If you're a reader, like me, who loves to solve mysteries in far-flung corners of the world, you're going to want to pick up a copy of Michael Bennett's Better the Blood. (Once you learn the origin of the title, you might feel a chill running down your spine, too.) The opening scene in which a photographer tells his subjects to hold still, that if they move, they "...will be but a smudge on the page of history" is prophetic and compelling. That scene let me know that I was about to read something special. I wasn't disappointed.
Better the Blood is steeped in MÄori history and culture and makes Bennett's story incredibly powerful. In the hardcover edition, when the MÄori language is used, the translations are right on the same page which I greatly appreciated because their proximity kept me rooted in the story.
There are some passionate, vivid characters in this book. Hana's daughter, Addison, a singer who's fierce in her insistence on the rights of the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand, is one. The serial killer is menacing, frightening, and... surprisingly sympathetic. I do like a bad guy who doesn't always do what you expect him to do.
But the fiercest, most vivid and passionate character is Hana Westerman herself. She's a MÄori woman who's been cut off from her family and her people for twenty years. A woman who-- when she knows she's right-- will stand up to her superiors even if it costs her her job. A woman who doesn't know when to quit. Hana is the type of character who's fully capable of joining the ranks of my all-time favorites: Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope, Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway, Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon... need I go on?
I want more.
Better the Blood is steeped in MÄori history and culture and makes Bennett's story incredibly powerful. In the hardcover edition, when the MÄori language is used, the translations are right on the same page which I greatly appreciated because their proximity kept me rooted in the story.
There are some passionate, vivid characters in this book. Hana's daughter, Addison, a singer who's fierce in her insistence on the rights of the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand, is one. The serial killer is menacing, frightening, and... surprisingly sympathetic. I do like a bad guy who doesn't always do what you expect him to do.
But the fiercest, most vivid and passionate character is Hana Westerman herself. She's a MÄori woman who's been cut off from her family and her people for twenty years. A woman who-- when she knows she's right-- will stand up to her superiors even if it costs her her job. A woman who doesn't know when to quit. Hana is the type of character who's fully capable of joining the ranks of my all-time favorites: Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope, Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway, Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon... need I go on?
I want more.
I didn't finish this book, it takes place in New Zealand and the names are impossible
This has something to do with the native people having their land taken away from them in the 1800's and it just inserts so many unpronounceable names etc that it just makes it hard to read (for me anyway)
I don't discourage anyone reading this one it probably a very good book for some but not for me (reasons above)
I'd try another by Bennett as long as it isn't this format
This has something to do with the native people having their land taken away from them in the 1800's and it just inserts so many unpronounceable names etc that it just makes it hard to read (for me anyway)
I don't discourage anyone reading this one it probably a very good book for some but not for me (reasons above)
I'd try another by Bennett as long as it isn't this format
