Crime
fans in New Zealand are eagerly awaiting the new Paul Thomas novel, Fallout, which will feature the maverick
Maori detective Tito Ihaka. The
forthcoming New Zealand edition comes with a front cover recommendation from
Ian Rankin. But even more interesting is
the back cover endorsement which records that Thomas’ previous Ihaka book, Death on Demand, was Shots’ 2013
Crime Novel of the Year as judged by “UK Crime Fiction Guru Mike Ripley.
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Tito
Ihaka, the unkempt, overweight Maori cop was demoted to Sergeant due to
insubordination and pig-headedness. He
investigates the unsolved killing of 17-year-old girl at an election night
party in a ritzy villa near Auckland. Ihaka
is also embroiled in a very personal mystery.
A freelance journalist has stumbled across information that Ihaka's
father Jimmy, a trade union firebrand and renegade Marxist, didn't die of
natural causes. The stories weave
themselves into an exciting climax in an atmosphere of political manoeuvring
and intrigue surrounding the USA's confrontation with New Zealand over its
anti-nuclear stance.
