Cosy crime this is most definitely not. Brutal, gritty, honest and at times so raw it is difficult to read, The Sound of Her Voice follows Detective Matt Buchanan, a man who is haunted by cases of his past, and who goes to extraordinary lengths to catch his elusive big fish and solve the one case that got away. If you are easily offended, or triggered by books about child abuse or sexual assault then do not read this book as it spares no blushes. You have been warned.

The book is told from the point of view of the main protagonist Matt, a guy whose entire career with the police is marked with darkness from the start, as a rookie being a first responder to the shooting of a colleague. As if that is not dark and tense enough, from here on in the story takes a darker turn with a succession of increasingly disturbing cases crossing Matt's desk, all of it drawing him back to the man he feels was really responsible for his colleague's death. From sexual assaults to disturbing stories of child abuse, he is faced with it all and whilst some of his job is fairly pedestrian, routing questioning, searching through endless numbers of files and reports, there is nothing pedestrian about the journey we are taken on. We bear witness to some of the darkest and most heinous crimes you can imagine and whilst we are spared the graphic detail on pretty well all but one of the crimes, there is no mistaking what has happened, not the implications of the investigation and what Matt and his colleagues uncover.

Matt is an interesting character. Father, widower and jaded cop, it is hard to know which part of his life defines him more. He is certainly a man who is unable to fully separate himself from his emotions and whilst he maintains, mostly, a professional demeanour at work, it is clear the impact it is all having on him psychologically. From dark dreams to extreme behaviour, we watch the slow devolution of his character as case after case, and more than the odd highly volatile and deadly situation pushes him to the end of his tether. I really liked the way in which Nathan Blackwell portrays his character, the tone and attitude pitched perfectly for the kind of crimes he is witness too. Speaking from a position of experience, although I trust that he has never quite been as maverick as Matt in execution of his own duties, the author brings a real sense of authenticity to both the more mundane and also the high tension elements of the story.

You get a real sense of place from the writing too. Whether in the suburbs or the more remote parts of the island, even to the scenes in which Matt, a qualified pilot, takes to the air, you can feel and sense every aspect of the locations the author takes us to. It adds another layer of reality to the stories and puts readers in the heart of the action. There are many moments of tension, hold your breath moments in which everything is on the line. There are also moment of poignancy, and ones that will test your emotions. It is a hard heart that will not be moved or angered by what comes to pass, but the author steers clear of the senational, enveloping readers in the truth of the justice system and how, sometimes, the bad guys do not always get their just desserts.

This is not an overly long book, less than three hundred pages, but I felt every page. There is no wasted language, no overly complicated back story to follow, just a series of increasingly harrowing events that, whilst difficult to read, compelled me onward. The pacing, the speed at which the author moves readers forward, never allows us to wallow too much which is likely just as well. As much as I felt at times like I needed to step away, I needed to know what happened next more. I needed to see retribution achieved, every bit as much as Matt. Whether or not I left satisfied ... well you'll need to read yourselves to find out.

This was fantastic. It gripped me from the first pages and I'm looking forward to reading more from Nathan Blackwell.

Theres nothing like a gutsy police procedural to keep you on your toes when it gets dark at tea time!

A cold case is the heart of this storyline...quite ironic when you think about it as the book is set in New Zealand!

After a body is washed up on a local beach, similarities to a previous case put Detective Matt Buchanan in the top spot to re open a cold case, and investigate why the body appeared on the beach, and whether it was in fact related to said case.

With not much to go on at first, the storyline was a slow burner. Naturally! The more Buchanan delved into the investigations, the more the suspense ramped up and the more I became hooked.

It isnt often that I get to read books set in New Zealand, so 'The Sound of Her Voice' made a nice change.

I really enjoyed this one! I'm finding my review tough to write as I dont want to give anything away! The story is quite complex and nearly every situation has a way of linking back to the others, so too much information from me could drop a spoiler!

I was really impressed by what I read, and the elements of surprise and tension were absolutely bang on. I'm intrigued to see what else this author can do!

