When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole,

By Geoff Parkes

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            Just as Aussie Noir has become an established genre in South Pacific Crime writing, New Zealand writers have taken up the baton to produce their own brand of bushy WhoDunnits – and doing pretty well at it too, thank you, as evidenced by (amongst others) Catherine Chidgey, Michael Bennett and Rose Carlyle’s success, for our beautiful country has myriad spaces and places to create mysteries and murders galore.

            Such a place in the 80’s is the small Waikato town of Nashville – fictitious for the purposes of Geoff Parkes’s debut novel, but typical of small towns everywhere:  everyone knows everyone else;  they all love to gossip, and they can be forgiven for that for not much happens of note in Nashville – until a young hitch-hiker goes missing, a Finnish girl on her OE, who was temporarily working as a roustabout in a shearing gang on one of the local farms.  And this is not the first hiker to disappear in the town:  a couple of years before a young woman was last seen just out of town trying to hitch a ride;  someone unknown picked her up and she was never seen again.  The locals are starting to mutter about a Serial-Killer, gossip rubbished by the local police, but they don’t seem to have any clues either, even though HotShot detectives have been sent to investigate from the big cities. 

            It’s a mystery alright, especially for Otago law student Ryan Bradley, home for the holidays and working in the same shearing gang – and lover of Sanna, the missing girl:  he is frantic with worry for her but doesn’t believe he can do anything to help, so stays silent about their affair, thinking that no-one else knows.  Which is rubbish:  someone always knows something.  And he’s mystified by the change in his friendship with Phillip Nash;  growing up they were like brothers, peas-in-a-pod;  now, Phillip avoids him and only speaks if he has to, the excuse being is that Ryan thinks he’s too good for his old friends ‘now that he’s a lawyer-boy’:  there’s lots of anger simmering just under the surface, and lots of grubby secrets, too, which makes for a very satisfactory attempt at plot twists and turns.

            To reveal any more would spoil things, for it’s not just Ryan in the frame, and not all the characters are credible, which is a shame.  Having said that, what I really enjoyed about Geoff Parkes’s writing was the fact that his protagonists are a very good cross-section of society, with all its foibles, weaknesses – and loving-kindness.  FOUR STARS.     

 

Spirit Crossing, by William Kent Krueger.

           

      
      Once again it’s good to meet Cork O’Connor, longtime First Nations investigator and upholder of the law (when he’s not running his burger bar) in beautiful Minnesota, one of the Northern states bordering Canada.  Life is pretty much the same as it was in ‘Fox Creek’, except that his beloved daughter Annie has returned from hard charity work in the barrios of Guatemala, bringing Maria, her new partner with her.  They are returning for the wedding of Cork and Rainey’s son Stephen; it will be a joyous occasion for them all, except that Annie has a secret
that she doesn’t want to reveal until after the festivities are over – in fact she doesn’t want to disclose anything:  she’s just glad to be home once again, in the bosom of her loving family;  everything will be revealed eventually anyway, nothing stays secret for long.

            Meantime, it’s blueberry-picking season – as we all know there is nothing more delicious than those heavenly fruits on one’s breakfast and in pancakes etc, so Cork and his little grandson Waboo (little rabbit) are on their way to a secret site by a cabin in the woods once owned by an old Finnish man who used to swap blueberries for other kinds of food (who needs money when you can use the barter system?).  As Cork thought there is a considerable stash of blueberries, but there is something else which reveals the fact that little  Waboo has a gift for speaking with the dead – which he does by a mound covered with blueberries.  The young Lakota girl dumped in a shallow grave wants Waboo to tell her how to find The Path of Souls.  And it’s not long before the old Finn’s cabin reveals another terrible secret:  another murdered girl, this time from a prominent white family, and it doesn’t take long before the huge publicity following the white girl’s death, that Waboo’s identity is revealed and he has to go into hiding for his life, not only a victim of publicity but to keep him safe from the murderers of the girls:  if he can talk to dead girls, what can he say about the murderers to police?

            Meantime, a huge new oil pipeline is being constructed through tribal land (‘Drill, baby, drill!’) much to Ojibwe outrage, and furious protests have ignited hatred all along its route:  there is much for Cork and his family to navigate and try to change even though the class and racism cards are strongly stacked against them.  They have a strong and faithful ally in William Kent Krueger – long may he record the myriad injustices – and victories – that First Nations people receive.  FIVE STARS.    

 

Precipice, by Robert Harris.

 

            ‘The Shot That Was Heard Around the World’:  Gavrilo Princip, a young Serbian Nationalist and leader of a rebel group assassinates the heir to the Austro/Hungarian Empire and his wife, thus starting the First World War. Austria’s traditional ally Germany rallies its forces and attacks Belgium and France and their treaty partner Britain reluctantly starts recruiting troops for the war that everyone thinks will be ‘over by Christmas’.

            Meantime, Britain’s Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith is enjoying a great wave of popularity for his strong leadership and cabinet, not least First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill and Secretary for War Lord Kitchener, surely an unbeatable combination. 

