A review by chronicreader96
Better the Blood by Michael Bennett

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. 
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