Reviews: Who says politics is boring?

Who says politics is boring?
As New Zealand Book Month makes a welcome return in this election year, reviewer Craig Sisterson takes a look at a couple of political thrillers, one old, one new

As we said in the latest issue of NZLawyer extra (edition 20, 4 March 2011), during the month of March we will be supporting the celebration of all things books and reading that is New Zealand Book Month by reviewing a variety of locally-penned books. After all, if Kiwis won’t hit the bookstores and libraries around the country to support our local writers, how can we expect international readers to? All of us who are keen readers need to do our part to try a few local tales, perhaps in the genres or styles we each prefer, so we can see for ourselves that our writers can match, even better, the quality storytelling we often devour from their international peers.

One genre that’s been wildly popular since the dawn of storytelling is thrillers. As Lee Child told NZLawyer last year, thrillers date back to Greek Tragedies and beyond - in fact, the first stories cavemen told around the campfire were probably of heroic battles with or escapes from wild animals and other prehistoric dangers. Nowadays the thriller genre encompasses a diverse range of keep-you-up-at-night tales, including action-adventure, crime, spy, psychological, heist, domestic, conspiracy, and political.

Recently I read a couple of local novels of the latter flavour; one old, one new. A POLITICAL AFFAIR (Kinglake Publishing, 2010) won Dunedin playwright and short story writer Andrew Porteous a UK-based unpublished author competition. Part Maori detective Lachlan Doyle’s career is already in jeopardy when he’s assigned to quickly and quietly close a high-profile ‘accidental death’ case; an attractive assistant to the Prime Minister is found dead at the PM’s private house. With pressure mounting from many directions, Doyle begins to suspect that the nighttime ‘fall down the stairs’ may have actually been a push, and that powerful forces, political and otherwise, are massing to keep the truth from coming out. But who pushed, and why?

At 118 pages A POLITICAL AFFAIR is more novella than a novel, but it’s an enjoyable debut read from a new voice in Kiwi thriller writing. The story flows well, there’s a nice touch of intrigue to keep you wondering, and Doyle is a likeable hero - hemmed in by forces outside his control and understanding- that you want to follow as the pages turn. Hopefully there may be more to come from Porteous and Detective Doyle.

Going back a little further in publishing time is Michael Wall’s FRIENDLY FIRE (Penguin, 1998), which is no longer in print, but can still be found in libraries and some secondhand bookstores. As I discovered, it’s a terrific locally-set political thriller well worth digging out. Renowned expat journalist Erin Florian returns to Wellington from Europe to become Press Secretary for the new Prime Minister, after finding her French husband in bed with someone else. She quickly finds herself caught up in the political world, including plenty of intrigue caused by the new MMP system, and the Government’s junior partner undergoing a leadership coup.

When the new leader starts making outrageous demands, Erin has to dampen media speculation that the Government is coming apart at the seams. But why is the new leader so sure that Erin’s boss will eventually succumb to what seems like a poisoned chalice? Erin witnesses a killing, which is covered up, then finds herself under scrutiny from the secretive SIS, and the lesser-known but even more powerful and dangerous GSCB. More deaths, hidden conspiracies, and the country nears the brink of political and economic meltdown.

Before he became a novelist, Wall was himself a Press Secretary for a New Zealand Prime Minister (Jim Bolger in the early 1990s), and he certainly brings all that experience and inside knowledge to bear in what is a fantastic thriller, full of twists, intrigue, interesting characters, and more. Global economics, the Waihopai base and intelligence services, international relations, and the place of the media are all issues canvassed in FRIENDLY FIRE, woven into a cracking plot that keeps the pages whirring.

The best political thriller I’ve read in years, set right here in New Zealand.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This article was published in the 11 March 2011 issue of NZLawyer, and is republished here with permission.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have you read A POLITICAL AFFAIR or FRIENDLY FIRE? Do you enjoy mixing some politics into your crime and thriller reading? Thoughts and comments welcome.

Currently reading: FOLLOW THE MONEY by Peter Corris

After a very US-centric start to my 2011 reading (my first five novels read were all set in the United States, although one was by a British author), I'm now on an antipodean trend - this week I've read A POLITICAL AFFAIR by Andrew Porteous (short but enjoyable), just finished an advance copy of BOUND by Vanda Symon (wow - go and buy this book, a step up in an already-excellent series), and now I'm starting on Australian 'godfather' of crime fiction Peter Corris's latest Cliff Hardy tale, FOLLOW THE MONEY.

Here's the blurb: "Battle-scarred but indefatigable PI Cliff Hardy has lost all his dough to an unscrupulous financial advisor. He's got to follow the money trail deep into Sydney's underbelly into the territory of big money and bent deals to get himself back in the black. Cliff Hardy may still have the moves but he's in trouble. The economy's tanking and he's been conned by an unscrupulous financial advisor and lost everything he's got. Cliff only knows one way and that's forward so he's following the money trail. WC It's a twisted road that leads him down deep into Sydney's underbelly into the territory of big money bent deals big yachts and bad people. Cliff's in greater danger than ever before but he's as tenacious as a dog with a bone."

I'm looking forward to the read, my first Australian crime novel of 2011, and one from a master.

Don't worry about comments today - just go and pre-order BOUND from your local bookstore or online retailer. Seriously. I had high expectations, but they were surpassed.

