The Quiet People by Paul Cleave

Synopsis
Cameron and Lisa Murdoch are successful New Zealand crime writers, happily married and topping bestseller lists worldwide. They have been on the promotional circuit for years, joking that no one knows how to get away with crime like they do. After all, they write about it for a living.

So when their challenging seven-year-old son Zach disappears, the police and the public naturally wonder if they have finally decided to prove what they have been saying all this time…

Are they trying to show how they can commit the perfect crime?

Review
Crime authors, husband and wife duo Cameron and Lisa Murdoch joke that writitng crime books means they could proberly commit the perfect murder, but could they really? This is the premis for Paul Cleave’s new book The Quiet People. Zach is a challenging young boy, and when he goes missing one night the focus is on Lisa and Cameron, especially after footage of them joking at panels that they coud commit the perfect murder. Over the course of seven days we follow the police investigation in close detail as they try to find Zach, and find out who took him.

As a reader of crime fiction I can’t be the only one who wonders about their ideas, the research they do; I find it fascinating. I am in no way saying the authors would know how to commit the perfect crime, but I do love the premis of his book. The book is narrated in part by Cameron in the first person narrative, giving the reader an insight into his feelings and reactions to the situation. The other narrator is DCI Rebecca Kent, the investigaing officer. Lisa and Cameron are successful and seem to have a strong marriage and perfect working relationship, travel a lot to promote their books taking Zach with them and have made a lot of money. After Zach threatens to run away and find him gone the following morning, their perfect world is about to be shattered. What I found most interesting about their relationship was how almost straight away, when the police come to speak to them their was a distance between them, both physically and mentally, and the blame game begins. The other pairing of DI Rebeca Kent and DI Ben Thompson also has it’s cracks in the relationship. They haven’t been working together long and there are some obvious issues that become more apparent as the investigation continues. DI Kent’s narration gives a brilliant insight into how the police work, and gives a contrasting narrative to Cameron Murdoch’s.

To say that The Quiet People is compelling is an understatement, this is a book you need to find a good block of time to read. The chapters are quite short, so it’s one of those occassions where you think ‘just one more chapter’ and then realise its two hours later; I lost sleep reading this until very late at night. Paul Cleave builds the tension throughout, with the different perspectives making me unsure of who and what to believe. We all know how the media can play a part in high profile police investigations, and Paul Cleave really captured idea of the media frenzy, and trial by media. There were parts of this book that were frightening, how people belive what is written and shown by the media, how quick they are to judge without the facts and how quickly crowds can turn violent; I found these scenes some of the most shocking. Paul Cleave’s writing was able to capture the reality of these situations to the extent I could feel the fear of these scenes. The writing of the police investigation was detailed, as we follow DI Kent and DI Thompson where the evidence takes them, seeing their processes and their views on the Murdoch’s

The Quiet People is a gripping, menacing and engrossing read. It is deliciously dark and menacing with characters you spend the whole book trying to work out if you feel compassion for or hate. It’s one of those books that has your heart in your mouth on several occasions, especially as the plot hurtles towards it’s conclusion. A compelling and suspenseful read.

I would like to thank Orenda Books and Anne Cater for the invite to be part of the blog tour in return for my honest review.