When an expectant mother is murdered in the relatively quiet Dunedin, in New Zealand, detective Sam Shephard, heavily pregnant too and assigned mostly office work, set herself the ultimate mission to discover the culprits. My second book by New Zealand author Vanda Symon, to be published next week by Orenda Books, is an unputdownable thriller with a special take on women safety.
Expectant is a book that stays with the reader until the end, but it also keep your mind busy thereafter. As in the case of anything involving women's topics, there are aspects that may become personal to any woman reader. Violence and insecurity of women's life is happening everywhere, even in the quiet Dunedin. Women, expectant women as well, are vulnerable and having a woman detective in charge with the case creates high expectations in the urgency of finding the criminal, but also reveals the everyday fragility.
Sam Shephard, as a (pregnant) woman detective is a great choice for solving the crime and I loved her persistance and interesting ideas. She´s the kind of woman every woman would love to have on her side to feel safer.
Highly relevant and captivating, with an important social take, Expectant develops a thriller story that goes beyond the crime riddle. The quality writing - both in terms of the storytelling and the construction of the story - takes the reader to a journey which may be violent and aggressively direct but worrisome relevant for our conflictual times.
Rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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