The Way It Is Now by Garry Disher

Twenty years ago Charlie Deravin’s mother went missing near the family beach shack—believed murdered; body never found. His father has lived under a cloud of suspicion ever since.

Now Charlie’s back living in the shack in Menlo Beach, on disciplinary leave from his job with the police sex-crimes unit, and permanent leave from his marriage. After two decades worrying away at the mystery of his mother’s disappearance, he’s run out of leads.

Then the skeletal remains of two people are found in the excavation of a new building site—and the past comes crashing in on Charlie.

The Way It Is Now is the enthralling new novel from Garry Disher, one of Australia’s most loved and celebrated crime writers.

Published 2 November 2021| Publisher: Text Publishing | RRP: AUD$32.99

Buy it at: Dymocks | Booktopia | A&R | Abbey’s | QBD

My Blurb (3 / 5 stars)

Truthfully, I’m drawing a blank. I’ve finished reading this days ago and have been scratching my head on what I really think about the novel. While I found the book to be a fairly easy read, I didn’t find this cold ‘personal’ case to be that compelling and I am kind of offended at the abrupt ending. Don’t laugh! I am absolutely stumped at where it was ended. I like my t’s crossed and my i’s dotted so this was really upsetting. So yeah, it’s personal.

I’ve read 2 other books by this author and I really only liked one of them so I guess it was 50:50 chance whether I’d like this book or not. I do truly love the Australian beach setting and I liked the main character too; he’s having issues but he’s not completely broken and in fact, he’s working to be better. However, he’s still haunted by the past and this story digs it all up for him with a definite resolution. I still want a proper ending! [sorry, I’m just going to leave it at that]

My thanks to Text Publishing for ecopy of book via NetGalley in exchange of my honest thoughts

About the author

Garry Disher has published over fifty titles across multiple genres. With a growing international reputation for his best-selling crime novels, he has won four German and three Australian awards for best crime novel of the year, and been longlisted twice for a British CWA Dagger award. In 2018 he received the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award.