nelldiaz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
This book is going to sit with me for a while. It brought up a lot of feelings for me as a Māori. Highly recommend but check the content warnings
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide
bookishcori's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
3.25
Pacing was off, but the story is intriguing. I always appreciate stories about Indigenous communities outside of the US.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, and Murder
alisonvh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
This book is so good! I’m so grateful to the Nerdette podcast for making me aware of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Addiction, Death, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Genocide
dnlrbchd's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Racism, Colonisation, and Murder
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol
relf's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
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
3.5
Hana Westerman is a police detective in Auckland, New Zealand, a role which challenges her as a Māori working inside the inequitable, white colonialist system. When she is called to a series of murders, sees the connections among them, and as she identifies and tracks the killer, she is challenged to prevent the next murder and to protect her own family. Set in modern-day Auckland, the story illuminates New Zealand's colonial history and the systemic racial problems that persist today. It's quite a gripping story, and I appreciated the Māori point of view it provided and listening to the narrators of the audiobook speak the Te Reo passages. For me, though, a few too many coincidences and close connections in the plot made it feel as if New Zealand's population must be 5,000 or 500, not 5 million--I couldn't quite buy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Drug use
bookshelf_al's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Gore, Violence, Colonisation, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent and Police brutality
awebofstories's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
Grade: A
It's been a while since I read a strong, true Thriller and this book quenched that thirst perfectly.
I was drawn to this book by the Māori point of view. Hana Westerman is an Auckland detective who straddles both the white world and her native Māori world. Not only did I find her inner conflict believable, but I appreciated how Bennett revealed it to the reader. While Hana may fall under the umbrella of a "hardened detective with their own baggage," it is easy to understand and even sympathize with her baggage.
Around Hana, we have some more strong characters. Her boss just happens to be her ex-husband. While they are on amicable terms, they can never quite get away from their relationship. Then there is their 17-year-old daughter, who is--a 17-year-old with her own sense of how the world should be. Finally, there is Stan, Hana's young and sweet professional partner for whom she serves as a mentor. I found all the relationships Hana has with these characters appropriately interesting and they all played into the plot. There were a few times when these characters made some predictable steps, but that is my only quibble with this book.
This book is a thriller, not a mystery. The point of this book is not to figure out who the culprit is, but to stop the culprit. And the culprit here is entrancing. This person is a product of events that stretch back a century and is concocted by running tradition up against generational trauma. They are fascinating and, in my opinion, on the same plane as the likes of Hannibal Lector (while there are some trigger warnings here, I can assure you that cannibalism is not one of them).
It appears that this is the start of a new series and I will jump on the next book as soon as it is released. Better the Blood has the best of the thriller genre and a unique voice of its own.
It's been a while since I read a strong, true Thriller and this book quenched that thirst perfectly.
I was drawn to this book by the Māori point of view. Hana Westerman is an Auckland detective who straddles both the white world and her native Māori world. Not only did I find her inner conflict believable, but I appreciated how Bennett revealed it to the reader. While Hana may fall under the umbrella of a "hardened detective with their own baggage," it is easy to understand and even sympathize with her baggage.
Around Hana, we have some more strong characters. Her boss just happens to be her ex-husband. While they are on amicable terms, they can never quite get away from their relationship. Then there is their 17-year-old daughter, who is--a 17-year-old with her own sense of how the world should be. Finally, there is Stan, Hana's young and sweet professional partner for whom she serves as a mentor. I found all the relationships Hana has with these characters appropriately interesting and they all played into the plot. There were a few times when these characters made some predictable steps, but that is my only quibble with this book.
This book is a thriller, not a mystery. The point of this book is not to figure out who the culprit is, but to stop the culprit. And the culprit here is entrancing. This person is a product of events that stretch back a century and is concocted by running tradition up against generational trauma. They are fascinating and, in my opinion, on the same plane as the likes of Hannibal Lector (while there are some trigger warnings here, I can assure you that cannibalism is not one of them).
It appears that this is the start of a new series and I will jump on the next book as soon as it is released. Better the Blood has the best of the thriller genre and a unique voice of its own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Murder, Drug use, Colonisation, and Kidnapping
Minor: Vomit and Excrement
mysterymom46's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Confinement, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Racism, Police brutality, Drug use, Death of parent, and Mental illness
Spoiler
use of a sharp weapon to hack and stab victimschronicreader96's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.5
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
Minor: Murder, Police brutality, and Colonisation
caseythereader's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Grief, Colonisation, Blood, Gore, Police brutality, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Cursing, Animal death, Murder, and Violence