Customer Reviews

Cemetery Lake

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like your crime fiction dark, you'll love Paul Cleave. His third Christchurch-set novel begins with private eye Theo Tate graveside, holding a front row ticket to an exhumation - courtesy of his former police colleagues being too busy chasing the Christchurch Carver, the grisly serial killer from Cleave's debut, THE CLEANER.

Tate's simple task evaporates when three bodies bubble up from the cemetery lake, followed by the coffin revealing the wrong occupant - more Carver victims, or a second psychopath on the loose? Sucked into a vortex of stolen evidence, police accusations, suspicious priests, the sins of his own past, suicide and murder, Tate gradually devolves into a horrific version of himself.

CEMETERY LAKE is an impressive novel from a talented writer. Mixing pitch-black humour with compelling characters, Cleave entices the reader to follow Tate through even the worst acts and most outlandish places. He evokes a dark version of Christchurch, giving the setting a character-like shadow; a city full of gardens and glue-sniffers, of long-held secrets and closeted debauchery hidden behind Victorian architecture and suburban doors.

Cosy-only mystery fans beware. But for everyone else, the pages will whir as Cleave pulls you hurtling through to the end. And then you'll want more.

I only discovered Mr.Cleave two weeks ago by a little article in a french magazine , and I decided to read a book of him in english (The Cleaner in v.o is too much expensive) and I bought this one . I was not disappointed , I loved it ! It was hard to put it down ! To put it down and turn the light for go to sleep or go to work , I thought of it every day ! I read it in 5 days , I loved all the twists , the dark humor , I was surprised by the detours taken by Mr.Cleave and even if I disagree with Theo about some things he did I really felt a certain sympathy for him and I'm happy to know he'll be in the 5 th book of Cleave . I found the first part really , really depressing and until the end wondered who was the serial killer .

Great book , I'm going to read right away Blood Men and then after The Cleaner (unfortunately in its french version but it's better than nothing) . I look forward other novels by Mr.Cleave , he was right to keep writing ! A promising novelist . Plus it's pretty cool to be in New-Zealand for a change !

My husband and I lived in Christchurch in 2006, and Paul Cleave perfectly captures the atmosphere of the city. I'm a huge mystery fan, and I look forward to more from Mr. Cleave.

Book was in great condition, although it didn't ship in a timely manner even though I paid extra to have it shipped quickly. Not sure what happened there.