The Lost Dead

by Finn Bell

WOULD YOU SACRIFICE A CHILD TO SAVE YOUR FAMILY?


When a huge earthquake causes massive landslides across the isolated Southern Alps everyone scrambles in a frantic search for victims. No one is looking for a perpetrator.


But hidden now by the anonymous chaos of the massive disaster he seizes his opportunity and takes her. Like so many others who are missing young Sophie is simply counted among the earthquake’s lost. A perfect crime, unseen and unknown. Almost.


Because this time, as he attacks, he’s seen. Caught in the act. But the three brothers, the only witnesses, are themselves not innocent, not safe. Wanted criminals, they are already hunted and on the run. Barely keeping ahead of both the police and the gangs.


Now the sudden disaster and this chance encounter with a criminal much more dangerous than themselves thwarts their desperate flight into the wilds. Trapping all the wrong people in exactly the wrong place. Forcing the three brothers to Between family and what’s right. Would you sacrifice a child to save your family?


The next stunning installment, from award-winning Amazon bestselling author Finn Bell. A dark crime mystery featuring unlikely amateur sleuth anti-heroes dealing out vigilante justice in an exotic rural gothic setting. It’s unorthodox, unusual, unpredictable and unputdownable. A must read for fans of Stieg Larsson’s ‘Girl With The Dragon Tatoo’, Jo Nesbo’s ‘The Snowman’ and Robert Bryndza’s ‘Girl In The Water’ . . . This is a dark, graphic pulp thriller – tense amateur sleuth noir set against the backdrop of the unforgiving underworld of organized crime.


Read what reviewers are saying about Finn Bell’s other


‘. . . definitely worth reading . . . exudes character . . . compelling and accomplished . . .’ – www.Crimefictionlover.com
‘. . . easy to read, almost impossible to put down . . .” – www.Readersfavorite.com
‘. . . an eclectic-yet-satisfying blend of hard-boiled noir and rural gothic . . . there’s no denying Finn Bell is extremely gifted . . .’ – www.Indiereader.com


Awards and accolades for Finn


Winner of the NGAIO MARSH CRIME FICTION AWARD for best first novel.
Winner of the INDIE READER DISCOVERY AWARD for best fiction overall.
Winner of the INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS AWARD Silver Medal for best mystery / thriller e book.
Winner of the ERIC HOFFER AWARD category for best e-book fiction.
Winner of the E LIT AWARD gold medal for best mystery / thriller / suspense.
Winner of the READERS’ FAVORITE gold medal for fiction / thriller.

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 7, 2019

About the author

Finn Bell lives in the far south of New Zealand where he writes full time. To find out more about him or his books visit www.finnbellbooks.com.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finn Bell lives in a sparsely populated and apparently gorgeous if somewhat forbidding South Island of New Zealand. And he sets his stories there too. And I read and enjoy them tremendously. This is my third book by the author (so all but one thus far) and many thanks to Bell for providing a free copy for his newsletter subscribers. So what do I like about Bell’s books? Well, so much, really. The setting is always as exotic as it is atmospheric and seems perfectly apt to set a sort of very specific suspense thriller stories, ones that often depend on specifically remote locations. I like his characters and his storytelling chops. I like the way he effortlessly manages to tell a story in well under 300 pages without shortchanging the readers in any way. I just like the way this guy writes. That being said, this one actually took me slightly longer than usual to get into, but once it got going, it was so good. The tagline doesn’t quite do it justice. It isn’t quite as pure as one choice. But it is a story about a family, three young Maori brothers, 20, 19 and 14. Their family has a terrible reputation in the area and while the older brothers are ok with it, the youngest is something of a genius and they are determined to do whatever it takes to get him into a good school. To this end they steal from some very dangerous people, local dealers, but their getaway plans are interrupted by an earthquake and a serial killer, who (smartly enough) hunts during natural disasters. It’s a sort of story that starts off with several different strands and then gets tied together into a tight taught rope of an action driven suspense. All leading toward the inevitable and profoundly tragic (like shed a tear tragic, seriously) finale. Although the very ending does have you looking up. After all, in place that small where policing has much to do with primarily maintaining peace, justice can have different interpretations. So yeah, great character driven story with great memorable characters driving it. Engaging, entertaining and emotionally compelling. And it can be easily read in one afternoon. Recommended. Along with all other Finn Bell books.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

It looks like Finn Bell is going to do it every single time: write an exciting, mesmerizing, extraordinary book. Lucky readers! I have thoroughly enjoyed every book I have read by him, and The Lost Dead is no exception. The gritty, earthy, strong, relentless pace and style reminds me of another favorite author of mine. Even when casual, homey, events or scenes are taking place there is still a sense of suspense and danger and the worry that something bad might happen at any moment. The setting is exotic and the characters are memorable.

