March 18, 2019
New Zealand author Symon makes her U.S. debut with this underwhelming series launch featuring female constable Sam Shephard. The only police officer stationed in the small town of Mataura, New Zealand, Sam follows up on a missing person report. Gaby Knowes, the wife of Sam’s ex-husband, Lockie, has disappeared, leaving their infant daughter, Angel, alone in their house, along with a farewell note. A chilling prologue has shown Gaby being forced to write the note, and to take pills, by someone disguised as a telephone repairman who threatens to harm Angel. When Gaby is found drowned on a nearby riverbank, the evidence suggests suicide, but Lockie and Gaby’s mother insist she was killed. After more senior officers are brought in to investigate, Sam, who fails to reveal her past relationship with Lockie, becomes a suspect and is suspended from the force. Of course, she pursues the case on her own. The plot is replete with other instances of Sam acting thoughtlessly, and the surprising reveal isn’t enough to compensate for the off-putting lead. Hopefully, the sequel will be better.
May 1, 2019
Symon's popular mystery series about Mataura, New Zealand, police officer Sam Shephard began in 2007 with Overkill, which is finally being published in North America. It's a dramatic and occasionally dark thriller about a cop whose investigation of a woman's murder is complicated by the fact that the cop and the woman's grieving husband were once lovers. Mataura is a remote rural town, and it's no surprise when Sam learns she is a suspect in the crime. Can she find the real killer and clear her name? Overkill is Symon's first novel, but it reads like the polished effort of a genre veteran. More, please.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)