Sea Change, by Jenny Pattrick.

 

            Jenny Pattrick is New Zealand’s premier historical novelist – who hasn’t read ‘The Denniston Rose’ and ‘Heart of Coal’ - and IF you say to your shame ‘not me’-  then it’s time to start gorging yourselves on her lovely stories of early New Zealand and its turbulent history, BUT! 

            This is a contemporary novel, dealing with and exposing 21^st century problems and the differing solutions according to those with the power, and what’s available those who have none.

            A huge earthquake devastates the top of NZ’s South Island;  the damage and loss of life is huge and all the North Island’s first responders are sent to the worst-hit areas;  meantime, the quake has struck a small Kapiti Coast village not far from capital city Wellington – the damage from that was bad enough, but a huge tsunami has inflicted a fatal blow to property and people living close to the beach.  Those few whose houses are on higher ground fare better than others, like Lorna, a retired public servant, and her neighbour Toddy, a retired engineer – who is also blind.  And their next neighbour is Eru, 9 years old and an orphan:  his father was fishing in his dinghy when the tsunami rolled in. 

            When everyone eventually meets up at the school hall (still standing, but the school isn’t) there is a very disparate group:  those who want to stay and get electricity and communications up to speed again;  those who want to get out immediately – not so easy – there is only access by sea; two gay plumbers (the Plumbelles) who will try everything to get fresh water piped again if they can only find a source;  and several jack-of-all-trades including a brilliant engineer (‘but he’s a recluse!’) who are undaunted by the situation – if only they could get some assistance from Wellington, which is sending manpower, firepower and dollars to the worst-hit in the South Island.

            Eventually the word from Wellington is that the village is too inaccessible to save:  there will be a managed retreat.  Which is not acceptable to everyone who has worked so hard to get everything up and running again, and definitely NOT cricket when it is found that the ‘managed retreat’ is to enable Lorna and Toddy’s very rich neighbour Adrian Stokes to eventually buy up cheaply all the undamaged land to build an exclusive private resort:  betrayal of the worst kind, and so easily done with friends in the right places.

            Jenny Pattrick has charmed us yet again with a story of triumph over adversity that could be ho-hum and mawkish in other hands;  instead she shows us all what logic, kindness and common sense can achieve when backs are against the wall – in a very logical, kind and common-sensical way!  SIX STARS.

                

 

The Valley, by Chris Hammer.

    
          Chris Hammer is a happily familiar face for all the tens of thousands of Crime novel fans in this part of the world, knowing as we do that each new book is always meticulously plotted and characterised, and that each story is a microcosm of contemporary Australian lives and times.  He has several returning characters to the differing themes in his books;  in this story we meet again with Nell, short for Narelle (what a good Aussie name that is!) Buchanan and Ivan Lucic, Detectives who didn’t work together very well at all a few titles ago;  now the rough edges have been worn away and they are a polished and effective team who always get their man.  Eventually.

            They have been sent to a central NSW valley where a local, a young and wealthy entrepreneur has been found dead, drowned in a beautiful lake not far from where he had established a luxury eco-resort for the wealthy and jaded to recharge their batteries.  It hasn’t taken long to confirm that blunt-force wounds to the head rendered him unconscious when he was put in the water:  drowning completed the job.  His young wife (his second) seems more business-like than mourning – she has a business to run, after all!  And the local businessmen of his acquaintance don’t appear to be mourning his passing.

            And there seems to be a secondary scandal and mystery pertaining to the abandoned goldmine halfway up the escarpment;  the woman who owned it threw herself off those cliffs when her husband’s body was found murdered in the depths of the mine.  But the more questions Nell and Ivan ask, the more mysteries they expose, including Nell’s parentage:  she was adopted as a baby and never knew her biological parents.  Now, that is about to change.  By birth, she is a local, too!  The clues to the victim’s seed wealth all seem to point to the abandoned and played-out mine, but countless searches for any gold have revealed nothing over the years, and the mystery of Nell’s parentage is almost more than she can cope with;  however, dogged determination as always, solves everything satisfyingly at the end  -  as it should. 

            And as always, Chris Hammer produces a highly satisfying page-turner, full of red herrings and pretzel turns and, particularly when describing The Valley, a lyrical and beautiful hymn to the wonderful Australian landscape and wildlife.  We can only pray that it stays that way.  FIVE STARS.