Review: THE WRONG WOMAN

THE WRONG WOMAN by JP Pomare (Hachette, 2022)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson 

Reid left the small town of Manson a decade ago, promising his former Chief of Police boss he'd never return. He made a new life in the city, became a PI and turned his back on his old life for good. Now an insurance firm has offered him good money to look into a suspicious car crash, and he finds himself back in the place he grew up - home to his complicated family history, a scarring relationship breakdown and a very public career-ending incident. 

As Reid's investigation unfolds, nothing is as it seems: rumours are swirling about the well-liked young woman who was driving the car which killed her professor husband, while a second local student has just disappeared. 

As Reid veers off course from the job he has been paid to do, will he find himself in the dangerous position of taking on the town again?

After kick-starting his authorial career in remarkable fashion with four superb standalone thrillers set across a variety of Australian and New Zealand locations, award-winning Ngā Puhi storyteller JP Pomare now immerses readers in a small-town America with his latest novel THE WRONG WOMAN.

This is a fascinating, page-whirring read as Pomare underlines his talents while giving his own fresh twists to the 'prodigal son returns' tropes that aren't uncommon in small-town and rural noir. I was immediately drawn in by not only the premise and plot, but the characters and sense of place. While Pomare can't be as familiar with small-town America as he is with the settings of his first few novels, he crafts a vivid sense of people and place that adds to the twists and turns of the story. 

Reid is a fascinating protagonist who's driven to dig for the truth, beyond the scope of his original remit. He has plenty of his own secrets, and reasons to lay low while visiting old haunts. There are many people he doesn't want to run into. Scars better left unscratched. 

Pomare ratchets the tension while deftly shuffling past-present timelines and the viewpoints of Reid and Eshana, the widow and driver from the deadly crash. Like a cardsharp whose sleight of hand is far too skilled for us to catch, Pomare performs literary magic. 

THE WRONG WOMAN is infused with great atmosphere and characterisation, plus freshness and unpredictability that continues to put Pomare on the top shelf of psychological thrillers.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He’s interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at festivals on three continents. He's been a judge of Australian, Scottish, and NZ crime writing awards, and is co-founder of Rotorua Noir. He's the author of the HRF Keating award-shortlisted non-fiction book SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, and the series editor of acclaimed anthology DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER. You can heckle him on Twitter.