Reviewed by Carolyn McKenzie
A psychological thriller set in the central city of Auckland during lockdown. Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to spend our 2020 lockdown with people you didn’t really like or even hardly knew?
In Oak Tree Lodge, a boutique central Auckland boarding house, on the eve of 25th March, 2020, three mismatched tenants – Roz, Frank and Julius – are preparing to spend the coming weeks in isolation from the rest of their quirky neighbourhood. Their only other companion is Leo, their landlord. He lives upstairs and, as we soon learn, he’s a pervert, delusional, and worse. There is a fourth room, but Chelsea went out 2 weeks ago and hasn’t come back. A few hours before lockdown begins, backpacker Meg turns up, desperate for somewhere to stay. Putting her in Chelsea’s room is a bonus for Leo – a last-minute opportunity to have a tenant in the best room in the house.
“Based on Real Events” claims the Love in Lockdown subtitle. Unless a series of inner-city murders were hushed up at the time, this statement thankfully only refers to the worries that people experienced during the pandemic; the tensions that developed in less-than-perfect relationships and the restrictions that were placed on personal freedom. The pandemic’s evolution in New Zealand and the lockdown regulations are reported accurately throughout.
Leo narrates the story. His cutting descriptions of Roz, Frank and Julius contrast with his rose-tinted relationship with Meg. This latter is sharply offset by other, more personal and disturbing details that he shares with us. His chatty narration is easy to read but his dark, apparently throw-away revelations mean that a sense of growing danger pervades the weird, strained atmosphere in the boarding house.
Despite the seemingly bizarre storyline, Fleming’s pithy writing, interspersed with irony and humour, has created an entertaining read with the final pieces in the puzzle only falling into place in the final pages. .
This review was first published in FlaxFlower reviews, which focuses on in-depth reviews of New Zealand books of all kinds, and is reprinted here with the kind permission of Flaxflower founder and editor Bronwyn Elsmore.
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