Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Meet the JournalistsPremiumAucklandWellingtonCanterbury/South Island
CrimePoliticsHealthEducationEnvironment and ClimateNZ Herald FocusData journalismKāhu, Māori ContentPropertyWeather
Small BusinessOpinionPersonal FinanceEconomyBusiness TravelCapital Markets
Politics
Premium SportRugbyCommonwealth GamesCricketRacingNetballBoxingLeagueFootballSuper RugbyAthleticsBasketballMotorsportTennisCyclingGolfAmerican SportsHockeyUFC
NZH Local FocusThe Northern AdvocateThe Northland AgeThe AucklanderWaikato HeraldBay of Plenty TimesHawke's Bay TodayRotorua Daily PostWhanganui ChronicleStratford PressManawatu GuardianKapiti NewsHorowhenua ChronicleTe Awamutu Courier
Covid-19
Te Rito
Te Rito
OneRoof PropertyCommercial Property
Open JusticeVideoPodcastsTechnologyWorldOpinion
SpyTVMoviesBooksMusicCultureSideswipeCompetitions
Fashion & BeautyFood & DrinkRoyalsRelationshipsWellbeingPets & AnimalsVivaCanvasEat WellCompetitionsRestaurants & Menus
New Zealand TravelAustralia TravelInternational Travel
Our Green FutureRuralOneRoof Property
Career AdviceCorporate News
Driven MotoringPhotos
SudokuCodecrackerCrosswordsWordsearchDaily quizzes
Classifieds
KaitaiaWhangareiDargavilleAucklandThamesTaurangaHamiltonWhakataneRotoruaTokoroaTe KuitiTaumarunuiTaupoGisborneNew PlymouthNapierHastingsDannevirkeWhanganuiPalmerston NorthLevinParaparaumuMastertonWellingtonMotuekaNelsonBlenheimWestportReeftonKaikouraGreymouthHokitikaChristchurchAshburtonTimaruWanakaOamaruQueenstownDunedinGoreInvercargill
NZ HeraldThe Northern AdvocateThe Northland AgeThe AucklanderWaikato HeraldBay Of Plenty TimesRotorua Daily PostHawke's Bay TodayWhanganui ChronicleThe Stratford PressManawatu GuardianKapiti NewsHorowhenua ChronicleTe Awamutu CourierVivaEat WellOneRoofDriven MotoringThe CountryPhoto SalesNZ Herald InsightsWatchMeGrabOneiHeart RadioRestaurant Hub

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.
Entertainment

Book reviews: Thrillers and crime fiction

25 Jan, 2017 11:30 PM4 minutes to read
Greg Fleming
By
Greg Fleming

Greg Fleming is editor of Plus and Venue magazines.

VIEW PROFILE

The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman
Mindy Mejia (Hachette NZ $34.99)


Mejia's first foray into crime is a good one. Hattie Hoffman is a precocious, whip-smart 17 year old.
She wants "a life bigger than Pine Valley" - the small rural Minnesotan town she's grown up in.
Hattie dreams of making it as an actress in New York. Her obliging exterior - she can talk frost advisories, Pynchon or college gossip - masks a manipulative, troubled heart.
She's "unformed clay" ready to be who and what her audience wants.
Perfect for the stage (Hattie's Lady M in her school's production of Macbeth), but trickier in real life. And deadly for the people around her, especially the men.
They include - inevitably - a smitten, hipster English teacher and a football jock who Hattie toys with - despite thinking him as "dumb as a rock".
It doesn't go so well for Hattie either who turns up dead in an old barn after opening night.
Mejia - whose grandparents were farmers in rural Minnesota - captures the hardworking, no-nonsense Midwest character wonderfully.
The plot's tricky as it needs to be in these post Gone Girl times, but character and setting is king here.
If Hattie's the marquee star - other characters are just as good - especially the wry, seen-it-all sheriff Del Goodman.
Actually he deserves a series of his own.
Expect this to top the best-of lists in 11 months.

Missing, Presumed
Susie Steiner (Borough Press $34.99)


Inexplicably this slipped through the net last year. Steiner - an ex-journo - quit to write full time when her first novel Homecoming was published in 2013.
She wants her writing to have the page-turning - "propulsion of mystery along with the meandering and depth and relationship of a literary novel."
Present and correct on all counts.
DS Manon Bradshaw is a brilliant character - think Jane Tennison from the old Prime Suspect - and her "meandering" includes a search for love that's as compelling as her investigation into the disappearance of Edith Hind, a Cambridge post-grad from a well-connected family.
That case delves into issues of class, race, power and truth - not forgetting the dating dilemmas of the middle-aged - should you sleep with him just to shut him up? DS Bradshaw does.
Highly recommended.

Kill The Next One
Frederico Axat
(Text publishing $37)


Lots of meandering in this too, but to less effect. Argentinian writer Axat's third novel - this one set in the States - has an intriguing set up. Ted McKay has a brain tumour. When we meet him he's in his lounge and about to put a bullet through his brain.
But wait - someone's at the door and has a proposition - kill two deserving men before dying.
With plot twist upon plot twist - is it a dream? a conspiracy? mental illness? and why does Ted keep seeing a possum? and what's this horseshoe in his pocket? - this maze-like thriller will either amaze or annoy.

Sirens
Joseph Knox
(Doubleday $37)


First-time author Knox's Sirens has been getting good advance notices - one critic describing him as - "a Ross MacDonald for the 21st century".
Knox - an ex book buyer for Waterstones - is a Manchester boy - check the Joy Division epigraph - and this starts off powerfully.
We're in the gritty, dark world of Manchester's night-life - drug dealers, secret parties, junkies and bug chasers - and yes Sirens - the beautiful, damaged women drawn there.
Speed-snorting troubled junior detective Aidan Waits is asked to look for an MP's teenage daughter - that search puts him in the middle of a drug war and much more. Manchester's seamy side is captured brilliantly but
Sirens does get a little shrill and confused as it proceeds.

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

Entertainment

Former Matatini champions fill Rome's ancient Colosseum with waiata

Entertainment

Shock reactions to first prominent person of colour in GoT franchise

16 Aug 10:02 PM
Entertainment

Flash star seeks help for 'mental health issues'

16 Aug 09:29 PM
Entertainment

Coronation Street star Duggie Brown dies at 82

16 Aug 09:02 PM
EntertainmentUpdated

'Very lovely' Rita Ora boogies to Beyoncé at Wellington cafe

16 Aug 08:54 PM

Most Popular

NZ's low literacy rate is bad news for the economy
Education

NZ's low literacy rate is bad news for the economy

16 Aug 08:12 PM
Chlöe Swarbrick: We can choose to rewrite the rules again
New Zealand|Politics

Chlöe Swarbrick: We can choose to rewrite the rules again

16 Aug 05:00 PM
Premium
Matt Heath: Life is short and the universe doesn't care, so make the most of it
Lifestyle

Matt Heath: Life is short and the universe doesn't care, so make the most of it

16 Aug 05:00 PM

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.
About NZMEHelp & SupportContact UsSubscribe to NZ HeraldHouse Rules
Manage Your Print SubscriptionNZ Herald E-EditionAdvertise with NZMEBook Your AdPrivacy Policy
Terms of UseCompetition Terms & ConditionsSubscriptions Terms & Conditions
© Copyright 2022 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP