Softly Calls the Devil by Chris Blake
We are approaching summer reading season! It may not feel very summery yet but books are arriving in anticipation of your summer reading needs.
Due in November is the subject of this month’s review – a home-grown thriller perfect for a shady spot, a cold beverage and an uninterrupted hour or two to lose yourself in the wilds of Haast.
Chris Blake is a serving Police Officer who has previously written under a pseudonym. This time he steps into the light (presumably with Legal’s blessing) and brings his considerable experience and expertise to the page. The life of a one-man station in the deep south springs to life as devastating deaths threaten to expose a decades old secret concealed by shame, terror and denial. The landscape itself is a character in the novel so vivid is its presence as the story unfolds.
Blake’s police procedure is spot on and the characters he draws ring true. J.P. Pomare endorses the book with the comment…”I had no idea where the story was going, but I knew I was in safe hands; I’d follow Chris Blake anywhere”. I completely agree! There were times when I was left completely in the dark at the end of a chapter only to have a new vista open up in the next one as the investigation developed. This pacing keeps you glued to the page long after you should have put the book down and turned off the light.
In 2018 Blake was a finalist in the Ngaio Marsh awards for best novel and best first novel.
His work then and now is a testament to the way New Zealand crime writing has developed and matured until now when it matches anything international writers can throw at a bookshelf.
Available in November at your local bookshop.