The Sound of Her Voice is a gritty, dark and compelling book set in New Zealand about Matt, a police officer based in Orewa. The author, a former undercover police officer and Detective has used his experience to write an authentic novel which shines a light on the dark underbelly of crime.

Matt is haunted by a crime he hasn’t solved – the disappearance of a 14 year old girl, Sam who vanished back in 1999. He works on other cases; he finds other missing children, he identifies bodies found amongst the roots of Mangrove trees and takes down gangs of drug dealers, but Sam, and her family are never far from his mind. He still regularly meets with her parents and sister. He goes over and over the case and every time the body of a young woman is found he thinks it is her.

We follow Matt over his whole career, from his days a rookie cop trying to save the life of a colleague shot on a call out and to him nearly losing his own life when working with a police informant. He is a single father bringing up his daughter alone after his wife was killed in an accident and he is spinning an awful lot of plates.

This is an excellent crime novel which doesn’t shy away from violence, upsetting subject matter (sexual violence and abuse are both addressed) and the realities of policing. I understand that The Sound of Her Voice has been a huge success in New Zealand winning awards and garnering huge acclaim, and deservedly so. I really don’t think I’ve ever read anything so compelling and realistic in my life. Nathan Blackwell’s experience as a cop shines through giving the narrative a real edge. Although the cases and the characters are fictionalised I did feel like I was reading something autobiographical and so it made quite an impact upon me.

This isn’t a crime novel in the “traditional” sense. We follow Matt for around twenty years so there isn’t a murder, a cat and mouse game and a denouement where the baddie is caught and the Detectives celebrate. What we have instead is a number of cases which have a huge impact upon him and his mental health. He is worn down by the cases he is working, by the bodies, the abuse and the drugs and it becomes more and more difficult to keep those plates spinning. Under great psychological stress we see the other side of the policing; the hopelessness, the relentlessness of it and just how depraved some people can be.

It was refreshing to read a book like this. I really felt that I got to know Matt and watching him turn from an eager and keen rookie cop to a broken man was difficult to read. It’s also important to read about men like Matt. Men who work jobs where they are expected to be a certain way and just deal with the difficult parts of their job without breaking a sweat. Reading about a man struggling with his mental health was a breath of fresh air and it is wonderfully handled.

If deliciously dark crime books are your thing then The Sound of Her Voice could be for you. It is one of those books that stays with you and it feels so incredibly real that it gave me chills. This is an accomplished debut novel from a fresh voice and I look forward to reading more.

A brilliant debut novel that sweats authenticity as it delves into the darker side of modern-day policing, written by a pseudonymous author who spent several years working undercover and as a detective in the New Zealand police.

A word of warning - this one's not for cosy fans.

There's violence, sexual crime, missing girls, and many psychological wounds. Debut author Blackwell takes readers to some harrowing places, but never gratuitously - instead there's a sense of disturbing authenticity. THE SOUND OF HER VOICE feels ripped from the headlines in some ways, while also being a timeless tale of good people trying to battle against dark deeds, and risking losing themselves when looking into the abyss. Blackwell has some zing to his prose.

A strong sense of the New Zealand setting comes through, familiar in some ways for overseas readers and exotic in others. Rather unusually for a cop novel, THE SOUND OF HER VOICE doesn't focus on a single case (or two) or happen over a short time period - instead it deals with events spanning more than 20 years in Buchanan's career, and the accumulative effect of the horrors he's dealt with on his own psyche. Blackwell gives readers a very real insight into the stresses that criminal investigations create for all involved, rippling outwards from the violent act. And lingering.

There's a lot to like about this debut, and I can only hope we see more from Nathan Blackwell. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, discovering more and more layers as the story unfolded, and have found myself recommending it widely.

An absorbing novel that can't be distilled into a pithy hashtag or marketing hook, but offers crime readers so much in terms of a strong voice, fascinating and flawed 'hero', rich sense of place, and an up-close look at the all-too-real pressures of policing. Well worth a look if you can handle crime novels that delve into the darkness.

