Sanctuary is a stand-alone novel by award-winning, best-selling Australian author, Garry Disher. Grace is a thief, and she’s very good at it. She started as a pre-teen, was taught by the best, and knows her stuff, what she can offload quickly, and for how much. And three vital things she has learned: know when (and how) to walk away, keep it simple, and always have a plan B.

So when, at a Brisbane Stamp Expo, she spots someone who has reason to hold a grudge against her, she clears off, quick smart, heads south, changes her name, gets a different car, stays under the radar: she’s done this many times before. By the time she gets to the Adelaide Hills, though, she realises she’s tired of it: “All I want is a normal life,” is what keeps running through her head. But for someone like her, is that even possible?

In Battendorf, she spots a “help wanted” sign in Mandel’s Collectibles: she could do that, she’s good with antiques and vintage items. Her new boss is nervy, but gives Grace free rein, and the little shop does well. What Grace only learns much later is that Erin Mandel is hiding from a very toxic ex.

Going straight is harder than Grace realised, especially when there such rich pickings to be had under the cover of a buying trip to the Barossa. Is that to be her undoing? Or is it the humanity she can’t help showing in a critical moment, in combination with the appearance of said ex?

Once again, Disher effortlessly evokes his setting and his plot is intriguing enough to keep the pages turning. His characters are well-rounded and thoroughly credible: some are utterly despicable, one engaging in a particularly heinous scam; others, the reader will soon enough be hoping, even wishing, will elude capture: Grace for her courage and compassion, Adam for his conscience.

With Disher’s work, the reader often faces the dilemma: devour the novel quickly, because it’s so good and so hard to put down, or draw it out, because you don’t want the pleasure of it to end. This is brilliant Aussie crime from an author who never disappoints.
This unbiased review is from a copy provided by Text Publishing.