Better the Blood
The past never truly stays buried. Welcome to the dark side of paradise.
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4.1 • 34 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
'A compelling, atmospheric page turner with an authentic insight into Māori culture' Val McDermid
A DETECTIVE IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH.
A KILLER IN SEARCH OF RETRIBUTION.
A CLASH BETWEEN CULTURE AND DUTY.
THE PAST NEVER TRULY STAYS BURIED.
WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE OF PARADISE.
Detective Senior Sergeant 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 hidden room. With little to go on, Hana knows one thing: the killer is sending her a message.
As a Māori officer, there has always been a clash between duty and culture for Hana, but it is something that she’s found a way to live with. Until now. When more murders follow, Hana realises that her heritage and past are the keys to finding the perpetrator.
Especially when the killer's agenda of revenge may include Hana – and her family . . .
‘As page-turning as it is eye-opening’ Ambrose Parry
‘A remarkable new detective’ Daily Mail
‘[A] highly addictive read’ My Weekly
‘So chilling’ Crime Monthly
‘Opens a unique window onto a fascinating Antipodean society as only world-class crime fiction can’ Deon Meyer
Winner of the Best First Novel Award at the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards
Finalist for Best Novel at the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards
Shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
Longlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger
Shortlisted for Audio Book of the Year at the Capital Crime Fingerprint Awards
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Writer and filmmaker Michael Te Arawa Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) has long been fascinated by the darkest corners of New Zealand’s colonial past and justice system. His exceptional true crime book, In Dark Places, examined a gross miscarriage of justice that was predicated on racial profiling. In his first novel, Better the Blood, Bennett expertly tracks familiar ground with masterful characterisation and gripping emotional force. When Detective Senior Sergeant Hana Westerman encounters a crime scene with strange markings in blood, it kicks off an investigation that ties together a series of seemingly unconnected present-day murders and links them to the wrongful execution of a Māori chief in the 19th century. Bennett cleverly entwines social commentary on the seething consequences and pain of colonialism with artful twists and turns that crime fans will relish.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bennett (In Dark Places: The Confessions of Teina Pora and an Ex-Cop's Fight for Justice) makes his fiction debut with a stellar series launch set in contemporary New Zealand that explores the devastating belated consequences of a horrific murder of a Maori chief by six British soldiers in 1863—an act preserved in a daguerreotype. The opening pages reveal the original crime, and it soon becomes apparent that a killer is enacting vengeance on the six soldiers' descendants. As the body count mounts, Bennett dramatically portrays the psychological fallout of age-old violence upon Auckland police detective Hana Westerman and a range of well-drawn secondary characters; and he convincingly reveals Hana's inner turmoil and the conflicts inherent among her roles of detective, Maori woman, ex-wife to the senior police officer, and mother to a talented, outspoken teen activist. Told in third person mainly from Hana's perspective but also from the perspectives of her daughter, the killer, and the victims, the narrative moves at a quick pace. Immersed in modern-day technologies and with a keen sensitivity to cultural issues, this is a finely crafted page-turner. Bennett is a writer to watch.
Customer Reviews
Good read
Promising start for this author. Enjoyed the inclusion of Māori native language in the book & explanations. Added visual atmosphere to the story. I then read Book 2 & wasn’t quite so enthused. Books can be read as stand alone.