From the very first page of The Lost Dead it’s as if a cloud of sadness and dread has enveloped you, or a heavy boulder has been put on your shoulders. We meet the young Maori brothers Tarana, Nikau and Googs ten years earlier and then see what’s happening to them today. Their lives have been terrible, almost hopeless. They are trying to make things better, to give the youngest brother, Googs, a chance. But even if everything works out just fine by the end of the book, you know a lot of bad, scary, tragic things are going to happen on the way there. Is there really any hope that their lives can get better?

Factor in bad choices, an earthquake, a serial killer, a kidnapping, local police with a questionable new team member, and the remote setting and you have multiple stories, stories within stories or lines connecting them all. The suspense and uncertainty are exhilarating and terrifying – is The Accountant someone I should recognize, can the brothers escape the consequences of their actions, is Sophie alive or dead, will Eustas figure anything out in time? I went back and forth: no, yes, oh no, maybe, that can’t happen, just no clue what would happen next.

Finn Bell lives somewhere that is totally foreign to me and writes about experiences that are unimaginable and people that are nothing like most of the people I know, but he makes it all come alive so that I totally lose myself in the story, I could be one of the characters, I know where they are and what they are feeling. But I never know what will happen next.

I don’t like spoilers so won’t say too much to give away the plot, but the story was gripping, full of action and suspense and compelling characters. It will make you think about how every choice in it involves a horrible sacrifice and that justice is a very elusive thing. The end is fitting and the writing is exceptional. Read the intro, read the end notes, read every word.

Thanks to author Finn Bell for providing a copy of The Lost Dead for my honest review. It gave me hours of reading pleasure. Well, not that many hours, because once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. I recommend anything and everything this author writes without hesitation.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

All novels by Finn Bell have guaranteed two things. Wonderful sense of place, and morally ambiguous characters. As it is with THE LOST DEAD where we have three Maori boys, wanted criminals, on the run, barely one step ahead of the cops and the gangs they have annoyed along the way. There is also a missing, young woman, somebody one of these young lads is thoroughly infatuated with, and determined to find. Then there's the huge earthquake, that causes massive landslides across the isolated Southern Alps region of New Zealand. Everyone is scrambling around looking for victims trapped by those landslides, nobody thinks to look for a perpetrator at the same time.

This is the fourth novel by NZ Author Finn Bell, all of which are set in the glorious far south of New Zealand, and from that connection they form a loose series. The characters however, are different in each novel, but the consideration is often the same. Moral ambiguity with cops and crooks equally compromised, equally under pressure, under threat in all sorts of ways.

The scenario Bell is exploring here is particularly interesting, as it sets a gang of three against a confident, cunning serial killer, that the cops don't even realise is in their midst. Bell sets up, as he frequently does, an interesting moral tussle, with a more forceful personal analysis of society's failings in a postscript to the novel.

Perhaps it was the serial killer voice, which, although well done, really needs to contribute something more than just menace these days, perhaps it was that the plot felt a little more coincidental than in earlier books, that made THE LOST DEAD a good, rather than sock endangering read. Having said that, anything this author writes is well worth reading if you're interested at all in edge characters, and driving pace, underpinned by the grey that is all too frequently encountered when it comes to good, bad, and human nature.



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[Lynda Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The action begins with three young Maori Hoodlums born very much on the wrong side of the tracks: the Raruas, as they recuperate in hospital after their most recent shoot-out. Very soon they are to get knee deep in even more trouble, as their lives cross with a serial killer, each with an interest in a pretty white girl from the suburbs. The boys, one of whom is infatuated with her, seek to rescue her from the clutches of the very cunning wrong-doer and the reader soon feels compelled to rout for the boys. But as the police believe the testimony of the real bad guy, the stacks are set tightly against them, as a manhunt to arrest the boys is set against the backdrop of a heavy-duty earthquake and landslide ensue.
This novel out of New Zealand, where the police are often as damaged as the crooks and gangsters they pursue, is as bleak as they come. There is a postscript too, where the writer puts forth his view on how society will never change for the better unless there may be a cure for human nature. He does have a point.......