Review by Zain A Blade -- Pancake Money by Finn Bell
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Zain A Blade
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Review by Zain A Blade -- Pancake Money by Finn Bell
[Following is a volunteer review of "Pancake Money" by Finn Bell.]
4 out of 4 stars
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People mostly do bad things for only three reasons:
Money.
Sex.
Power.
However, in the crime and psychological thriller Pancake Money by Finn Bell, even the forensic psychology experts get it wrong this time.
In the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, a Catholic priest is gruesomely murdered in a manner that paints a horrific house of horror. Detectives Bobby Ress and Pollo Latu are assigned to the case and they go through a long list of possibilities to piece the clues together. Things get ugly pretty fast when more priests are murdered in a similar manner. The police are confounded by the motive of the killer because the dead priests were saintly in conduct and had a clean past. The only thing linking the priests is a place called Tegere Servare, a remote secret retreat for treating deviant Catholic priests, which was jointly founded and run by the priests.
Clues point to the possible involvement of the Manga Kahu, a tribal gang of the meanest, toughest, most dangerous criminals in the country. However, the MO doesn’t fit. The brutal and elaborate way that the priests were murdered points to the work of a serial killer; yet the extreme hate and anger evident in the way the victims were tortured suggest that vengeance is the motive.
A serial killer finding his sexual niche, victims of sexual abuse seeking revenge, or a group sending a powerful warning? Three dead priests and four dead cops later, the police are still struggling to figure out the motive and who is behind it.
Another angle is given to the plot when a convicted gang leader of the Manga Kahu escapes from prison and Detectives Bobby and Pollo are called in to track him down. The police are puzzled by his seemingly irrational escape as he was due to be released from prison in three months anyway. Dead priests and escaped gangsters; adrenaline-fuelled police chases and deadly shootouts. Will the detectives catch the killer and make it out alive?
I love the author’s writing style; it is punchy, brisk and yet adorned with beautiful metaphors: “The fog has outpaced us inland, masking our journey, sheening the trees in coats of silvered droplets.” The book is written in the present tense, giving the crime thriller plot a tone of imminent danger and intensifying the suspense. And the story is narrated in the first-person perspective, which draws the reader intimately into the life of the protagonist, Bobby Ress.
Detective Bobby Ress is a courageous young police officer who is torn between his commitment to fighting crime on the streets and the desire to make his family happy by transferring to a safer desk job. Bobby is intelligent, book-smart and logical in his approach to investigating a crime. His personality contrasts with that of his partner, Detective Pollo Latu, an older Samoan officer who has been at the job longer than Bobby. Pollo is wary of books and prefers to rely on his instincts; he habitually has a “knowing” about things. Although the two have fundamentally different personalities, they share a special bond that makes them a great team and Bobby looks up to his older partner as a mentor.
The novel has an array of other interesting characters, such as Police Captain Spyro, portrayed as the typical executive full of positive (and somewhat annoying) reinforcement for his staff. Then there is slippery Ben Kepu, leader of the dreaded Manga Kahu gang, also known as ‘Alkaline Ben’ because he is often arrested but seldom convicted. Another interesting character is Ann Bowlby, Bobby’s forensic psychology professor, a tiny old lady with grey curls and a walking stick - and the sharp mind of a serial killer.
The author is a brilliant action writer; the plot is very realistic, fast-paced, and action-packed. Finn Bell knows his guns well and it is evident that a lot of intelligence on police procedures, criminal profiling and the indigenous cultures of New Zealand went into developing the novel. Anyone interested in gaining insights into the criminal mind and human motivations or learning about police tricks, codes and jargons will benefit from reading the book. I would recommend this book to all lovers of the mystery, suspense, thriller and action genres. I believe the content is suitable for adults and adolescents alike because the language is appropriate for all age groups and the book is easy to read; even the gruesome murder scenes are not described in such a way as to be distressing to a reader.
Although the title of the book is edgy and the author explains the background behind it, no link is made between the book’s title and the actual story. This can leave a gap in the book because a reader always hopes to find a symbolic connection to the title in the narrative. I also feel that much of the classroom dialogue of the forensic psychology professor could have been shortened as it added little value to the plot. And albeit the book’s satisfying ending, where all loose ends were neatly tied up and every mystery explained, I feel the ending was a bit of a data dump and the reader should have been left to piece together information as the plot unfolded. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly good read and an absolute page-turner. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the first thing I did after finishing it was to search for other books by the author. The book was professionally edited and I came across only one grammar error. Hence, I rate the book 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Pancake Money
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
People mostly do bad things for only three reasons:
Money.
