Day’s End is the fourth book in the Paul Hirschhausen series by popular Australian author, Garry Disher. Early spring, and Senior Constable Paul Hirschhausen is kept busy with his twin roles, “law-upholder and welfare worker”, which currently includes escorting Dr Janne Van Sant, the mother of a missing Belgian backpacker, Willi Van Sant around his last known locations. She is unconvinced by the story his last employers tell.

A detour on their return to Tiverton involves a body in a burning suitcase (not Willi’s, his mother confirms), requiring Homicide Squad involvement, on top of the necessary follow up on the backpacker, and a visit to a recently arrived family steeped in criminal culture. And so ends another week as sole cop in a rural South Australian small town.

Before the month is out, Hirsch has dealt with racist and slanderous graffiti, online bullying, neighbourhood harassment, an internet home rental scam, the sharing of racist and elder-abuse videos, an assault on a local school teacher, and encounters with what he terms “covid morons”.

He attends a light plane crash, and deals with a vicious dog at a PTSD-inducing scene, endures an uncomfortable zoom conference with his superior and an Internal Investigations interview. The exciting climax involves some very nasty members of a right-wing paramilitary group, and by the final pages there is a not inconsiderable body count.

Disher always manages to insert some (often dark) humour, as when Hirsch has a run-in with the Australian Federal Police:
“‘We snatched you off the street, as you put it, because we want you to back off.’
‘Back off from what?’
‘Poking your nose in where you shouldn’t. This is a need-to-know situation, and you don’t need to know.’
It was like being in a bad spy film.”

Disher is a master of descriptive prose and expertly conveys the atmosphere and attitude of the rural town: his cast of townspeople will likely be familiar to anyone who has visited such a place. Actual residents of the area would be able to say for sure, but Disher’s depiction of South Australia’s mid-north certainly feels authentic.

Amid a glut of flawed heroes, Hirsch is a refreshing protagonist: comfortable in his own skin; not perfect but certainly principled; not battling drugs or alcohol, not tempted by illegal or immoral activity; an essentially tireless cop, exuding integrity, dedicated to enforcement and protection tempered with the judgement calls essential in rural policing. Each additional dose of Hirsch makes him more likeable: another instalment will be very welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing.

The 4th book in the Paul Hirschhausen series by Garry Disher, Day’s End returns the reader to the small central north South Australian town of Tiverton where Hirsch is the local cop. More than simply a crime novel, Day’s End delivers a small town experience that effectively immerses you in the rural locale and the energy of the residents surviving the harshly beautiful conditions.

Right from the start we are inundated with a series of small (and one not so small) tasks that illustrate the far-reaching purview of Hirsch’s job. Due to the seemingly mundane nature of the crimes and misdemeanours demanding Hirsch’s attention we are somewhat lulled into underestimating the undercurrents of tension within the town.

Through most of the incidents Hirsch is confronted with on a daily basis he remains calm and unperturbed. Indeed, this is a hallmark of Disher’s writing style throughout the series. At times the understatement took me by surprise. The most obvious example of this comes quite early when Hirsch is called to a fire in a wheat field and discovers a suitcase doused in diesel and set alight. Inside the suitcase is a dead body. Rather than be overtly shocked, repulsed or emotionally affected by what he has found he sets about dousing the fire.

“The sudden jolt had caused the contents to shift, and strain the zip or the fabric so that a pale, hooked, tubular shape was exposed.
And just as the realisation hit Hirsch, Dr Van Sant got there first. ‘A human elbow’.
‘My first body in a suitcase,’ Hirsch said, but it fell flat.
She was right; he could smell it now, a dense layer under the weak acidity of the smoke.
Hirsch turned, saw that Bob was trotting over with the hose. ‘Ah good.’ “

I must say, I was quite bemused by this entire scene, wondering when, or if, normal human reactions might kick in. But when he “called it in and daydreamed through the next ninety minutes” I feared a little for his sanity but soon came to realise this was more about his coping mechanism.

Disher has used the Covid pandemic and woven his story around it, picking up on the fears of people who feel they’re being controlled. The late-Covid climate means that conspiracy theories have been festoring and flourishing, people have felt they now have permission to voice their prejudices and minor uprisings against the government are beginning to build. The frequent use of the phrase ‘sovereign right’ throughout the book reflects upon the discontent, not only in the town of Tiverton and its surrounds, but the entire globe.

Tiverton, in South Australia, may be representative of many small towns in the country. The youth become bored and disillusioned and turn to finding ways to keep themselves amused. Not all of their pursuits are legal or socially acceptable. In Day’s End they manifest themselves as cyberbullying, racist acts and slurs, scamming neighbours and, of course, drug use.

But sometimes, things get taken too far and the idea of reclaiming the ‘sovereign right’ means that Hirsch’s job has just become far more complicated.

Day’s End is a superb entry in the Paul Hirschhausen series. Hirsch is proving to be a far more complex character than first appearance may have us believe. His laid back nature and sensitivity to others makes him truly relatable. This is a must-read for fans of high quality Australian small town police procedural crime fiction.

My thanks to Text Publishing and NetGalley for an advance copy for review.

Wonderful novel, excellent writing and a gutsy story. Tense and filled with beauty and ugliness. Garry Disher has a way of conjuring up people and places brilliantly. He connects the reader to the small Australian town and the surrounding isolation in a way that you feel involved in the story. Highly recommended five star read.

It’s so good to catch up with my favourite country cop, Hirsch, still in his local town now under our ‘new normal’ way of life. Post COVID you could say that every thing has changed but also that there isn’t much that is different. Disher continues to deliver what he does best. Capturing the nuances of small town life with the people we’ve come to know and love. Wendy and Kate are still in the picture and everyone is grappling with challenges of life as it is today, the setting is very definitely 2022 . Not only living side by side with COVID idiots but also on line bullying and harassment and the usual collection of crimes, large and small. Always set at a great pace the latest in the Paul Hirschhausen series, Day’s End does not disappoint. It’s caring and empathetic when it needs to be and fast and exciting as it draws to an inevitable conclusion. If you needed to introduce anyone to the harsh reality of country towns these days with their influx of drugs and racism then Days End will do this. I love all of Disher’s books which might mean I’m biased but I think that he absolutely ‘gets it’. Many thanks to Text publishing and @netgalley for a advance copy to review. The opinions are my own.

The power of Garry Disher's writing is evident in every page of this novel 'Day's End' (Constable Paul Hirschhausen Book 4). His atmospheric writing brings you right into the story and you 'experience' the small outback town and surrounding isolation, and be a part of the characters journeys. A magnificent story that is more than worthy of five stars. Read the series you will not be disappointed.