Currently reading: A POLITICAL AFFAIR by Andrew Porteous

After a fantastic four weeks of travel and 'holiday' (vacation for those of you in North America), I'm now back in the saddle in Auckland - so expect to see far more regular Crime Watch posting moving forward in 2011. In the first week and a bit of 2011 I've read five crime novels - THE LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS by James Lee Burke, IN PLAIN SIGHT by CJ Box, THE EXECUTIONER by Jay Bennett, PROMISED LAND by Davide Hewson and THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN by James Lee Burke - the latter just finished on the plane from Nelson to Auckland this morning.

After five US-set novels, I thought it was time to read my first Kiwi crime novel of 2011. So for my sixth crime novel of 2011 (there is no way this pace keeps up all year) and first New Zealand-set/written one, I've started reading A POLITICAL AFFAIR by debutant Dunedin crime writer Andrew Porteous. You may recall from last year that Porteous won an international unpublished crime writing competition with the manuscript for this novel.

Here is the back cover blurb for A POLITICAL AFFAIR: "Lachlan Doyle is the product of a Scottish doctor and a Maori mother. Orphaned while still young, Lachlan has one great ambition, to be a detective with the New Zealand CIB.

He achieves that ambition and is posted to Dunedin. This is hardly likely to win the young detective notice and national attention. But when a woman is found dead in her own home, apparently having fallen down the stairs and broken her neck, Lachlan decides to dig beneath the surface. Soon he is convinced he has on his hands a case of murder. And no ordinary case, for he is being urged by colleagues and superiors to keep the case under wraps.

Lachlan refuses to be deterred. Soon he finds himself in very deep water, with his own life at stake, for the death of one woman leads right to the top, to the office of the Prime Minister himself. This is, in every sense, a political affair."

You can read more about Porteous and his debut novel in articles in the Otago Daily Times here,, and the Wanganui Chronicle here. Those in New Zealand can buy A POLITICAL AFFAIR (with free delivery) from here. For those overseas, you can buy A POLITICAL AFFAIR from Amazon.co.uk here.

Dunedin author's debut crime novel launched in UK

Last month I shared how budding Dunedin crime writer Andrew Porteous had won the crime section of the Kinglake competition (one at least four New Zealanders to win unpublished author competitions with crime or suspense novels in 2010), and would soon have his debut novel A POLITICAL AFFAIR published in the UK.

I'm pleased to report that A POLITICAL AFFAIR is now available from Amazon.co.uk for a very reasonable price. Here is the blurb: "Lachlan Doyle is the product of a Scottish doctor and a Maori mother. Orphaned while still young, Lachlan has one great ambition, to be a detective with the New Zealand CIB. He achieves that ambition and is posted to Dunedin. This is hardly likely to win the young detective notice and national attention. But when a woman is found dead in her own home, apparently having fallen down the stairs and broken her neck, Lachlan decides to dig beneath the surface. Soon he is convinced he has on his hands a case of murder. And no ordinary case, for he is being urged by colleagues and superiors to keep the case under wraps. Lachlan refuses to be deterred. Soon he finds himself in very deep water, with his own life at stake, for the death of one woman leads right to the top, to the office of the Prime Minister himself. This is, in every sense, a political affair."

You can read more about Porteous and his debut novel in articles in the Otago Daily Times here,, and the Wanganui Chronicle here. You can buy A POLITICAL AFFAIR from Amazon.co.uk here.

Dunedin crime writer wins unpublished author competition

Little by little, New Zealand crime writing seems to be getting more attention, and it's great to see. Not only do we have authors like Paul Cleave, Neil Cross, Vanda Symon, Paddy Richardson, Michael Green and Alix Bosco putting out multiple titles with bigger publishing houses in recent times, but each year we also seem to have the welcome addition of more and more debut authors joining the Kiwi crime fiction ranks. Just in the past 18 months or so the likes of Lindy Kelly, Trish McCormack, Roy Vaughan, transplanted Scot Liam McIlvanney, Ben Sanders, Bosco, and Donna Malane have debuted on booksellers' shelves, amongst others.

We've also had a nice run of unpublished Kiwi crime writers getting recognition for their manuscripts; Wellingtonian Malane won the NZSA-Pindar Publishing Prize, which was open to writing of any type, Wellingtonian Bob Marriott was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger, and Aucklander Shauna Bickley won the 'romance' section of the Kinglake Publishing Unpublished Author Competition for a novel as much about crime as romance.

Now another Kiwi, Andrew Porteous of Dunedin, has won the crime section of the Kinglake competition, with his now soon-to-be-published detective story A POLITICAL AFFAIR. Porteous is an English graduate who works as a library assistant in the University of Otago science department, a former law student at Victoria University, and has written several plays over the last few years, but A POLITICAL AFFAIR was his first attempt at a novel.

The story is set in Dunedin and involves inexperienced part-Maori detective Lachlan Doyle, who finds himself investigating the murder of the Prime Minister's personal assistant. "It's a pretty local story and for it to be picked up in the UK is bizarre," said a stunned Porteous in a recent interview with the Otago Daily Times after his unexpected win in the competition was announced. "I thought it was a joke when they told me I'd won."

You can read the full Otago Daily Times article here, and another story on Porteous's success in the Wanganui Chronicle here. Good to see the New Zealand media picking up on the story.