Sex.
Power.
However, in the crime and psychological thriller Pancake Money by Finn Bell, even the forensic psychology experts get it wrong this time.
In the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, a Catholic priest is gruesomely murdered in a manner that paints a horrific house of horror. Detectives Bobby Ress and Pollo Latu are assigned to the case and they go through a long list of possibilities to piece the clues together. Things get ugly pretty fast when more priests are murdered in a similar manner. The police are confounded by the motive of the killer because the dead priests were saintly in conduct and had a clean past. The only thing linking the priests is a place called Tegere Servare, a remote secret retreat for treating deviant Catholic priests, which was jointly founded and run by the priests.
Clues point to the possible involvement of the Manga Kahu, a tribal gang of the meanest, toughest, most dangerous criminals in the country. However, the MO doesn’t fit. The brutal and elaborate way that the priests were murdered points to the work of a serial killer; yet the extreme hate and anger evident in the way the victims were tortured suggest that vengeance is the motive.
A serial killer finding his sexual niche, victims of sexual abuse seeking revenge, or a group sending a powerful warning? Three dead priests and four dead cops later, the police are still struggling to figure out the motive and who is behind it.
Another angle is given to the plot when a convicted gang leader of the Manga Kahu escapes from prison and Detectives Bobby and Pollo are called in to track him down. The police are puzzled by his seemingly irrational escape as he was due to be released from prison in three months anyway. Dead priests and escaped gangsters; adrenaline-fuelled police chases and deadly shootouts. Will the detectives catch the killer and make it out alive?
I love the author’s writing style; it is punchy, brisk and yet adorned with beautiful metaphors: “The fog has outpaced us inland, masking our journey, sheening the trees in coats of silvered droplets.” The book is written in the present tense, giving the crime thriller plot a tone of imminent danger and intensifying the suspense. And the story is narrated in the first-person perspective, which draws the reader intimately into the life of the protagonist, Bobby Ress.
Detective Bobby Ress is a courageous young police officer who is torn between his commitment to fighting crime on the streets and the desire to make his family happy by transferring to a safer desk job. Bobby is intelligent, book-smart and logical in his approach to investigating a crime. His personality contrasts with that of his partner, Detective Pollo Latu, an older Samoan officer who has been at the job longer than Bobby. Pollo is wary of books and prefers to rely on his instincts; he habitually has a “knowing” about things. Although the two have fundamentally different personalities, they share a special bond that makes them a great team and Bobby looks up to his older partner as a mentor.
The novel has an array of other interesting characters, such as Police Captain Spyro, portrayed as the typical executive full of positive (and somewhat annoying) reinforcement for his staff. Then there is slippery Ben Kepu, leader of the dreaded Manga Kahu gang, also known as ‘Alkaline Ben’ because he is often arrested but seldom convicted. Another interesting character is Ann Bowlby, Bobby’s forensic psychology professor, a tiny old lady with grey curls and a walking stick - and the sharp mind of a serial killer.
The author is a brilliant action writer; the plot is very realistic, fast-paced, and action-packed. Finn Bell knows his guns well and it is evident that a lot of intelligence on police procedures, criminal profiling and the indigenous cultures of New Zealand went into developing the novel. Anyone interested in gaining insights into the criminal mind and human motivations or learning about police tricks, codes and jargons will benefit from reading the book. I would recommend this book to all lovers of the mystery, suspense, thriller and action genres. I believe the content is suitable for adults and adolescents alike because the language is appropriate for all age groups and the book is easy to read; even the gruesome murder scenes are not described in such a way as to be distressing to a reader.
Although the title of the book is edgy and the author explains the background behind it, no link is made between the book’s title and the actual story. This can leave a gap in the book because a reader always hopes to find a symbolic connection to the title in the narrative. I also feel that much of the classroom dialogue of the forensic psychology professor could have been shortened as it added little value to the plot. And albeit the book’s satisfying ending, where all loose ends were neatly tied up and every mystery explained, I feel the ending was a bit of a data dump and the reader should have been left to piece together information as the plot unfolded. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly good read and an absolute page-turner. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the first thing I did after finishing it was to search for other books by the author. The book was professionally edited and I came across only one grammar error. Hence, I rate the book 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Pancake Money
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Zain A Blade's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Swordpoint by David Crane
