Detective Buchanan remembers every victim. But this one he can’t forget.
The body of a woman has been found on a pristine New Zealand beach – over a decade after she was murdered.
Detective Matt Buchanan of the Auckland Police is certain it carries all the hallmarks of an unsolved crime he investigated 12 years ago: when Samantha Coates walked out one day and never came home.
Re-opening the case, Buchanan begins to piece the terrible crimes together, setting into motion a chain of events that will force him to the darkest corners of society – and back into his deepest obsession…
I loved this.
Nathan Blackwell writes with a simple complexity, his protagonist Matt Buchanan is as real as they come and you fall into his vortex immediately, this is one of those books you start and finish whilst barely drawing breath.
The Sound Of Her Voice is a character study, a slow reveal of wider personality, with a strong sense of place and a mystery at the heart of it which is very human and extremely compelling. It kind of gently simmers in the background as Matt goes about his day to day life and work, the author plays with the concept of time both passing and yet somehow standing still..
The end result is a stunningly beautiful and melancholy tale, with a thought provoking finale that will stay with you.
I’m a fan. More please.
Highly Recommended
You can purchase The Sound Of Her Voice (Orion) Here.
Happy Reading!
Glad you enjoyed this one Liz. I did too – I think you’ve captured it nicely too. For me it was sometimes a tough book to describe to others because it’s not a single case/short time period/urgent mystery or thriller kind of thing, but more than slow simmer that gets better and better as it goes on. A great character study but not easily hashtaggable, so to speak, in terms of distilling what makes it so very good.