This is a surprisingly good novel from a relatively unknown author. The setting in New Zealand is fresh and the bits about the Maori culture and their conflict with the colonists are interesting.
The plot is tight and the action is well paced, making it a compelling read. The characters are beautifully crafted and will be remembered for long.
Apart from some lengthy philosophising and the lack of clarity about the killer's actual motives and methods, this crime thriller is very enjoyable indeed. ( )

This is my first book by Finn Bell, but he definitely has a way of writing thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat. I loved the way the author was able to carefully add information about his country in order to make the story more detail-oriented and believable. I was able to guess some of the story before it happened, but for the most part, the mystery at the end came as a surprise to me, and I loved it. The intricacies of the murders were unlike other books in the same genre, and I know I’ll be looking forward to reading more works by this author. ( )

If you thought that the excellence of Finn Bell’s debut novel The Killing Ground (originally Dead Lemons) was a fluke, you would be wrong. He does it again in One Last Kill (originally titled Pancake Money). I hesitate to say One Last Kill is better than The Killing Ground, because there was absolutely nothing wrong with Bell’s first book. And it continues. There is just something about his writing that grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go until the end of the story. The surrounding and atmosphere and events and people are unfamiliar, strange, exciting, often dangerous, but described so fully that you feel you are there, that you know them, and you can’t walk away. The pace is unrelenting. What happens may well make you cringe but the plot moves so smoothly, the characters are so well-developed and compelling and the unknown looms so large that you have to keep reading.

In One Last Kill, Bobby Ress is just a man with a family, a job as a cop with a great partner, who thinks he’s making a difference; just a regular guy settled into a regular life. But then things start to go sideways and Bobby learns about people and thinks and does things he never even thought about before.

I don’t like spoilers, and to try to write a detailed review would surely spoil your reading experience. Just find Finn Bell’s books and read them, all of them, now. His books are entertaining and thought-provoking and will stay with you and make you think long after you’ve finished. He is an author I hope keeps writing and writing and writing so I can keep reading and reading and reading.

Note author Finn Bell provided a copy of One Last Kill for my honest review. ( )

Finn Bell made quite an impact on the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards with two shortlistings - his first novel DEAD LEMONS in Best First Novel, and PANCAKE MONEY in Best Crime Novel. Grouped together as The Far South Series, these aren't series books as such, so you can read them in any order, but read them you most definitely should.

PANCAKE MONEY features police detective Bobby Ress, who did have a cameo appearance in DEAD LEMONS. He's a straight-forward sort of cop, loves his wife and daughter, has a successful marriage even though they married young and everyone said it wouldn't last. He's also from a straight-forward sort of a place where mostly people are law abiding, and life is uncomplicated even tranquil. Which makes the way that people start dying even more horrific than what are some pretty horrific ways to die. The case is bad enough at that level as far as Ress is concerned, but it's the way that he must confront some uncomfortable truths about human behaviour that is really doing his head in.

PANCAKE MONEY is a traditional police procedural in structure, but as with Bell's earlier books, it's his ability to build characters who are accessible and believable into plots that often lurch into controlled frenzy that really stands out. Ress is paired up with another very approachable, very likeable Pacific Islander policeman - Pollo Latu. Both men are happy men, content with their lot, which contrasts elegantly against the brutality that they must confront. Even as somebody is torturing and killing local clergymen in increasingly bizarre ways, there's nothing expected about the plot which is driven forward strongly, and balanced beautifully with the very human reactions of these two interesting cops.

The dialogue is spot on as well, particularly between the two characters who wise-crack and short-hand their way through some pretty horrible stuff. They obviously care about each other, and their respective families but it's not delivered in an overt manner. There's a connection between these two that's palpable, there's also a connection between them and the place that they live in that's completely believable.

Ultimately what's really good about both books by Finn Bell is that this is an author who can spin a yarn. He sets up a sense of place and character that gives the reader an immersive experience without labouring the point. He's got well delivered plot elements that combine pace and forward drive with strong dialogue and he gives permission to the reader to extrapolate their own theories on who did it along with the cops. He's also brave enough to go into some difficult territory, giving any reader edging towards complacency a darn good wake up call when required. Having been lucky enough to read DEAD LEMONS first there was plenty of promise there, and PANCAKE MONEY delivered on every required element.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-pancake-money-finn-bell ( )