Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
Two strangers from Christchurch, both damaged and disappointed with their lives, meet at a resort in Asia. Just starting to enjoy their time together they are targeted by a stranger who has sinister plans for each of them. Fighting for their lives, they enter a foreign world of violence, drugs and big money. Oh, and a snake. Can't forget the snake.
Two thirty-something singles, deflated by life’s disappointments and thousands of miles from home, strike up a flirty chat near a string of sun loungers at a beachside Malaysian hotel. I
n other author or screenwriters’ hands, this would be the ‘meet cute’ setup for a rom-com; in Paul Cleave’s, it kickstarts a ripsnorting try-to-survive thriller that careens between steamy Malaysian jungles, filled with leeches, quicksand, and snakes, and frigid Canterbury farmlands, filled with kale and cattle.
In Somebody Always Comes Looking, Cleave’s fifteenth novel, Luca the wannabe writer and Katie the bank worker are each taking a weeklong break from family constantly hen-pecking their life choices, only to meet each other, and a surfer-looking Australian dude, on day one.
Antipodeans abroad, sharing night-time drinks on the beach, maybe something stronger; getaway fun. It would all be a heck of a lot of fun, if their new friend wasn’t a killer. Somehow surviving that encounter, Luca and Katie end up leaping from frying pan to roaring firepit, fighting for their lives at home and abroad, having stumbled into an unfamiliar world of drugs, big money, and brutality.
Malaysian detectives, brutal international gangs, travel frustrations, cancer-stricken children, heroin-filled syringes, raging bulls, bloodied shears, and a nod or two to his past novels are just a few of dozens of ingredients Cleave throws into the mix. But like a Michelin-starred chef, he creates an outstanding dish rather than a mess. Perhaps a tasty Nasi Lemak, given the setting.
Cleave, a frequent traveller himself, soaks readers in hellish version of holidays-gone-wrong. His prose fizzes, and he crafts an engaging cast of characters who stir the emotions as well as taking us on a breakneck journey. Another superb tale from the Crown Prince of Australasian crime writing.
Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment