Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
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 Waitutū 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 Waitutū, 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...
THE CALL is a debut crime novel from NZ author Gavin Strawhan and I checked that statement more than a few times whilst reading. It won the Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize in 2023, I did not need to check that. THE CALL is such a strong debut it's hard to know where to start, but let's echo the blurb "Gripping and suspenseful with a killer ending, THE CALL propels the reader into the world of a terrifying new kind of gang..."
Gripping - this is a story featuring Auckland cop DS Honey Chalmers, who, after surviving a very nearly deadly attack by members of a ruthless gang of criminals, finds herself having to return to her childhood home to care for her mother. A local entity in her own right, now suffering from early Alzheimer's, it's hard for both Chalmers and her mother to come to terms with the changing dynamic of their relationship. Complicated when Chalmers meets up again with her oldest friend Marshall, a man who now has a history of his own.
Suspenseful - on a whole lot of fronts. Chalmers is dealing with some complicated feelings about Marshall, now finding herself very attracted to him, much to her mother's disgust. Honey's sister Scarlett committed suicide many years ago and Marshall was the last person to see her alive, Allegedly Scarlett's love interest, he'd supposedly broken her heart, but there's a lot more to that story that neither Chalmers or Marshall are fully aware of. Meanwhile, there's a car lurking around that most definitely shouldn't be there, and two men Chalmers recognises all too well. Looks like the situation in Auckland has come with her.
Killer ending - in a nutshell. It turns out that the informant who lead Chalmers into a very dangerous gang's proximity, Kloe Kovich, had run from the same members that stabbed Chalmers. She'd left her three kids in the care of her sister, who is married to a gangland entity, staying out of touch and under the radar. But now she's lobbed into the orbit of Marshall and Chalmers, bringing a lot of dangerous trouble down on their collective heads.
Terrifying new gang - made up of 501 deportees with pasts and not a lot to lose. 501 deportees are New Zealanders sent home from Australia on "character grounds". This includes completion of prison sentences served in Australia, and the worst of the worst have no grounds for appeal. Arriving home in NZ, they have territory to claim, criminal activities like importing massive amounts of illegal drugs to get sorted, and an unexpected mastermind driving their activities.
There's a lot going on in THE CALL, all of which slots together seamlessly, creating a tense, fast-paced and very engaging storyline full of action, drama, a bit of romance, some clarification of the past, and doubt about the future. Chalmers is a great character, fleshed out well in this novel. She's brave, complicated and conflicted about a lot of things. Her future as a cop after the stabbing attack that very nearly killed her; her sister's death and the events that lead up to it; her mother's medical condition and what the future holds for a very independent and forthright woman; an increasing attraction to the man who was a friend, then became a family enemy, and is now very much a love interest; and her sense of obligation to Kloe. Wrapped up in a very keen desire to see a gang of dangerous, vicious criminals stopped in their tracks.
In other words, THE CALL's got it all in spades. But there's nothing formulaic or expected about where this novel heads. Great characters, great action, killer ending. More please..
Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by Australians and New Zealanders on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction.
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