Review by Dawn_Sooy -- Pancake Money by Finn Bell
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Dawn_Sooy
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Review by Dawn_Sooy -- 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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Pancake Money
by Finn Bell
4 out of 4
The book was rated four stars out of four as the storyline is intricate, engaging with well-developed dialogue between the characters. There were a few minor grammatical errors but they were so insignificant I felt they should not have affected the rating, especially for a book that was as well-written as this one. Kudos to the author for receiving the Indie Reader Award for Best Fiction 2018.
The main characters of this book are Detective Bobby Ress and Detective Pollo Latu and takes place in Southeast New Zealand. Detective Ress and Latu are partners in their police unit and grew up together as close friends. Their friendship carries through to home life where both families have get-togethers by having dinners at each other’s house.
Detective Ress is currently taking a class on psychology, and the professor is engaging the students in a question about the behavior of all living things. One common denominator motivates this behavior, and that motivation is pain. This information from class is given, and both detectives are put on a case where an elderly priest has been murdered. When the detectives go to the coroner’s office, they find out that nearly every bone in the priest's body has been broken. There’s no blood, but the skin contains a multitude of bruises.
As they continue their investigation, they are under the impression the murderer is only one person. Another elderly priest is murdered but this time is impaled. The height of the wood and the position of the body on the post now suggest that more than one person is involved in the killings. No man has the physical strength to lift the body and impale it at the same time. This is when the detectives are beginning to believe that there is the possibility that the feared Maori gangs are responsible for the murders.
A third priest is killed by being slowly burned at the cross. This is when Detective Ress finally realizes that is brutal slayings were methods of torture used in ancient Christian time.
A task force is put together to handle these killings however Detectives Ress and Pollo remain involved in finding the killers. After research, they find that there is a compound far away from the city called Tegere Servare. This place was created and staffed by four priests of which three of them were the ones that were killed. Tegere Servare is a place that is a form of a jail for pedophile priests. No one is allowed to leave the compound and is strictly enforced.
The plot and the pace of the events drive the story along with the strong dialogue and twist and turns in the plots and subplots. When the two detectives spoke to each other, you could almost feel their friendship as well as mutual respect ooze from the words on the page. The author also wove the intricacies of the family life of Ress and Pollo as a subplot. I enjoyed reading about their wives, and I was particularly partial to Eva, Ress’s daughter. Finn Bell has written an incredible novel that grabs you from the first page until the last. I enjoyed reading this book as the people, and places felt like I was right there with them more in that place. One time someone once told me that you can judge how good a book is, is when you finish it you miss the characters from the story. This is what happened to me reading this book.
I see that Finn Bell has other novels written and I would like to read those. I’ve become a fan.
As in all stories or at least some of them, there are parts or a specific part of the reader just does not like. An event happened in this book, and I won’t say what it is because it might be a spoiler, but I was sorry that it happened. And even with my disappointment, the storyline was still fantastic. Also, the amount of research that the author must have had to do was incredible in order to create such a realistic place in New Zealand.
If you can get past some of the gore within the book and like a good murder mystery, I would recommend this book. At first, I was deceived by the title but by the time I started reading I was glad I chose the book.
******
Pancake Money
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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4 out of 4 stars
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Pancake Money
by Finn Bell
4 out of 4
The book was rated four stars out of four as the storyline is intricate, engaging with well-developed dialogue between the characters. There were a few minor grammatical errors but they were so insignificant I felt they should not have affected the rating, especially for a book that was as well-written as this one. Kudos to the author for receiving the Indie Reader Award for Best Fiction 2018.
The main characters of this book are Detective Bobby Ress and Detective Pollo Latu and takes place in Southeast New Zealand. Detective Ress and Latu are partners in their police unit and grew up together as close friends. Their friendship carries through to home life where both families have get-togethers by having dinners at each other’s house.
Detective Ress is currently taking a class on psychology, and the professor is engaging the students in a question about the behavior of all living things. One common denominator motivates this behavior, and that motivation is pain. This information from class is given, and both detectives are put on a case where an elderly priest has been murdered. When the detectives go to the coroner’s office, they find out that nearly every bone in the priest's body has been broken. There’s no blood, but the skin contains a multitude of bruises.
As they continue their investigation, they are under the impression the murderer is only one person. Another elderly priest is murdered but this time is impaled. The height of the wood and the position of the body on the post now suggest that more than one person is involved in the killings. No man has the physical strength to lift the body and impale it at the same time. This is when the detectives are beginning to believe that there is the possibility that the feared Maori gangs are responsible for the murders.
A third priest is killed by being slowly burned at the cross. This is when Detective Ress finally realizes that is brutal slayings were methods of torture used in ancient Christian time.
A task force is put together to handle these killings however Detectives Ress and Pollo remain involved in finding the killers. After research, they find that there is a compound far away from the city called Tegere Servare. This place was created and staffed by four priests of which three of them were the ones that were killed. Tegere Servare is a place that is a form of a jail for pedophile priests. No one is allowed to leave the compound and is strictly enforced.
The plot and the pace of the events drive the story along with the strong dialogue and twist and turns in the plots and subplots. When the two detectives spoke to each other, you could almost feel their friendship as well as mutual respect ooze from the words on the page. The author also wove the intricacies of the family life of Ress and Pollo as a subplot. I enjoyed reading about their wives, and I was particularly partial to Eva, Ress’s daughter. Finn Bell has written an incredible novel that grabs you from the first page until the last. I enjoyed reading this book as the people, and places felt like I was right there with them more in that place. One time someone once told me that you can judge how good a book is, is when you finish it you miss the characters from the story. This is what happened to me reading this book.
I see that Finn Bell has other novels written and I would like to read those. I’ve become a fan.
As in all stories or at least some of them, there are parts or a specific part of the reader just does not like. An event happened in this book, and I won’t say what it is because it might be a spoiler, but I was sorry that it happened. And even with my disappointment, the storyline was still fantastic. Also, the amount of research that the author must have had to do was incredible in order to create such a realistic place in New Zealand.
If you can get past some of the gore within the book and like a good murder mystery, I would recommend this book. At first, I was deceived by the title but by the time I started reading I was glad I chose the book.
******
Pancake Money
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: E-M-P Honeymoon by Dorothy May Mercer
