Book Synopsis:
A DETECTIVE IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH
Hana Westerman is a tenacious Māori detective juggling single motherhood and the pressures of her career in Auckland’s Central Investigation Branch. When she’s led to a crime scene by a mysterious video, she discovers a man hanging in a secret room. As Hana and her team work to track down the killer, other deaths lead her to think that they are searching for New Zealand’s first serial killer.
A KILLER IN SEARCH OF RETRIBUTION
With little to go on, Hana must use all her experience as a police officer to try and find a motive to these apparently unrelated murders. What she eventually discovers is a link to an historic crime that leads back to the brutal bloody colonisation of New Zealand.
A CLASH BETWEEN CULTURE AND DUTY
When the pursuit becomes frighteningly personal, Hana realises that her heritage and knowledge are their only keys to finding the killer.
THE PAST NEVER TRULY STAYS BURIED
But as the murders continue, it seems that the killer’s agenda of revenge may include Hana – and her family . . .
WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE OF PARADISE.
My Review:
I really enjoyed this exciting, thought provoking book which is hard to believe is the author’s debut.
Hana was a very interesting main character who I really enjoyed following throughout the book. She’s a very strong lady and I liked how she’d managed to overcome problems to rise through the police ranks. I really felt for her as she investigated the case and her confusion when it became apparent that the killer knows her. Being Māori herself she often struggles between her culture and her job which was interesting to read about.
The author does a great job of setting the scene and I loved the fabulous descriptions of New Zealand. I’ve actually been to New Zealand so it was great to ‘revisit’ some of the places in the book. I especially enjoyed learning more about Māori culture and their beliefs and traditions as I didn’t know much about it before. It was very emotional to see how they were treated by the British settlers though and I felt very sad to see how their culture has been sidelined.
I thought this book was well written and fast paced with the action not letting up much for the entire book. I found it very hard to stop reading and raced through the book in a couple of sittings. I really hope there will be a sequel as I’d love to see more of Hana.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Simon & Schuster for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Michael Te Arawa Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) is an award-winning screenwriter, director and author.His first book, a non-fiction novel telling the true story of New Zealand’s worst miscarriage of justice, In Dark Places, won Best Non-Fiction Book at the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards. Michael’s second book, Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas is a time-travel graphic novel co-authored with Ant Sang.Michael’s short films and feature films have won awards internationally, and have screened at numerous international festivals including Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, Locarno, New York, London and Melbourne. Michael is the 2020 recipient of the Te Aupounamu Māori Screen Excellence Award, in recognition of members of the Māori film-making community who have made high-level contributions to screen storytelling.He lives in Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand) with his partner Jane, and children Tīhema, Māhina and Matariki.
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Great review, Jo. I like that this is a native Maori in the main role being as it is set in New Zealand. I will have to see if I can find this debut novel.
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