Description
Author: Gavin Strawhan
Format: Trade Paperback C Format
Publication date: 19/03/2024
Imprint: ALLEN & UNWIN
ISBN: 9781991006790
A brilliant debut crime novel centred on a 501 deportee gang, set in a remote coastal New Zealand town
After surviving a brutal attack, Auckland cop DS Honey Chalmers has returned to her hometown to care for her mother. The remote coastal settlement of Waitut? holds complicated memories for Honey, not least the tragic suicide of her younger sister, Scarlett.
Honey is hardest on herself. She let herself get too close to a gang informant. She got sloppy. The Reapers are a 501 gang of Aussie imports, ruthless and organised, and she’s pretty sure the informant, mother-of-three Kloe Kovich, paid the price. But when a couple of gang enforcers turn up in Waitut?, Honey realises they are hoping she will lead them to Kloe. But if Kloe is still alive, can Honey save her this time around?
When Honey catches up with her oldest friend, Marshall, her feelings are complicated. As teenagers they were inseparable, but Marshall was the last person to see Scarlett alive, and there are rumours they were sleeping together, that he broke her heart. Honey fears Marshall is not who she wants him to be. Eventually she learns the awful truth about the events that led her sister to take her own life.
When Kloe arrives in town, Honey and Marshall must work together to try and keep the hapless Kloe out of the hands of those who want her – and Honey – silenced.
Gripping and suspenseful, with a killer ending, The Call propels the reader into the world of a terrifying new kind of gang – and introduces a major new talent in crime writing.
David Hedley, Hedley’s Books –
What a great new talent in crime writing. This is a gripping story with a strong ending. Easy weekend read – big print and short chapters. Topical as set in New Zealand amongst the 501 gang scene. You will relate to the strong lead character DS Honey Chalmers who will clearly feature in more stories. Of its style I give it a five star! Michael Bennett and now Gavin Strawhan building on the success and growth of New Zealand crime writing.
Sue Reid, Read by Reid –
“If you could take a snapshot of current real-life New Zealand then The Call captures it in all its shades…”
Not since I read Fiona Sussman’s debut novel The Last Time We Spoke (2017) have I been able to read a book that is so honest and provides full context of the dark side of life that clashes with the innocent mainstream social strata.
New Zealand writer producer, Gavin Strawhan casts his eyes wide and brings together an array of characters that are a clash of class, police and the underworld of Auckland. If anything, The Call peels back the layers that ‘good and clean’ citizens don’t want to see nor acknowledge. Generational bondage to gangs and a way of life so far from our social ease and understanding are laid bare throughout the chapters whilst the tense pulse of urgency builds to a realistic ending. That’s Gavin’s strength in his writing, he unleashes reality and doesn’t provide a soft, saccharine narrative.
Detective Sergeant Honey Chalmers strayed too far into the territory of The Reapers Gang – a dangerous and new dynamic formed from the 501 Australian deportees. The rule book is re-written between police and gangs as heightened tension leads to retribution. Honey gets sloppy as she protects informant Kloe but at what cost and can she really hide out in her old coastal hometown?
Even in sleepy Waitutu, Honey has her own grief and hardship to face – can her wits stay sharp enough to see it all?
Welcome to the literary stage Detective Sergeant Honey Chalmers – The Call opens readers to possible sequels following this outstanding crime debut.
If you are a fan of Carl Nixon or Emily Perkin’s Lioness, you will find The Call a strong comparison and most satisfying.