Today I’m joining the blog tour for Reaper. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to Orenda Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

The City looks away … but someone is watching…

A killer is hunting Auckland’s homeless. No one cares. No one but Max. These are his people.

Max Grimes is homeless, living on the streets of Auckland – among the forgotten, the invisible. But now someone is hunting the homeless, killing them one by one. No one cares. Except Max.

Trying to put his shattered life back together, Max is pulled into a deadly game when a face from his past reappears, reopening wounds he thought were long buried.

As whispers of a Grim Reaper spread terror through the city, Max must race against time – not only to find the killer, but to outrun the ghosts chasing him.

Because if he fails, he’ll be next.

Review:

It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 years since I reviewed Faceless, but it’s so good to be back with Max Grimes and following up on his story. I love him as a character: he has so many layers and his back story is emotional and complex and I enjoyed getting to know him.  As Reaper is written from several different perspectives, it was interesting to look deeper into the characters and find out what makes them tick. This is particularly interesting for the reaper himself. 

Vanda Symon is a brilliant writer and I’ve loved everything she’s ever produced. As a writer from New Zealand, most of her writing is focused on this location and her sense of place is wonderful. I was taken to each scene straight away, and could visualise vividly everything that was happening, but her knowledge and expression of the social dynamic of the area is also second to none. I really appreciated this as it helped me to gain a greater insight into the issues the characters faced and sympathise with them. 

Reaper is a very fast paced novel. The chapters are short and the tension starts to rise very early in the novel and continues to do so throughout the story. I was completely immersed in what was happening the whole way through and I really wanted to know the identity of the reaper, whose chapters are especially chilling. 

I can’t wait to see what Vanda Symon does next! 

Reaper is available from Amazon.

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