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A review by herreadingroom
Better the Blood by Michael Bennett
4.0
Hana Westerman is a Mãori detective in a high pressured job with Auckland’s Central Investigation Branch, she’s also a single mother to Addison.
Hana receives an anonymous video which leads her to a crime scene, there she finds a man hanging in a sealed off room. And here’s where a chain of other killings begins.
The crime scenes are left pristine by the perpetrator leaving Hana with very little to go on other than a trail of breadcrumbs and a set of mysterious symbols purposefully left by the killer.
What slowly evolves is a link to a historic crime and a macabre daguerreotype taken in 1863 of a troop of six soldiers standing beneath the body of a Mãori leader hanging from a tree. Hana has to establish what possible motive there could be for these brutal murders now happening 160 years later.
As a Mãori herself Hana needs to understand her heritage and look to her own past to solve this case and locate the killer.
This is a brilliant debut novel which also shines a light onto the subject of New Zealand’s history and the violent brutality of colonialism when Mãori lands were shamefully confiscated by those who had no right to it.
The book is peppered with Mãori words and phrases helpfully annotated by the author, and the glimpses into the peaceful culture of the Mãori people was hugely insightful.
The plot is taut, well paced and extremely compelling. The characterisations were all very believable and three dimensional. The narrative was at times unflinchingly brutal and yet it was also bound in compassion. And I absolutely loved the setting too.
It certainly kept me gripped - I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I’m hoping this might be the start of a new detective series starring Detective Senior Sergeant Hana Westerman.
It’s out now and I can totally recommend this as a great read!
Hana receives an anonymous video which leads her to a crime scene, there she finds a man hanging in a sealed off room. And here’s where a chain of other killings begins.
The crime scenes are left pristine by the perpetrator leaving Hana with very little to go on other than a trail of breadcrumbs and a set of mysterious symbols purposefully left by the killer.
What slowly evolves is a link to a historic crime and a macabre daguerreotype taken in 1863 of a troop of six soldiers standing beneath the body of a Mãori leader hanging from a tree. Hana has to establish what possible motive there could be for these brutal murders now happening 160 years later.
As a Mãori herself Hana needs to understand her heritage and look to her own past to solve this case and locate the killer.
This is a brilliant debut novel which also shines a light onto the subject of New Zealand’s history and the violent brutality of colonialism when Mãori lands were shamefully confiscated by those who had no right to it.
The book is peppered with Mãori words and phrases helpfully annotated by the author, and the glimpses into the peaceful culture of the Mãori people was hugely insightful.
The plot is taut, well paced and extremely compelling. The characterisations were all very believable and three dimensional. The narrative was at times unflinchingly brutal and yet it was also bound in compassion. And I absolutely loved the setting too.
It certainly kept me gripped - I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I’m hoping this might be the start of a new detective series starring Detective Senior Sergeant Hana Westerman.
It’s out now and I can totally recommend this as a great read!