BOOK REVIEW: Melbourne-based Kiwi storyteller JP Pomare, interviewed by listener.co.nz earlier this month, does a fine job in his new thriller creating a fictional crime that doesn’t too closely resemble, on its facts, any of our nation’s most infamous real-life cases, but it’s hard to read it without various names springing to mind. Pora. Dougherty. Ellis. Tamihere. Bain. Watson.
These were defendants who became pariahs, found guilty of violent acts that “shocked the nation”, only for questions to creep in. Had our justice system delivered injustice instead? Did they really do it? In some cases, we now know, for DNA-certain, they didn’t. In others, it’s still murky. Innocents imprisoned, or correct verdicts despite flawed prosecutions?
In 17 Years Later, prison psychologist Te Kuru (TK) Phillips once believed the former of young Māori chef Bill Kareama, convicted of the murder of wealthy English immigrants the Primrose family in their stately home outside Cambridge. For years, TK was a fierce campaigner for Bill, noting gaps in the prosecution case and leaps made by the jury in the rush to hold someone responsible, that he hoped may lead to a successful appeal, or retrial. Then, TK walked away.
Sloane Abbott is riding high and hungover after her investigations into domestic violence earned her the prestigious Gold Walkley, a true-crime podcaster upstaging traditional media. When her assistant suggests looking into Bill’s case, Sloane is intrigued by the fact that Bill has spent 17 years in prison never acknowledging his guilt, even though he probably would have been parolled by now if he had. But Sloane demurs. It’s not her kind of case. However, after a grain of truth among her regular dose of online hate makes Sloane realise her career has been built on victims her audience – “female, white, 20-50″ – most identify with, she decides to swerve into something new: race, class and a potentially innocent man.
Except that Bill, the family’s live-in chef, has never talked to any journalists. So Sloane is going to need some help.
Pomare unfurls his tale through multiple timeframes and three narratives – Sloane, Bill and TK – luring readers in with many questions and keeping the tension high throughout. Why did TK walk away from the case? Did Bill really do it, or was he railroaded by a biased system? Is Sloane interested in truth and justice, or a good story to engage her listeners?
17 Years Later is a slick and enthralling page-turner in which the truth is slippery, a fast-flowing tale that never feels thin. Pomare, whose six books since 2019 have regularly appeared on bestseller and awards lists and been adapted for the screen, has a great touch for character and tension. The novel goes beyond its central hook of “Did Bill do it?” – is he the victim of a miscarriage of justice or a manipulative killer? – to explore societal biases, flaws and blind-spots in our criminal justice system, as well as the ethics of true-crime podcasting.
17 Years Later by J. P. Pomare (Hachette, $37.99) is out now.