If you are looking for a different crime book, this is the one you should start reading right now, it will surprise you, I am sure!
This is not the typical detective book I am used to, it’s mostly centered on the live of the Detective Matt Buchanan, his life and police work, how he changes through the years but his priorities always remain the same, taking care of his family and try always to discover the truth, no matter what.
I’ll admit that I am so used to read books centered on the case and discover who the killer is that I don’t usually think how the cases and the victim scenes affect to the detectives, that’s why I was so surprised with this story. We could understand the sadness, impotence and desperation that sometimes detectives feel on a case, how they can not break the rules because it could affect the case even when they see that there’s something wrong… But what can they do if they feel the justice will not be fair? Follow the rules or break them?
This is a crime book, yes, but I think it’s much more deep than that, we will read about an old case and how the investigation will affect to Matt and make him doubt about everything he always believed
This is the first novel of Nathan Blackwell but I really can’t wait to read his next book! Ready to discover The Sound of her Voice?

In 1995, rookie cop, Matt Buchanan sees his colleague, Gabby, die after being shot.

Jumping to 2011, Matt is now an experienced detective investigating a murder after a young woman’s remains are found. It brings back memories of a case he worked on many years before of a missing young woman, Sam, but it’s not her,

This is the story of Matt’s experiences, the horrific crimes he’s investigated, rape, child abuse, murder and many more violent crimes against women. The courts seem to be ineffectual at putting those responsible behind bars and he wonders if it’s all worth the effort, he feels useless and depressed. He puts on a positive front for his daughter’s sake, but he’s a mess.

As this continues, Matt starts to believe some of these cases could be linked and something truly evil is going on.

Can Matt finally solve these crimes? Will he be able to recover?

This is a unique read. A story of the effects of seeing traumatic, violent events on those who deal with them day in and day out. It’s dark, brutal and haunting, one that is going to stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the for free. This is my honest, unbiased review.

When most people think of New Zealand they think of sheep, greenery and stunning views. They would be right, all those things exist in New Zealand but there is a far darker side to the country than most people know. Gang culture is big and that leads to crime and violence that you wouldn’t think would be part of life in a county that is often hailed as one of the best places to live.

The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell is a gritty crime book, following Detective Matt Buchanan as he tries to solve some truly heinous crimes. The death toll in the book is high and many of them involve people that Buchanan is close to, it drives him to do everything to solve the crimes and ensure that those responsible are held to account, and that often leads him to act far outside the law.

I often wondered how much of the book was based on fact rather than fiction, it felt so very real at times. The author, Nathan Blackwell although that is not his real name, does a frankly remarkable job of portraying the mental impact of the job on the Detective. It is hard for me to put into words how real it all felt and how at times it was painful to read Matt Buchanan’s breakdown.

This book is not for the faint hearted or the easily offended. There are many, many swear words in the book including the ‘c’ word, it is strong and that might bother readers. I don’t mind swearing if it is appropriate, and most of the time it was but the one thing I would change about the book is the number of swear words including the ‘c’ word.

But if you can stomach that and the gruesome murders and the descent into madness then read this book, it is disturbing and thought provoking and may just make you look at policing a little bit differently. I was blown away by The Sound Of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell and it will stay with me for a long time to come. Hopefully the author will write more books as I will be keen to read them!

Written by Nathan Blackwell, a former detective in the Criminal Investigation Branch of the New Zealand police, The Sound of Her Voice tells the story of Detective Matt Buchanan of Orewa police in Auckland.

In a novel spanning over 20 years, from 1995 to the present day, we learn of Matt’s life and career, in and out of the force, and the awful cases that he’s experienced in areas from drug manufacture and corruption, to child abuse, serious violence, rape and murder.

For anyone serving in the police, there’s always that one unsolved case that haunts you and, for Matt Buchanan, this is the disappearance of 14-year-old Samantha Coates, who went missing in March 1999 on the walk home from school. Despite an 18-month investigation, involving 30 CIB officers, no trace of her was ever found and all the leads ran out. Matt still meets regularly with Samantha’s parents, Karen and Rob, in the hope that, eventually, he’ll have some good news for them and that the police will find her body, solve the case and give the family closure.

