Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Darkness for Light
    Unavailable
    Darkness for Light
    Unavailable
    Darkness for Light
    Ebook283 pages3 hours

    Darkness for Light

    By Emma Viskic

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    Caleb Zelic can't hear you. But he can see everything.
    The latest pulsating thriller in the Caleb Zelic series

    A DEAD COP ALWAYS SPELLS TROUBLE

    When deaf PI Caleb Zelic finds one of his clients murdered, it's a bad day; when he discovers the man was federal police it's the beginning of a nightmare. Against his better judgement he is drawn into the investigation.

    SOMEBODY IS CLEANING HOUSE

    Soon Caleb finds himself mixed up with his crooked ex-partner Frankie, and more bodies turn up as someone tries to cover their tracks. Then a nine-year-old girl goes missing.

    THE KID'S NEXT

    Franke and Caleb are determined to find her, but will she be alive when they do? Together they will follow a trail that leads to betrayal, death and an agonizing choice.

    Emma Viskic is an award-winning Australian crime writer. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, Resurrection Bay, won the 2016 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut, and an unprecedented three Davitt Awards: Best Adult Novel, Best Debut, and Readers' Choice. It was also iBooks Australia's Crime Novel of the year, and was shortlisted for both the CWA Gold and New Blood Daggers in the UK. Emma studied Australian sign language (Auslan) in order to write the character of Caleb Zelic. She is currently writing the fourth Caleb Zelic thriller.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPushkin Vertigo
    Release dateMar 5, 2020
    ISBN9781782275442
    Author

    Emma Viskic

    Emma Viskic is an award-winning Australian crime writer. Her critically-acclaimed debut novel, Resurrection Bay, won the 2016 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, as well as an unprecedented three Davitt Awards: Best Adult Novel, Best Debut and Readers’ Choice. Resurrection Bay was iBooks Australia’s Crime Novel of 2015. Emma learned Auslan (Australian sign language) in order to write the character of Caleb Zelic. Also a classically trained clarinetist, Emma’s musical career has ranged from performing with José Carreras and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, to busking in the London Underground. She lives in Melbourne and divides her time between writing, performing and teaching.

    Related to Darkness for Light

    Related ebooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      “Really?”

      Jun 2, 2022

      “Really?”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cruel Means, Bitter Ends

      Nov 10, 2021

      “In order for this speech to mean anything to me, I’ll need to dispense with the usual demagoguery and, instead, make an attempt at honesty. With this in mind, there is one thing I have to make clear. I’m not in this race to serve your interests, but

      12 min read

    • Article

      His Brilliant Career

      Mar 19, 2023

      His Brilliant Career
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      Stay and Fight

      Jul 9, 2019

      Stay and Fight
      16 min read

    • Article

      100-WORD-STORY COMPETITION Winners

      Aug 16, 2022

      We’ve been delighted by the huge response to our 100-word-story competition. The entries have flooded in thick and fast during the past few months, but while we’ve enjoyed reading every story, only a few can come out on top! You, our readers, voted t

      5 min read

    • Article

      Intelligent Creatures

      Jul 6, 2023

      Intelligent Creatures
      19 min read

    • Article

      The July War

      Sep 8, 2020

      In summer, our neighborhood quiets in phases. The quieting begins in May. Schools give their older kids, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, a month off to prepare for the baccalaureate exams. Following a ritual as old as our parents, the students

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Trials of Jared K.

      Apr 22, 2020

      The Trials of Jared K.
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Sep 14, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Smrtss

      Apr 10, 2024

      In the dim, wet oven of the Huey’s troop compartment, the corporal sat on a flak jacket behind the sweat-stained backs of First Squad. Simms, the big machine gunner for Fire Team 2, leaned back against him, jamming the corporal’s knees right up to hi

      13 min read

    • Article

      Towns Like Ours

      May 3, 2018

      Towns Like Ours
      9 min read

    • Article

      Planof Action

      Oct 5, 2021

      Planof Action
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Healing

      Apr 8, 2020

      Healing
      9 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hearts Of Darkness

      Jul 23, 2023

      Port Flinders is a sad and shabby seaside town in Queensland. It is stinking hot and conceals a cesspit of sordid secrets. In what passes for the town, at the laundromat once again “someone’s pissing in one of your washing machines”. The place has on

      2 min read

    • Article

      Life After Death

      May 27, 2022

      Life After Death
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Turn

      Aug 14, 2019

      HERE’S a story. In college I entered the spring semester of my freshman year on academic probation. There wasn’t one reason this happened. There were many. I had signed up for a computer science class called Digital Security with no programming knowl

      5 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      May 1, 2023

      One day the Internet will be gone.The lights will blink off.Buildings will be only the outline of their foundations,then those too will turn to dust.The gods give you fire:you put it in your heartand walk forward.Heat and pain. Dim light, long shadow

