Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Better the Blood

Better the Blood follows detective Hana Westerman as she tracks the trail of a killer who sent her a mysterious video. However, will she manage to catch them before more people are killed?

I absolutely loved this book! I don’t know a great deal about the Māori, the focus on them in this book taught me so so much. I absolutely loved being immersed in their culture. I also loved that any Māori language or terms used were translated in footnotes. This helped me learn so much and I found myself eagerly awaiting the next one! I haven’t seen this translation technique done in other books and I absolutely loved it.

The crimes made me feel so conflicted, it’s not a clear black and white, right/wrong scenario like many crime books can be. I actually found myself getting a little emotional for the killer. Although I didn’t find this to be an overly tense ride, with no shocking twists. I still devoured it and wanted to read it every chance I had. I loved that the sections changed POV’s which really helped to get into the minds of the different characters. Although the POV’s weren’t made obvious, it didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on. Overall, I would love to see more books like this from Bennett!

I would recommend this novel to fans of detective novels with a cultural twist. I want to thank Likely Suspects, Simon & Schuster and Michael Bennett for sending me a copy of this book so I could give my personal thoughts.

Content Warnings

caseythereader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

internationalreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

rowanhill's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Tying New Zealand’s dark colonial past to the social injustices of the present, this race to stop a serial killer becomes about much more than keeping the streets of Auckland safe. As someone unfamiliar with New Zealand and Māori history, I found this exploration both heartfelt and captivating. The characters are well realized and are great examples of people who have experienced significant challenges that have changed them without breaking them. Though the mystery of the serial killer remains at the center of the story, it is not the true heart of it and it gets a little lost at times in the other things going on. This is definitely still a mystery/thriller story, but there’s a lot more to it than readers of this genre might expect.

Detective Senior Sergeant Hana Westerman is one of the best in Auckland’s police force. When she gets a mysterious email leading her to a dead body hanging in a long abandoned building, Hana already knows she’s in for an unusual case. But as the body count begins to rise, Hana finds herself in a race to stop a serial killer with only an old Daguerreotype image from the colonization of New Zealand as a clue. Solving the case will mean digging into Auckland’s, and her own, dark past and make Hana examine her Māori identity closer than she has in a long time.

This book goes above and beyond the typical mystery/thriller story and provides a wonderful examination of some of the social issues and inequalities that continue to exist as remnants of colonization. Being both Māori and part of the Auckland police force, Hana Westerman finds herself between worlds and her own struggles with her identity and choices adds a lot of complexity to this story. The other characters are equally interesting and contribute to this examination both in their actions and interactions with each other. The author himself is Māori, but he also manages to make the lessons about culture and social injustice feel authentic for the characters as well rather than something forced. As someone unfamiliar with New Zealand and its history, I found this to be a great introduction.

The characters are the true heart of this story and are really well realized. Hana is a strong and capable leader with some very real and relatable struggles. She and her ex husband have a healthy and trusting work relationship despite their separation and both are supportive of their daughter Addison despite some natural tensions. Addison herself shines as a musical activist and provides the perfect, youthful perspective to balance the world weariness of the other characters. None of the characters are overdone and it was easy to get invested in their lives as the story unfolded.

Honestly, this book would have been a 5 star read for me if it weren’t for one of the subplots introduced at the very beginning of the book. We are first introduced to Hana at a trial for a young Māori woman that had been drugged and sexually assaulted. Despite being found guilty, the person who did it is given a light sentence and sets out to try and destroy Hana’s career. This subplot is definitely there to make a point and builds to a particular moment, but it just doesn’t hit home and is ultimately unnecessary. I didn’t feel like anything meaningful was added to Hana’s character or to the story as a whole. The fact that sexual assault is involved when this is the case just makes it all the more unfortunate.

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Better The Blood is a binge worthy suspense thriller that interrogates Aotearoa/New Zealand’s history of race relations, explores the continuing impact of colonisation, and raises the disconcerting prospect of what can happen when justice is denied. It’s set in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland and is centred on Hana Westerman, a Māori detective who is leading an investigation into a possible serial killer. Hana is a wonderful character, a really competent cop, but estranged from her wider whanau for her role in breaking up peaceful Māori land protest. Her current case has her once again questioning the disconnect between her Māori identity and her police work. The killer is a wonderfully complex character. Learning his personal history, the history of his whanau and iwi, ensures you understand his motivation - even if his logic is suspect and his actions abhorrent.

The tribes and incidents referred to in this story are fictional, but very clearly based on or inspired by actual events. This is a debut novel but the author has experience as a scriptwriter and filmmaker. It certainly shows in the action scenes. And yet the novel’s quieter more introspective scenes are equally as compelling, if not more so.

For readers who want to read New Zealand literature which highlights racial issues, but don’t enjoy historical fiction or literary fiction, this book would be perfect. It’s compelling, and will educate as it entertains. I believe it releases in the US next year.

Content Warnings

jackbifrost's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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