Matt’s wife, Kate, died in a car crash when their daughter, Hailey, was 10 and this obviously still greatly impacts both their lives. Matt has done a great job bringing up Hailey alone and they have a great relationship. She’s a lovely, well-adjusted girl, despite the tragedy.

During the course of the book, we learn about key moments in Matt’s life, which are all relevant and important to the story. I don’t want to give too much away but there are various nasty, evil crimes, which end up being linked in some way and are all part of a bigger picture. Matt Buchanan seems to be involved in everything to some degree!

He is a rather empathetic character and takes things personally and feels guilty. He always wants to be available for people, especially those who have been the victims of crime. It’s no wonder that he eventually spirals into depression with post-traumatic stress disorder after the various awful events in his life: his wife’s death and the numerous shocking cases with which he’s been involved, especially the ones concerning illicit drugs and gangs, the rapes, sexual assaults and murders of young girls, and the deaths of several police colleagues.

He ends up quitting the police twice at various points in his life when he gets disillusioned by it all and things become too much, and he becomes a low-paid flying instructor at the local aero club and then takes a proper commercial job at Barrier Air. But he’s convinced to return by former colleagues who are desperate for his experience, determination and talent for handling difficult cases.

I really enjoyed this well-written police procedural, which was very cleverly plotted, flowed well and held my interest throughout. I was engrossed in the story and Matt’s life and liked the way everything unfolded and the pieces of the puzzle came together; very clever! I loved the attention to detail and the descriptions of the New Zealand countryside came across well too. It was a very intense and disturbing read and some of the descriptions were very vivid and traumatic!

The glossary at the beginning was very useful – there were a few Kiwi words that I had to Google as I wasn’t sure what they meant. I also liked the fact that real-life crimes (eg the murders of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart in 1998 and the Roast Busters) were referenced in the book as they added a little extra and I checked these out too.

This was a great, gritty and gripping read and I’m really hoping the author writes another book soon! I’ll be keeping an eye out. It’s a shame there can’t really be more about Matt Buchanan as we’re already up to the present day!

The Sound of Her Voice is the debut novel of New Zealand author Nathan Blackwell. I was lucky enough to listen to him talk about the book earlier this year at Newcastle Noir and knew that this was something I just had to read. And I wasn’t disappointed. The book was fast paced and kept me hooked right from the beginning.
It opens with Matt Buchanan witnessing the death of a colleague not long out of the police academy and this is one of the events that stay with him throughout his career, the other one being the unsolved case of the disappearance of teenager Samantha Coates. He has stayed in touch with her family over the years and constantly beats himself up over the fact he has never been able to give the family closure. When the decomposed body of another teenager is found without their head and hands, this sets off an investigation that sees Matt delve into the world of child pornography.
Matt is essentially a good police officer, but he feels that often the system fails the victims and he takes this to heart more than he should. His belief that he is not as good at his job as his colleagues has him doubting that he makes a difference, and this also makes him think that he is doing a lousy job bringing up his daughter since his wife died. As the story progresses you can see him drop deeper and deeper into a form of depression brought on by PTSD from all the traumatic cases, he has been involved in. He gets so disillusioned with the force that he quits not once but twice, only to be dragged back in by former colleagues as they get a hint that they may be able to solve the cases that he has been haunted by.
The Sound of Her Voice doesn’t shy away from what is always a very dark subject to write about and at times the level of detail may not be something that everyone will be comfortable with. I will admit that even I was not expecting some of the content of the book, but I didn’t feel that there was anything in there just for the sake of it or shock value. The characters were allowed to show their human side and that even the police are deeply affected by crimes and were often frustrated by procedure. The fact that the story is paced over a 20 year period adds to the authenticity as it shows the reality that cases can take years to crack or be brought to trial.
If you are looking for a cosy crime or a standard police procedural then The Sound of Her Voice may not be for you, but if you are looking for something that seems a little more gritty and true to life then you really should pick up this book. Nathan Blackwell has created a remarkable story and I really look forward to what he brings to his readers next.