      3 min read

    • Article

      Quotients

      May 7, 2020

      Quotients
      8 min read

    • Article

      High Ground

      Apr 23, 2020

      High Ground
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Inheritance

      Nov 4, 2021

      The Inheritance
      6 min read

    • Article

      Plan of ACTION

      Oct 3, 2023

      Plan of ACTION
      6 min read

    • Article

      Equinox

      May 18, 2022

      In this strange world, where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun, supernatural forces are at work – and they’re causing trouble… St Leonars prison was an appropriately imposing building. It rose out of the surrounding shacks and

      5 min read

    Reviews for Darkness for Light

    4.5/5

    22 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Sooo good! It’s hard to make me LOL in the same story where people are being hunted down to be killed and a child is in danger, but Viskic pulls it off. If you like crime fiction check out Australian writer Emma Viskic‘s Caleb Zelic series. Caleb is deaf, which gives his investigations a unique turn.

      Darkness for Light isn’t out in the U.S. until June 2020, so you have plenty of time to read her first two in the series, Resurrection Bay & And Fire Came Down.

      Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Awaiting the paperback I ordered from Book Depository to complete the set.
    • 4/5
      This is my third Caleb Zelic novel. I only occasionally read mysteries or detective novels. What kept me reading this series is Caleb, a deaf PI. It was fascinating reading about how he communicated with others. Also enjoyed the parts with his wife Kat. What I found tiresome is the number of times Caleb is beaten up and somehow mostly manages to avoid hospitals. He is so miserable much of the time other than the scenes with his wife and her family. Just needed breathers more than this book gave me. Again, I'm not a big mystery reader so this review may differ from others.
    • 5/5
      Caleb Zelic is on a mission to get his life back on track. He is re-establishing his private investigations practice after the sudden departure of his business associate Frankie. He is attempting to repair his relationship with his pregnant wife, Kat, and is in therapy to try to manage his less favourable obsessive-compulsive personality traits. He has bought himself a super new blue-tooth hearing aid and is reconnecting with his friends in the Deaf Community. But most importantly, he is striving to think before he acts and make only good decisions. It’s all going swimmingly until he decides to take on a new case.Having received a number of cryptic emails, Caleb arranges to meet the new client at the Collingwood Children’s Farm. When he stumbles upon the man’s body, he becomes entangles in the Federal and Local police investigations into the murder and related money laundering venture. Caleb is about to walk away from the mess when it becomes apparent that his former partner, Frankie, and her equally difficult sister, Maggie are heavily involved with the case. The violent abduction of Tilda, Frankie’s nine-year-old niece, thrusts Caleb firmly into the picture.  Caleb Zelic is a wonderfully flawed character, who manages to simultaneously infuriate and endear himself to you, with his believable flaws and innate kindness. His estranged wife Kat, and extended family of charming individuals are a real treat; as are the less endearing figures of Frankie and her associates.Viskic describes Melbourne’s inner city with pinpoint accuracy. You can feel the crisp cold air, see the dark, lonely alleys, and experience Caleb’s almost soundless world as easily as if you were there yourself. The plot builds smoothly, with many jagged edges, engaging sub plots, with juicy twist and turns. The chapters are short grabs, making it easy to read and hard to put down.“Darkness for Light” is the third instalment in the Caleb Zelic series. It reads as a stand-alone novel, but I must admit that if I wasn’t reading this book for the purpose of review, I would have immediately put it down and sourced the first two. It’s not that I needed to, but rather because I wanted the whole story immediately.I thoroughly enjoyed this story and loved pretty much everything about it. If you enjoy the works of Peter Temple, Garry Disher and Karina Kilmore, you will love “Darkness for Light” by Emma Viskic.I received a free copy of this book through Sisters in Crime - Australia, in exchange for a fair and honest review.
    • 4/5
      This must have been just a bit too noir for my tastes, but I just found it a bit of a slog.I don't actually warm to the central character Caleb Zelic, nor to many of the central characters he works with.There is a lot of background material where I feel I have missed out on the full story, and that was actually how I felt when I read the previous title in the series.The rating I gave it reflects the way I felt about the book, but others readers may well rate it more highly
    • 5/5
      thriller, crime-fiction, Australia, deafness, snarky, mystery, private-investigators, family-dynamics, friendship*****Edgy protagonist and plot. Deaf since childhood and using aids, lipreading, and Auslan whenever possible, Caleb sometimes seems more like an antihero as he works to solve several problems while dealing with fools and sadists. The story is compelling, full of misdirection, twisty, and red herrings in a dark yet often amusing way. Never having read the author before, I wasn't sure what to expect. Now that I have, I will certainly read more.I requested and received a free ebook copy from Steerforth Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
    • 4/5