            And Asquith is also enjoying – and is happily enslaved by – a passionate affair with 26 year-old Venetia Stanley, a much younger socialite of aristocratic birth with which he shares secret communications from his overseas ambassadors;  Venetia and her common-sense approach to huge military problems helps him to have a more clear-eyed view, especially about other members of his cabinet.  She has become indispensable to him in life and in love.- the only problem being his cavalier treatment of the decrypted telegrams and documents that he shows her on their many drives around London – he does insist on several occasions on screwing up these official state secrets and throwing them out the car window.

            Which is hardly a good look as people, in the first great flush of patriotism, hand the telegrams and state secrets into Scotland Yard, and a discreet investigation is obliged to begin, revealing that the affair is common knowledge among the Great and the Good, in fact it’s nearly last week’s news amongst the aristocracy – except for Margot, Asquith’s strident, social-climber wife:  she has also known about his affairs, but this is the first time he has been so impossibly, uncontrollably smitten.  This whole thing must stop!

            Meantime, the War rages on;  casualty lists are horrific, especially since Germany has started using Poison gas, and a new offensive touted by Winston against the Dardanelles is proving to have the opposite desired effect:  Gallipolli has been an exercise in supreme carnage.  Asquith must pull himself together, Vanessa must marry someone – not quite anyone, for she is an aristocrat, but Asquith’s government musn’t fall:  everything depends on sound leadership to beat the Hun, and distractions like socialites can’t be allowed:  in short, Asquith has to show a bit of Stiff Upper Lip – which he does, at the eleventh hour.

            Robert Harris has written superbly of this fraught time, using all the correspondence from Asquith to his darling Venetia, plus many of the decrypted messages and telegrams which are still in existence, and he has endowed all main players in the drama exciting new life, especially demonstrating that Love doesn’t always Conquer All – sometimes it can produce the opposite effect!  FIVE STARS.      

Julia's 2024 Top Reads

 

I have a Special Little List ……… 

(which I should have prepared MUCH earlier) of 2024’s Top Reads on Libraries Horowhenua’s review blog, Great Reads for Great Readers.

1.    The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons, by Karin Smirnoff

2.    Horse, by Geraldine Brooks

3.    Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett

4.    The Hunter, by Tana French

5.    All the Words we Know, by Paul Nash

6.    Fox Creek, by William Kent Krueger

7.    City in Ruins, by Don Winslow

8.    Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stephenson

9.    James, by Percival Everett

10.            Long Island, by Colm Toibin

11.           Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life, by Helen Fisher

12.           The Trees, by Percival Everett

13.           The Spy, by A. J. Choudhury

14.           The Mountain King, by Anders de La Motte

15.           Table for Two, by Amor Towles

16.           Death at the Sign of the Rook, by Kate Atkinson

17.           Patea Boys, by Airana Ngarewa

18.           Nine Girls, by Stacey Gregg         Junior Fiction

19.           Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout

20.           Juice, by Tim Winton

These are truly great reads as every great reader will know, and aren’t we all blessed that our exceptional library enables us to be the Great Readers that we aspire to be. 

The staff and volunteers at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po wish you all a most happy and healthy 2025.  (And some summer sunshine would be nice!)

 

Nine Girls, by Stacy Gregg.            Junior Fiction.

 

            Stacy Gregg is enormously popular for her equine novels for children, but she takes a different tack his time with an exploration of her own origins, so successfully that she won first prize for this title at the New Zealand Book Awards.  And deservedly so:  it has just the right mixture of everything – comedy, pathos, friendships old and new, and most importantly, family solidarity, for we all need to be part of an enveloping, loving kinship – whether we like it or not!

            It is 1978 and Titch is wondering how she has gone from living in Remuera, Auckland’s most expensive suburb, to residing in a much humbler house next to her Nan (her Maori Mum’s Mum) in Ngaruawahia – a sorry little town halfway between Auckland and Hamilton, and all because her Geologist Dad lost his job because JBL, the company for which he worked folded in the stock market crash.  They are no longer privileged, pãkehã and rich, and instead of their own private pool they have to go to the scummy local pool or swim in the mighty Waikato river.  Which is not a good idea because of the strong currents.   And several of her many new cousins reckon there’s a Taniwha – a hungry river monster -  in there, too, so she better watch out.  Yeah, right.  They’d say anything to upset the new kid on the block, but they also say that there’s buried gold on one of the derelict old farms in the area and, despite Titch’s scornful disbelief, she can’t help but get excited over the family rumours of betrayal and heartbreak a century ago;  in fact this is her first introduction to her mother’s family History – her Whakapapa – and it is Titch’s history too.

            And the plot can only thicken when Titch releases an enormous eel from a trap in the river;  it seemed to be calling her, and sure enough, when she let him out he had plenty to say, especially about how slow she was to get him out, for naturally he was no ordinary eel, but the Taniwha of legend, and he had lots of things to fill her in on about her history, because they were part of the same family, eh!  And the stories are tragic;  treachery and deceit from the Pãkehã Governor Grey, who wanted all the Waikato land but not the Maori who farmed it, and murder and injustice that had never been forgotten, as if it ever could.

