Sanctuary

Grace Latimer just one of the many identities she has had, is a thief, particularly of small collectables and antiques. After a childhood history of orphanages and foster homes, she learnt from the best how to steal items of special value and is very good at what she does.

She’s also a master at altering her appearance and identity so that she can disappear unnoticed in a crowd with just a few subtle changes. One day while carrying out a theft at a collectors’ convention in Brisbane, she sees a former associate she has been hiding from and has to flee.

Working her way first down the east coast and then across to South Australia, Grace finally arrives in a small rural town in the Adelaide Hills. Deciding it will make a good place for her to lie low for a while, she finds a job in an antique store run by Erin Mandel. She is surprised to discover she enjoys the job, Erin’s friendship and the sanctuary the town offers and thinks that perhaps I could be time to start living an honest life and quit her solitary life of thieving. What she doesn’t know is that Erin is also hiding from someone she fears and soon their worlds will collide as those seeking them circle around.

Other threads woven into the tale involve several other complex characters. Adam Garrett, a man working off a debt owed to an unscrupulous woman by working as a con artist for her and Brodie Hendren, a self-obsessed body builder who cares only about his image on social media and sells the memorabilia of criminals and despots on his website. Desmond Liddington, a local detective on the cusp of retirement, is also looking for an unidentified young woman who helped him one night at the site of a car crash and may know something about a local crime.

Weaving all these strands together, Disher has served up an excellent slow burning suspense with some stellar characters. He clearly has a fondness for these characters he has wrought and his plot is tinged with humour as they go about their various lives. It’s hard not to like Grace and feel anxious for her as the person hunting her sniffs ever closer. However, neither he nor the person looking for Erin could have any idea what a force of nature Grace and Erin make when combined together. This multi-faceted plot is beautifully laid out by Disher, ultimately merging into an addictive page turner that culminates in a very suspenseful climax.

With thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for a copy to read.