      This is book #3 in a series featuring one of the most original MC’s you’ll come across. At first glance, Caleb Zelic seems like your average PI. But he has a special skill set. After a bout of childhood meningitis left him profoundly deaf, his other senses stepped up to fill the void. As a result, Caleb not only lip reads but notices what others miss. Gestures, expressions…all the little tics that give someone away. He never forgets a face & can repeat conversations verbatim. Unfortunately he has one other “gift”. The man is an absolute sh*t magnet & the tradition continues here.He spent the last year dealing with dangerous thugs, the breakdown of his marriage & brutal betrayal by his former partner, Frankie. But Caleb’s a resilient guy & things are looking up. He landed his first solo job, he’s on more than speaking terms with his wife & regular therapy is helping get his head straight. Well, it was nice while it lasted. He just found out his new client is slightly dead & the federal police are all over him. An old friend’s business is being sabotaged & a rogue cop is threatening him with blackmail. Then Frankie shows up.Cue the ominous music. If you’ve read previous books, you know Frankie’s character is rarely associated with rainbows & puppies. More like bullets & blood. What started out as just a bad day suddenly has the potential to be craptastic. Caleb is still reeling from their last encounter & wants nothing to do with her. But that’s before he meets her niece. Tilda is a funny, geeky little girl surrounded by domestic drama. When she winds up in Caleb’s care, they bond over weird facts & sign language. So when she is snatched, Caleb has no choice but to work with Frankie to bring her home. But who is behind the kidnapping & what do they want? Good question. There’s a whack of bad guys to choose from. Money launderers, Frankie’s enemies, thugs trying to silence her mother….even the feds may see Tilda as a useful tool. All hell breaks loose as Caleb & Frankie race to find her against a backdrop of growing violence & an escalating body count. What follows is a complex & chaotic story with a plot that keeps you guessing. Hidden connections & unreliable characters mean you never know who’s pulling the strings or telling the truth. It’s exactly the kind of investigation Caleb is trying to avoid as part of his resolution to “make good decisions”. The people involved are ruthless & not above targeting Caleb’s family to get what they want. There are ties to story lines from previous books & the reader finally gets some answers to long standing questions. Caleb’s personal life continues to develop & is nicely woven through the search for Tilda. Plenty of action & suspense keeps you reading but brace yourself…..there are some jaw droppers ahead & not everyone will survive. As always, the author continues to provide a fascinating glimpse of what it’s like to be hearing impaired. From daily challenges to the little tricks Caleb employs, it’s clear she’s done her homework.Sometimes when you meet a character beset with issues, it can seem like overkill. You end up thinking yeesh, give the guy a break. I never felt that here. Yes, Caleb has a lot on his plate but what saves this from descending into handwringing drama is the humour. Caleb’s dry wit provides some of the best lines that give the reader a chance to breathe between scarier moments. He’s a compelling character you root for & I’ll be keeping en eye out for his next adventure. Just maybe from a safe distance.
    • 5/5
      Darkness for Light is the third book in Emma Viskic’s outstanding crime fiction series featuring Caleb Zelic.Following the tumultuous events of Resurrection Bay, and And Fire Came Down, security consultancy Caleb Zelic is attempting to make better decisions. With the help of a therapist he has begun reconnecting with the Deaf community, reconciling with his pregnant wife, and rebuilding his company after his partner’s betrayal. Meeting a new client at an urban children’s farm might be unusual, but in need of the business Caleb isn’t suspicious of the arrangement until the moment he stumbles upon the man’s body. Caleb is prepared to make the right decision and walk away from the mess, but the dead man’s colleague, an AFP officer, refuses to let him. She needs to find Caleb’s ex-partner, Frankie, and she isn’t above using blackmail to ensure his cooperation. Caleb has no qualms about turning Frankie over to the agent, until her nine year old niece, Tilda, is violently abducted, and the only decision he can make is the one which will save the child’s life, for better or worse.From the opening chapters, Darkness for Light sets a breathtaking pace of twists and turns. It’s not only the escalating violence that keeps you on the edge of your seat as the body count rises, but the complexity of the situation that Caleb finds himself struggling to unravel. Skilfully crafted, the main plot revolves around a hidden ledger that could expose the illegal financial machinations of Melbourne’s elite. There are several parties who will do anything to get their hands on it, and Caleb is caught in the middle with no one to trust. Viskic definitely kept me guessing.Caleb is not just under pressure from the rogue AFP agent, Frankie’s reappearance, and Tilda’s kidnapping, Kat is nearing a critical point in her pregnancy, and Alberto Conti, a deaf restaurant owner who has become a friend, has asked for his help. All of this threatens to undo the progress Caleb has made in therapy to deal with his demons. Viskic’s character development with Caleb has been uniformly excellent in previous instalments, but I particularly admired how she handled his emotional conflict in Darkness for Light.Darkness for Light is an exhilarating crime fiction novel, personally I’d recommend reading at least books one or two (though preferably both) before reading it, you’ll find the investment is worth it.