Written by an elite former detective and shortlisted for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, The Sound of Her Voice is a brilliant and immersive work of literary noir. It's gritty and complex and certainly not for the faint of heart as it's full of profanity and brutal violence, but I absolutely loved this police procedural for its gripping plot as well as engaging and interesting characters. However, what sets it apart from the rest of the thriller market is the authenticity and realistic nature of the plot.

It's an evocative and emotional read and explores the effects of witnessing the brutality of a crime in terms of our protagonist, DC Matt Buchanan. He's a very troubled soul but will stop at nothing to get justice for the victims. This is a masterful, intense novel that is utterly brilliant. There are plenty of blind alleys that the author leads you down fooling you time and time again. A must-read for all crime connoisseurs and worthy of the full five stars. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Nathan Blackwell writes a truly brilliant and intelligent piece of Noir crime set in New Zealand, featuring Detective Matt Buchanan based at Orewa Police Station. Matt is held hostage by his deep feelings of failure at his inability to find 14 year old Samantha Coates who disappeared in 1999, and he continues to meet members of her family through the years. He is a widower, still missing his wife, Kate, and doing his best as a single dad bringing up his precious daughter, Hailey. As I began to read this book, I began to think this was the relaying of the disparate events and horrors in Matt's professional life as a police officer. However, this is not the case, all are eventually slowly pieced together by Matt as it becomes clear that the police have made errors and the resolutions to the cases are little more than manipulation by an evil and toxic mind involved in meth production, and the heinous crimes of rape, child sexual abuse, many murders, and more.

A skeleton of a young girl is found in the mangroves, with the hands and head missing. Matt's first thought is that this must be Sam, but this turns out not to be the case, and it is to take a long time before the police are able to identify the murder victim. As a rookie cop, Matt is shell shocked when he arrives on the scene where a cop friend, Gabby is shot dead. His psyche is damaged by the discovery of the body of 9 year old Brianna on the beach, and it is shot to pieces when fellow cop Steve, and a terrified police informant Pete are shot dead at a meeting where Pete was trying to give them vital information. Matt is shot too, and although he physically recovers, he has had enough, it's all too much, he has responsibilities to Hailey so he quits the police to become a poorly paid plane instructor, but he is happy although plagued by his horrifying memories. The discovery of a young woman on the beach, Tanya, left for dead, has Matt lured back to the police and back on the dangerous trail of a killer mastermind.

What differentiates this piece of quality crime fiction from others is how the author portrays to stunning effect the psychological meltdown experienced by Matt. Matt is a good and compassionate police officer, but he spirals into a deep depression, believes he is ineffective, suffering from the stress of all that he encounters and sees. He is enraged by a legal system that allows rapists to walk free, for the dead to have no voice, and the most evil of men to evade any form of justice. He begins to enter the darkest of territory, that he feels compulsively propelled into, feeling he has no choice, one which is to fracture his psyche even further. This is an amazing crime read, intense, desperately bleak and disturbing, and full of twists and surprises. Blackwell constructs a riveting story, showing incredible skill in his excellent characterisation and character development. An absolute must read for readers of crime fiction, although not for the faint of heart. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy of The Sound of her Voice, a stand alone police procedural set in Auckland.

DC Matt Buchanan is haunted by the 1999 disappearance of 14 year old Samantha Coates. He has never solved the case or found her body despite working on it intermittently over the years so when the skeleton of a young woman is found in 2011 he immediately thinks of Sam but it’s not her.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Sound of her Voice with certain provisos. It is a gritty, complicated read with a lot of swearing and some horrific crimes and definitely not for the faint hearted but with these points in mind it is a fascinating, immersive read. It is probably the most realistic procedural I have ever read with the author sparing nothing from examination. It is set over the course of twenty plus years from 1995 until the present and charts not only the investigation but the effect these crimes have on Matt. The novel opens with 18 year old probationary Police Officer Matt Buchanan responding to the shooting of two officers only to find that one of them is his friend Gabby Stewart. The descriptions of this scene are so alive with Matt’s sense of panic and helplessness. It’s visceral and I was hooked. After that the novel unfolds with various scenes from Matt’s career as he moves closer to understanding what happened to Sam. It can seem bitty and it’s definitely complicated but it all comes together at the end in an unexpected twist.

