It’s nearly ten years since Caleb first strode out of my subconscious and into his own story, and I’ve just finished the fourth book in the series, Those Who Perish. Just as Caleb’s deafness makes him an astute investigator, ADHD makes me an observant writer – when you don’t instinctively understand the rules of the world, you tend to become a keen people-watcher. Although that term often conjures up ‘annoying kid who can’t concentrate’, it’s a complex neurological condition that can sometimes make day-to-day life pretty challenging. But where my experiences most line-up with Caleb’s is that I’ve got ADHD. Like Caleb, I’ve often had my feet in two different worlds: a working class kid who became a classical musician an author whose grandparents were illiterate. Not to mention his urge to thump some of the patronising ‘hearies’ he encounters along the way.īut the origins of his character go deeper than that. There’s a constant danger someone could sneak up behind him, or he could miss an important clue because he’s lipreading. And profoundly deaf.Ĭaleb’s deafness helps add a lot of tension to the novels. A loner PI with a dry sense of humour, he was watchful and unwaveringly stubborn. Caleb Zelic strode onto the pages of my debut novel, Resurrection Bay, as though he’d been waiting impatiently for me to notice him. In many ways I was destined to write the hero of my series, too. So I guess I was destined to write Australian noir. Also a fair few murders, including two separate serial killings, one of which has never been solved. It was the perfect place for a free-range kid, with lots of bushland, swamps and building sites to explore, but it had a darker side too – one of the highest crime and unemployment rates in the country. I grew up on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. The fourth instalment Those Who Perish by Emma Viskic is out now! Here she explores the influences that played a role in the evolution of Caleb Zelic throughout the series. Author of the Caleb Zelic series, Emma Viskic, has been writing the addictive crime thriller series since 2017 and won multiple awards.
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