Fat Rabbit Bounce - by Michael Bennett (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From three-time Ngaio Marsh Award-winning author Michael Bennett comes a gripping new stand-alone crime thriller where the official story says accident, but the dead say otherwise

Chloe Venosa is about to have the worst day of her life. A newly minted constable in Sydney during the hottest summer on record, she responds to reports of gunfire at a notorious housing estate. Backup still minutes away, Chloe disobeys orders and goes in alone, pulled upwards until she reaches the roof where a split-second decision ends in a fatal fall.

Afterwards, Chloe starts to unravel. She can't sleep, can't trust what she saw, can't stop reliving the moment: the same rooftop, the same man, the same drop. Time is tilting, and strange messages appear to Chloe on the wall of the building: TIME FLIES. LOOK DOWN. FAT RABBIT BOUNCE. Trauma, her superiors say. PTSD. Guilt. But fellow cop Kingston, Chloe's boyfriend, believes something else is at work. That something--or someone--is pushing her back to that day for a reason. That the dead don't always rest.

As Chloe and Kingston investigate the victim, the official story begins to fracture. While the fall from the roof may have been an accident, the chain of events that put him there was anything but. And the more Chloe uncovers, the more the facts seem to point towards powerful officers in her own department. To expose them, she'll have to risk her career, her sanity--and her life. In Fat Rabbit Bounce, Ngaio Marsh Award-winning author Michael Bennett interweaves a young cop's unwavering pursuit of the truth with Māori culture and spirituality in his irresistible signature twisty, thought-provoking style.

Review Quotes

Praise for Michael Bennett and the Hana Westerman Series:

"Michael Bennett's distinctive New Zealand-set series featuring Māori detective Hana Westerman continues with the pungent Return to Blood . . . The vivid picture of ethnic cultural life alone marks out the book as special, but it's Bennett's control of a tense narrative that is key."--Financial Times

"A great second novel by Bennett. The plotting is clever, and the characters are fully fleshed out and interesting . . . A powerful novel that stays in the mind long after it is finished."--Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

"Michael Bennett's crime fiction debut explores themes of colonization and Indigenous culture by way of New Zealand. A serial killer looking to avenge the 160-year-old murder of a Māori chief is pursued by police detective Hana Westerman, whose Māori ancestry makes the case personal."--Christian Science Monitor

"Stunning . . . With an incisive close third-person narration that digs into the thoughts and feelings of all of the players, the story commands attention from start to spectacular finish."--Oprah Daily

"A stunning and completely unique debut thriller . . . I can only hope that this is the start of a wonderful and long-running series."--Book Reporter

"Thoroughly absorbing . . . Bennett writes about Māori culture and history with generosity and care, reflected in the final acknowledgments paid to those in his community who lent him additional insights and guidance. He also crafts a compelling detective in Hana Westerman."--Shelf Awareness

"Outstanding . . . The characters are exceptional, their motives and doubts all so magnificently drawn, so many of them strangers in a strange land in their own land."-- Winnipeg Free Press

"A stellar series launch set in contemporary New Zealand . . . Bennett is a writer to watch."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Bennett establishes himself as an excellent storyteller . . . One can only hope this is the beginning of a series. A striking debut and a significant addition to Indigenous literature."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A compelling, atmospheric page turner with an authentic insight into Māori culture."--Val McDermid

"Stunning. Better the Blood is a tremendous debut, and Hana Westerman, the Māori detective at the center of the story, instantly becomes one of the great characters in crime fiction on any continent. This novel has it all: a gripping mystery, complex and memorable characters, and timely social and cultural commentary. Don't miss it."--David Heska Wanbli Weiden, author of Winter Counts

"Carefully crafted and beautifully written, intelligent and insightful, Bennett opens a unique window onto a fascinating Antipodean society as only world-class crime fiction can. I devoured it. (And, as a South African, I found great pleasure in the rugby references too.)"--Deon Meyer, author of The Dark Flood

About the Author

Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and author whose films have been selections at major festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and New York. He is the author of the Beltie Mystery Prize and Ngaio Marsh Award-winning crime novel Better the Blood, Return to Blood, and Carved in Blood, the nonfiction book In Dark Places, and the young adult graphic novel Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas. He lives in Auckland.