Book review

Death on demand
By Paul Thomas

If you enjoy a who dunit? this is for you. Paul Thomas was recently described in the ‘Listener’ as New Zealand’s best ever crime writer (sorry Dame Ngaio Marsh) and this, his latest, is right up with his best.

Thomas’ books are based around Detective Sergeant Tito Ihaka, an unlikeable character but singularly successful detective. Ihaka, having either insulted or annoyed every one of his Auckland police colleagues, had then accused a prominent Auckland businessman of a serious crime – which, however, he could not prove. This had proved to be the final straw and Ihaka had been relocated to the Wairarapa.

His being in the Wairarapa is explained in a prologue, and here I have a problem – it is much too long and detailed. The editor must have been half asleep.

Once into the story this annoyance is forgotten, the writing is typically tight Paul Thomas. It opens in Greytown around twenty years ago with a group of typical teenager boys and one of the trendy restaurants which had popped up in the town.

It then fast forwards to the present time, Ihaka has been in the Wairarapa for five years and is happily fitting in with the rural way of life. However he receives a summons back to Auckland to help shed some light on a cold case he had been involved in.

He no sooner arrives when three brutal murders are carried out for no apparent reason. And the story proceeds. By the last page the teenage boys, now successful men, have been involved one way and another. Along with half the Auckland criminal fraternity, a rogue cop, two beautiful women and sundry others.

By the last page the intricacies of the story have all been unravelled satisfactorily and Ihaka reinstated in Auckland. Thomas has researched the 1990s Wairarapa well, the scenes set here are very accurate, which is a mark of his meticulous writing – something not always evident in crime novels.

Recommended for crime fans – and other who like a well written story.

Mike Beckett