The Call

Winner of the Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize 2023

A brilliant debut crime novel centred on a 501 deportee gang, set in a remote coastal New Zealand town.

After surviving a brutal attack, Auckland cop DS Honey Chalmers has returned to her hometown to care for her mother. The remote coastal settlement of Waitut? holds complicated memories for Honey, not least the tragic suicide of her younger sister, Scarlett.

Honey is hardest on herself. She let herself get too close to a gang informant. She got sloppy. The Reapers are a 501 gang of Aussie imports, ruthless and organised, and she's pretty sure the informant, mother-of-three Kloe Kovich, paid the price. But when a couple of gang enforcers turn up in Waitut?, Honey realises they are hoping she will lead them to Kloe. But if Kloe is still alive, can Honey save her this time around?

When Honey catches up with her oldest friend, Marshall, her feelings are complicated. As teenagers they were inseparable, but Marshall was the last person to see Scarlett alive, and there are rumours they were sleeping together, that he broke her heart. Honey fears Marshall is not who she wants him to be. Eventually she learns the awful truth about the events that led her sister to take her own life.

When Kloe arrives in town, Honey and Marshall must work together to try and keep the hapless Kloe out of the hands of those who want her – and Honey – silenced.

Gripping and suspenseful, with a killer ending, The Call propels the reader into the world of a terrifying new kind of gang – and introduces a major new talent in crime writing.

'The Callwill likely be in contention for more awards as it is a deft and accomplished thriller debut.' - Greg Fleming, New Zealand Listener

'A cracking crime thriller that has all the slick polish and depth you expect of a top-of-the-range international offering, but still uncompromisingly Kiwi to the marrow of its bones. It's genuinely gripping and suspenseful yet more layered and nuanced than most genre potboilers. a smart, complex, nuanced story; it's a powerful tale of betrayal and redemption, forgiveness and despair, kindness and love.' Andrew Paul Wood , Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books

'Strawhan is a pro with a pro's strong instincts for narrative, for story telling. He sets out to excite. Mission accomplished. Strawhan excels in the slow approach, and wrangles all his bits and pieces together as the book climaxes with gun shots and the swipe of an axe ... A book to keep you awake at night, wanting to turn the page for more, definitely.' - Steve Braunias, Newsroom