4 out of 4 stars
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Pancake Money by Finn Bell is a crime thriller set in and around Dunedin, New Zealand.
Detective Bobby Ress and his partner Pollo Latu are tasked with solving a series of brutal murders of priests, who are tortured to death in horrific ways. They believe the murders are linked to a Maori crime gang by the name of Manga Kahu. The investigation leads the detectives to a compound in Tegere Servare, a remote country area. Here, they find a Catholic church-run facility which aims to rehabilitate sexual deviant priests. Of the four priests who originally built the facility, three are murdered in the first three days of the investigation. The fourth remains on site, continuing to work.
The main theme of Pancake Money is that pain motivates human behaviour. Specifically, people will do anything necessary to avoid pain. Such pain might be physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or deprivation of a basic human need (food, water, air). If you subject someone to enough pain, you can change their behaviour. However, too much pain comes with a price. Sometimes, "you get more." And the "more" you get eventually becomes mental illness. It can be depression, PTSD, or even psychosis. Then, the person who has experienced too much pain may begin inflicting pain on others.
The plot is fast-paced and action-packed, gripping the reader. Bell's writing is punchy and crisp, short sentences with no unnecessary adjectives, making for easy and impactful reading. The book is written first-person and present tense, which is great for engaging the reader, especially in action scenes. The dialogue is strong and realistic.
The description in this book is graphic and brutal, particularly the crime scenes described by Ress. An early description by forensic psychology lecturer Ann Bowlby - of how one might use pain to change a person's behaviour - is also powerful and a little uncomfortable to read. The scenes with Ress's wife and daughter are a welcome counterpoint to this, a return from the detective's world of horrors to the comforting arms of family. Naturally, his wife Emma and daughter Eva both struggle with Ress's dangerous police life.
The climactic scene and wrap-up of Pancake Money are particularly satisfying. The loose ends of the story are tied up nicely, with explanation provided for many incidents throughout the story, some of which seemed relatively innocuous at the time.
The only slight negative for me is that I correctly picked the killer quite early. I do read a lot of crime thrillers, so my radar tends to be fairly accurate, but I was a little disappointed that the detectives missed the connection I made. Having said that, they were battered, bruised and exhausted, which would have made it far more difficult, so this was not unrealistic. It did not detract in any major way from my enjoyment of the book. I still found the ending exciting and satisfying.
This book was clearly professionally edited, with very few typographical errors. I identified only five in total.
Overall, Pancake Money by Finn Bell is an excellent crime thriller, which I would recommend to any reader of the genre. As such, I rate it 4 out of 4 stars.
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Pancake Money
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Like joshfee77's review? Post a comment saying so!
Anyway, I liked the topic of this crime thriller. You have to wonder what would make somebody kill a priest although I know many who do not deserve the title. Apart from this, I think it's worth investigating people's reactions to pain. Once again, you may think you know yourself and end up totally surprised. Great review!
