One of NZ's foremost authorities on crime fiction, Craig Sisterson, has two features in today's Canvas magazine, the excellent magazine which accompanies the Weekend Herald.
Sisterton writes about one of the best-established writers in the genre, James Lee Burke, as well as perhaps the youngest and newest, Ben Sanders whose debut crime novel,The Fallen, has just been published by Harper Collins NZ. And the amazing this is Sanders is a mere 20 years of age!!Sisterson concludes his positive review of the young man's novel thus:
The young man from the North Shore has added to the mounting evidence that New Zealand can produce native, compelling crime fiction to match the international offerings readers buy and enjoy in droves".
His full review can be read in Canvas or will be available later next week on his Crime Watch blog.
While enjoying The Fallen, and it is a substantail read, I have to say I did find it rather derivative at times, the smart-ass cop who often operates marginally outside the law, and especially the protagonist's musing about popular music, ala Ian Rankin's superb but now sadly retired character, D.I.Rebus.
For all that though I salute this talented young writer who clearly has a bright future ahead of him and if he can improve on this first work then he may well join the ranks of fine crime fiction writers who have gone before him. It was certainly great having the novel set in one's home town and being able to recognise streets, bars, restaurants, beaches and other locations.
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