Karen Chisholm
REVIEW
THE SOFT TOUCH - Tony Cavanaugh
Reviewed By
Friday, April 26, 2013
Last year PROMISE arrived, well promising quite a bit.... even though at the time the mad bad serial killer bit didn't work, the rest of the book did. And I particularly liked the central character, and the nature of his flawed / skewed moral compass. That component isn't overplayed but it's there, like the bloody great big dingo in the room - you know it could bite at any stage because that's what they do. Nothing personal, just a given.
This short story is very much a short story, and whilst it has a lot of the feel of a marketing trailer about it, it's worth reading as it spells out a lot of the background to Darian Richards and where that flailing moral compass comes from.
You're not going to need to read it to make PROMISE or DEAD GIRL SING - but having said that, as a bit of a teaser before the main event, I whipped through it in the day before I sat down and read the second book. More on that soon.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
BLURB
A gripping short crime story featuring Darian Richards by Australia's 2012 bestselling debut crime writer Tony Cavanaugh. Includes previews of his two full-length novels.
Darian Richards is a retired homicide investigator. He was one of the best. But chasing monsters eventually took its toll and he quit the force to sit on a jetty on the Noosa River. Or so he planned.
After years of service, witnessing the best and the worst of policing, Darian has made up his own mind about justice. Whenever a horrific crime is committed debate rages about the nature of punishment. As far as the law is concerned justice doesn't condone revenge, but tell that to the family of a murder victim or to the woman you can't protect. Darian Richards knows that in the real world, when your hands are tied, sometimes revenge is the only justice.
"The Soft Touch" takes you deep into Darian's past, to the life lessons that made him who he is. He is a man you want looking out for you not looking for you.