            ‘Nine Girls’ covers five years of Titch’s life admirably;  it has a glossary of Maori words and terms for those not familiar with Te Reo, and a great love for Whanau (family) and country, especially Ngaruawahia, that is evident on every page of this lovely, unforgettable book:  suitable for kids of all ages – SIX STARS!   

              

         

           

 

No one Will Know, by Rose Carlyle.

 

            Rose Carlyle writes thrilling thrillers.  Every ingredient required for success – suspense, horror, characters-who-aren’t-what-they-seem, and an indomitable protagonist who survives an ending with the final twist on the last page is present by the bucket-load.  (Can you tell how much I enjoyed this book?  It’s not often that I try to read something in a single sitting, and I didn’t succeed, but two days is pretty good.)

            Eve Sylvester hasn’t had a good start in life, but lately she believes she is being rewarded with some happiness at last:  crewing on an ocean-going yacht with a man she eventually loves, exploring wonderful destinations, and a marriage proposal from Xander who has arranged for her to meet his parents when they dock in Sydney:  what could possibly go wrong?

            Naturally, everything.

            On the way to the fateful family lunch, Xander is killed in a freak car accident and Eve is injured, but finds that she is pregnant.  As well as being rejected as a fortune-hunter by Xander’s family, she is stunned with grief but is determined to manage somehow:  she will be mother to Xander’s child if it is the last thing she does – they will both survive, but how?

            The seemingly miraculous answer comes in the shape of an offer by a very rich couple who seem to know her circumstances better than she does:  wife Julia cannot have children.  To inherit a very old family property in Rumania she must bear a child:  if Eve could spend her pregnancy on their remote property off coastal Tasmania, after the secret birth she could be the child’s Nanny, never having to leave its side.  A win-win for everyone – what could possibly go wrong?  Except everything.

            For a start, Eve notices too much about her surroundings, which are sumptuous but so remote that she would never be able to leave without the couple’s permission should she change her mind;  there are unexplained arrivals of various big boats at the island’s marina where mysterious deliveries and collections are made.  And the staff closest to Julia and her husband Chris are very hostile and protective.  Eve is trapped in a rich little cocoon:  what will happen to her after the birth?  Nothing good, she’s certain!

            Ms Carlyle has proven that she’s no One Hit Wonder – she carried me along on a wave of ‘will she won’t she’ that nearly drove me mad enough to read the ending before I’d got there;  fortunately, I didn’t succumb to my baser instincts and lasted the distance, giving myself a well-deserved pat on the back for being strong.  Well done, me!  FIVE STARS.

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juice, by Tim Winton.

 

            An old man and a little girl travel east in a land turned to ash and desert;  eventually they stop for shelter at an abandoned mine works – except that it isn’t abandoned:  a bowman is in residence and fancies the look of their transport, and the batteries that power it.  He takes them prisoner and, to play for time, the old man tells him the story of how they arrived at this last Godforsaken place in the southeast of what used to be Australia – before human greed and power-hungry tinpot dictators wrecked the planet by fossil-fuel extraction – Juice.

            Tim Winton has written a frightening, dystopian and brilliant story in spare, beautiful language of the consequences of climate change, global warming, and how the remainder of the population survived ‘The Terror’ – when nature got payback for all the overuse of precious resources;  now survivors use all their ingenuity to keep batteries going so that they can have light and transport, and formerly big cities are now walled to repel lawless bandits.  The old man paints a stark picture of his childhood in a hamlet near the tropic of Capricorn, raised by his strict but loving mother as a plantgrower:  money no longer has any power;  food of all kinds is the currency:  food can be traded for other commodities – building materials, fowls for eggs and spare parts for the vehicles.  It is a very simple, lonely life, but when he is seventeen, he is recruited into a secret organisation called the Service, where all members are Operators, and trained in many and various ways to ‘acquit’ the world’s polluters – ‘acquit’ being a euphemism for assassinate:  the teen doesn’t tell his plantgrower mum that he has been recruited;  he just says that he has to go foraging for whatever he can find that is useful, even though he sometimes sustains serious injuries, but he doesn’t want to worry her.

            Or Sun, his great love, and the daughter he has with her, Ester (The only two named characters in the book), who eventually abandon him when he is absent ‘foraging’.  Now he is self-appointed guardian of the mute little girl, and wants to team up with the bowman;  he feels that they would survive well as a team – unfortunately, the bowman doesn’t feel the same way; he covets the old man’s transport:  who will survive?

            Tim Winton is an enormously respected Australian novelist – this could be his magnum opus, especially as the theme he tackles affects us all, and no-one could be more adept at describing our headlong rush to wreck the planet than he.  This is the best book I have read this year.  SEVEN STARS.