In Vanda Symon’s Containment, chaos ensues when a container ship spills its cargo near a small New Zealand beachside village. Soon Aramona is crowded with scavengers making off with armfuls of toys, furniture, books and clothes they find strewn along the white sands.
Police from the nearby city of Dunedin are drafted in to try and curb the worst of the looting but what begins as a case of crowd control ends up being a challenging murder investigation. First a skull is found in the sand and then the body of a diver is pulled from the sea.
This is the third book in Vanda Symon’s series featuring Detective Constable Sam Shepherd, a highly motivated and eager young officer whose determination to succeed is countered by struggles with self-doubt. I enjoyed the first book in the series — Overkill — mainly because of Shepherd’s character and the small farming community setting.
That small-town element is missing from Containment, Shepherd having moved away to the city in search of something more meaty than rural crime. But the new setting of Dunedin is just as interesting. I do love it when authors use street names and actual locations in their narrative — it not only adds a degree of authenticity but it also gives me an excuse to go on a Google Maps virtual tour of this historic settler city.
Many New Zealanders apparently consider Dunedin to be “Grand Boredom Central” but it clearly has its livelier moments with clashes between its large student population and local residents. Sam’s scathing remarks about the students’ “ill conceived supposedly fun social events” and “booze-fuelled riots” did jar somewhat — sounding more like the attitude of an older person (Vanda Symon maybe??). But this was a minor blip in the presentation of this central character.
Sam Shepherd is shaping up to be an engaging figure. She’s fiercely resolute in her pursuit of the truth though can often jump in without too much thought about the consequences. I liked the blend of a straight-talking, no nonsense figure who still shows her vulnerability, particularly when she discovers her father is seriously ill or she feels she’s being undermined by an obnoxious misogynistic boss.
The plot of Containment was solid and well executed though not especially remarkable. I have a feeling that if I’d read this one first before Overkill I might not have felt strongly motivated to go looking for anything further in the series. Annabel of annabookbel.net recently reviewed book six in the series “Prey” and it seems that the elements I enjoyed in book one do make a return. So all I have to do now is get on with book four which has been sitting on my TBR shelf for about three years.
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