Author: Simon Rowell
Book: The Long Game
Series: Detective Zoe Mayer (Book 1)
Publication Day: 03 August 2021
A summer of relentless heat. A local surfer named Ray Carlson is found dead in a house not far from Portsea back beach. There’s a kitchen knife deep in his chest, and blood everywhere.
Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer is scarcely back from extended leave, and still wrestling with her demons, but she is assigned the case—alongside her new service dog, Harry, whose instincts help her in unexpected ways.
There’s an obvious suspect for the murder, and Zoe makes an arrest. But it’s all too neat, and none of Zoe’s colleagues believes her theory that the whole thing is a stitch-up.
Except now someone is trying to hunt Zoe down.
***
THE LONG GAME by Simon Rowell introduces us to Zoe Mayer, Detective Sergeant with the Victoria Police who has just come back to work after several months of enforced leave.
Her first case back, a murder, seems quite straight forward once the investigative work begins. Enquires are made, witnesses interviewed, evidence is gathered and it all points to one person who is adamant they are innocent. And yet, Zoe feels something is not quite right . . . it’s a bit too down pat for her to be satisfied.
I thought the plot was great. Although thwarted in the end, the ‘bad guys’ did a good job planning the crimes.
There were two key aspects that didn’t quite work for me. First, for the first three quarters of the book nothing much happens. Second, many of the characters, especially Zoe’s colleagues, are predictable cookie-cutter types that offer little depth to the story.
The final quarter of the book is the best. The pacing increases significantly and there’s finally a sense of urgency to catch the killer(s) before they strike again. This last part also offers more twist, turns and revelations that moved the story along until its conclusion.
I liked this book enough to want to read the next Zoe Mayer book that is coming out in 2023.
Wild Card (Detective Zoe Mayer, Book 2)
Simon Rowell has worked on outback oil rigs, managed nightclubs, been a tour guide and run marketing campaigns. He is the author of The Long Game and The Echo of Others, which was longlisted for the Ned Kelly Awards for Best First Crime in 2018. He lives with his wife, Karen, in rural Victoria on a farm full of rescued animals.
