Members were unconvinced by this novel. None of us liked the main character, Margot, and found her behaviour both professionally as a psychologist with her patients and as a parent increasingly appalling.
However, the novel is meant to be a thriller and a page turner and most of us got to the end without guessing the real arsonist and maniac. The writing succeeds in making the reader uneasy as the plot gets weirder. We thought the ending was a bit weak but it did explain the narrator's issues and why she was pursued for her behaviour.
Who is J.P. Pomare?
Joshua Nga Puhi Pomare (his friends call him JP) is a New Zealand author who lives in Melbourne with his wife and daughter. He grew up on a dairy farm in Rotorua where his father, Bill, was also a horse trainer and racehorse part-owner.
JP's mother died when he was 10. His father's family came originally from Pouto but he didn't have much exposure to the Maori culture until he attended Western Heights High School where the students are mostly Maori.
He didn't read until his mid to late teens: "There were books at home. You know, nice-looking books, some of them leather-bound. But they were just volumes of random books that no-one in the house had ever read."
His aunty sent him a copy of Harry Potter and he was off. He had an article published in the student newspaper, encouraged to write by his journalism teacher. In his 20s he started to get his fiction published.
He moved to Australia where he began reading more and started sending entries into short story competitions and literary magazines.
He is now the author of six novels which have been widely praised. His debut novel, Call Me Evie, was critically acclaimed and won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel.
His next novels were the bestsellers, In The Clearing and The Last Guests. In The Clearing has been optioned for screen adoption by Disney+ and will be released as an eight part miniseries this year. He writes crime novels "as a vehicle for change and social commentary" while speaking to a larger audience than might be possible with other genres.
His novel Tell Me Lies was a #1 Audible bestseller and was shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel and the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction.
The Wrong Woman and Home Before Night were both published last year. This year he contributed to the collection Families: Stories of Belonging (edited by Alaina Gougoulis and Ian See) where he talks about the impact of tragedies within families which can be felt for generations and where the brain weaves culture and stories with memories and myths. He will publish his next novel Seventeen Years Later in May next year. He hopes one day to write a biography about his hard-working Dad.
Are you already in a bookclub?
You may feel that you cannot commit to another bookclub because you are already a member of one (or two!)
We’d still love you to join us just as a Newsletter subscriber. We’d love to hear what other bookclubs are reading and what you think are the pick of the titles that we must read!
In the same way, we hope you will take away from our reviews some pearlers to share with your regular club.
