His Favourite Graves by Paul Cleave
To catch a killer... Maybe you’ve got to be one...
Acacia Pines, USA. Sheriff Cohen’s life is falling apart – his father accidently burned down the retirement home, his wife has moved out, and his son is bullying other kids at school.
When high-school student, Lucas Connor, is abducted, Cohen sees a chance to get his life back on track – to win back his wife and scoop the reward money offered for Lucas’ safe return.
But as the body count rises, it becomes clear that Cohen’s going to have to make the kind of decision from which there’s no coming back ... a decision with deadly consequences...
A furiously paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller exposing the dark underbelly of small-town life, His Favourite Graves is also a twisted and twisty story of father and son relationships, and the one last gamble of a desperate man to save everything...
About the author
Paul is an award-winning author who often divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where most of his novels are set, and Europe. He’s won the New Zealand Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur book festival’s crime novel of the year award in France, and has been shortlisted for the Edgar and the Barry in the US and the Ned Kelly in Australia. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He’s thrown his Frisbee in more than forty countries, plays tennis badly, golf even worse, and has two cats – which is often two too many. The critically acclaimed The Quiet People was published in 2021 and was followed in 2022 by The Pain Tourist – a number-one bestseller in three countries.
Review
‘His Favourite Graves’ is enthralling but depraved book that will shock you to your core! This is the third book I have read by this author so I was prepared for some violence and unsettling situations, but this book is a couple of levels above what he has produced so far. Did I enjoy it? Maybe. Was I captivated? Yes! It was like watching those dam cams videos - you know it is only going to get worse but you keep on watching until the horrible thing happens. The tension is palpable and that kept me racing through the pages right till that shocking ending!
Lucas Connor is having a crap day. First he is thrown into a locker at school and his saviour then turns outs to not have his best interests at heart. Lucas is a troubled kid, he has an alcoholic father and is constantly bullied at school. He doesn’t really have any friends. But his day is about to get even worse and that sets up the beginning of this book. Having another bad day is Sherrif James Cohen. He is having to care for his father, who is suffering from dementia, since he burnt down the care home in was living in, he is being sued and about to lose his house. He thinks he is finished for the day but then the call about Lucas comes in and his day gets worse. Both were compelling characters but they are damaged people and they lead complicated lives. They make for entertaining reading indeed.
The pacing of this book was superb - it was just right and it left me racing through the pages wanting to know what happens next. The location was spot on and the author is definitely correct about not being able to set this in New Zealand. The writing was so on point that the pages oozed small town USA!
Let me know if you pick this one up!