Throughout the novel, told in the first person by Matt, there is real authenticity from the disappointment of not guilty verdicts to the toll these cases take on Matt’s mental health with the failures in the system inferred at every turn. It is interesting that Matt doesn’t think much of his skills as a detective or a person for that matter when there is much evidence to the contrary. It’s like the failure of his ability to solve Sam’s cases negates his other successes. He is empathetic, engendering a trust from victims and their families few others can emulate, dogged in his investigations and has successfully reared his daughter as a single parent. He is stoic in shrugging off the violence and trauma he has seen over the years but eventually it catches up with him. His response is understandable as everyone has a breaking point, but probably the least realistic part of the novel. It does, however, make for exciting reading.

The Sound of her Voice is a good if difficult read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

This is a very gritty Police Procedural that colours outside the lines of the formula that most authors employ as the book actually spans many decades in getting to the end.
Detective Matt Buchanan has a cold case that he has never managed to solve; the disappearance of 14 year old Samantha. To this date, many years later, he still visits with Samantha's mum and is desperate that the next time he visits he will be able to bring her the peace she craves. When a body is discovered in a mangrove swamp, his thought initially turn to Samantha. Although the body is not Samantha, in his investigations, he does discover a new lead in that case. He's also involved in a rape trial where the defence rips the young victim apart. Things come to a head and he quits the force but, with so much left undone, he is drawn back into the mix when new evidence comes to light which he can't ignore. But with his head in the space it is now, will he be able to complete the job professionally or will he cross that line to get the job done...?
Matt Buchanan has to be the most realistically described police character I have read about in a while. Maybe it's because the book spans decades and we get to see a bigger picture than usual. He's very much wounded in his perceived failure over Samantha and every case he works appears tainted by that. But he is also dogged and determined, something evident in his reaction to the rape trial. He's also wounded personally and just trying to bring up his daughter. It was easy to connect to him, mostly in a "wanting to save him" kind of way but a connection that grew the more I read.
The crimes described within this book are not for the faint-hearted. Nor is the language, it is a bit sweary at times but nothing too heavy. Plotting is tight and, at the end of the day when all is revealed, very clever. There is a lot to get to grips with throughout the book but when it started to all come together I couldn't help but sit back and applaud the author for a job well done.
Pacing was interesting, mostly again due to the span of time covered by the book. But within what was going on, there was enough action and intrigue throughout to keep me interested and wanting to read on. As I started the book, I did wonder if it was going to be a series opener. As things moved on, again considering the timeline, I reconsidered that thought. As we reached the end, well, I now have no idea! What I do know is that I would love to read more from this author and, if future books also starred Matt as either an MC or even in a smaller part, I wouldn't be disappointed.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is a very gritty police procedural, written by a former police officer and is definitely not for the faint hearted. The subject matter includes the rape and murder of teenage girls and there are gruesome details of crime scenes and autopsies. The main character is a police detective, Matt Buchanan, a widower with a teenage daughter called Hailey.
He's a man who seems on the edge of a breakdown, haunted by the images of the victims of crimes he has investigated and some of which he has failed to solve.
The discovery of a young girl's body in a mangrove swamp sends him delving into police files which date back to the mid 1990's. The victim's body is without a head or hands but Buchanan's dogged attention to detail leads him to discover a car accident from the time this particular murder took place.
Meanwhile, he has to cope with watching a young female rape victim suffer during the trial of two young men accused of sexually assaulting her and having her character savaged by the defence lawyer. The detective can barely contain his anger at the disgusting treatment visited on the victim in a court of law.
This is a raw slice of human life as it really is, red in tooth and claw. Despite this one cannot help but admire Buchanan's humanity and the sheer effort that he and his colleagues put into their work. His reactions to the horrors he faces on a daily basis are understandable, even if some of his methods leave a lot to be desired. Reading this book, it's easy to see how a police officer can crack under the unrelenting pressure of the job and this is effortlessly captured by the author, Nathan Blackwell. A fine debut crime novel and a worthy addition to New Zealand's best crime fiction.
My thanks to Orion Publishing Group and Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.