARRY would be handy to know although there are hints about the past and the reality of Dif's life in this novel.
All these books come with intriguing plots, and the build up of that cast of characters, with some social commentary sprinkled in there for good measure. They are a bit on the gritty side without falling into noir, emotional without being over the top, much like Nyx herself, who is very much a female working class hero.
Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by Australians and New Zealanders on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction.
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