Hooked Up, Fiona Sussman

Given the blurb starts out with the line:

The unforgettable detective duo from 'The Doctor’s Wife' are back, and this time the stakes are even higher. 

It's worth starting this review out mentioning that you don't need to have read THE DOCTOR'S WIFE (but you really should...) as whilst the characters are in the earlier novel, it's not really centred around them.

HOOKED UP, however, is most definitely all about them and styled very much as a police procedural with DS Ramesh Bandara heading up a homicide investigation in a small town in New Zealand, with his unconventional colleague, Hilary Stark working alongside him.

What seems initially like a relatively straight forward investigation, granted one that doesn't seem to come with a motive, soon becomes complicated when Stark spots similarities with a murder case from years ago, which then leads to the cast and crew of a controversial reality TV Show. 'Hooked Up' screened 10 years earlier, a show that had a series of artificially formed "romantic couples" trying to work out how to deal with their brand new other half, and the couples they were competing against. Turns out there were some very very dodgy things going on in the background, the show was canned, and somebody may still be holding a grudge and doing something about the worst of the worst from it.

Sussman always has a way of bringing the complexities of personal relationships into all her novels, and there's no difference here. HOOKED UP has a complicated set of suspects, and people around the tv show, all of whom were forced into some very tricky personal connections. As well as that there's a pretty hefty will they / won't they component around Bandara and Stark that actually works really well (this from a reader who is allergic to this sort of thing). Part of what works is the slight twist in that Stark doesn't seem to be all that interested, and is dealing with a hell of a lot else in her life, and Bandara doesn't really know what he's doing when it comes to personal relationships, let alone a potential one with a junior colleague. The rescue dog that eventually helps tip the balance was a very nice touch, as is the part that this "failed" police dog plays in the final resolution of what's a complicated, but perfectly believable plot.

Ultimately what really works with all of Sussman's novels is at the human level. The interactions, dialogue, sensitivities, failings, successes and general being humanness that she has nailed in every story I've been lucky enough to read are a big part of the attraction, as are the complex plots, which to be fair, always rely on the best and worst of human nature.