Better the Blood

Hana Westerman, Book 1

De: Michael Bennett

Narrado por: Miriama McDowell, Richard Te Are

An absorbing, clever debut thriller that speaks to the longstanding injustices faced by New Zealand’s indigenous peoples, by an acclaimed Maori screenwriter and director

A tenacious Maori detective, Hana Westerman juggles single motherhood, endemic prejudice, and the pressures of her career in Auckland CIB. Led to a crime scene by a mysterious video, she discovers a man ritualistically hanging in a secret room and a puzzling inward-curving inscription.

Delving into the investigation after a second, apparently unrelated, death, she uncovers a chilling connection to an historic crime: 160 years before, during the brutal and bloody British colonization of New Zealand, a troop of colonial soldiers unjustly executed a Maori Chief.

Hana realizes that the murders are utu—the Maori tradition of rebalancing for the crime committed eight generations ago. There were six soldiers in the British troop, and since descendants of two of the soldiers have been killed, four more potential murders remain. Hana is thus hunting New Zealand’s first serial killer.

The pursuit soon becomes frighteningly personal, recalling the painful event, two decades before, when Hana, then a new cop, was part of a police team sent to end by force a land rights occupation by indigenous peoples on the same ancestral mountain where the Chief was killed, calling once more into question her loyalty to her roots. Worse still, a genealogical link to the British soldiers brings the case terrifyingly close to Hana’s own family. Twisty and thought-provoking, Better the Blood is the debut of a remarkable new talent in crime fiction.

©2023 Michael Bennett (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, UK

Great book , well told

This story jumps right in and you can’t put it down. The reader is wonderful though I had trouble with her accent in the beginning. I really enjoyed the native history of the people of New Zealand. Bravo!!

mixed bag

3 stars for Better the Blood by Michael Bennett. . It's the story of a serial killer in Auckland, New Zealand and the female, Maori police investigator, Hana, trying to solve it. The book gets big props for it's historical nods to the oppression of the Maori people and how their lands were stolen from them. The actual mystery of who the serial killer is - is played out without too much tension or big twists, though. Hana's family life is woven into the story as her ex husband is also a cop but a white man and her daughter is an activist with strong feelings about the Maori people and how they've been treated. If you enjoy historical fiction or cultural fiction - you'd probably like the book. I've been to New Zealand multiple times and really liked the Maori cultural parts and how the author wove that into the story. But if you are more into the mystery genre or want a gory serial killer novel this might feel a bit light on that end of the scale. It was a decent read but I wasn't as over the moon for it as I thought I would be.

Colonialism Is The Real Villain

I haven’t read much about the Māori people but this book made for a wonderful primer of key cultural points.

Although i have doubts about the effectiveness of love & words in dismantling a system built on violence where words have been used mostly to justify the actions of colonizers all over the world, this novel did paint a picture of how personal forgiveness should be sought & given & backed by actions that actually mean that the same offense will not be made by that person.

The narrators were wonderful & the fluent use of te reo Māori made the book shine even brighter as performed.

Also loved that the characters were multi-generational, allowing for many povs of the same situation. This really filled out the dimensions of the story as too often, making room for alternate views that felt truly organic & unforced.

all in all, 10/10 - would highly recommend :)

Captivating and thought-provoking.

Beautifully written, I was left wanting to know more and do better in my own efforts to strive for a more equitable future.

characters and setting

Love Hana. Needs to be a movie! Can't wait to read the next 2 books.