Review: A Madness of Sunshine

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars

This is the first novel I've read by Nalini Singh, who has a prolific career as a writer of paranormal romance, which I usually don't read. This is a standalone thriller set in modern New Zealand, her home country, on the rugged West Coast of the South Island. The small town of Golden Cove is an insular community where everyone knows everyone, and it simmers with hidden grievances, jealousies, and a problem with domestic violence. (The latter is a genuine problem in New Zealand, especially among Maori women who are twice as likely to be victims of domestic violence in comparison to women of other cultural groups.) The novel's protagonist, Anahera, is returning to Golden Cove after living in London with her now-deceased husband for almost a decade. Upon her husband's death, she discovered he had been having an affair. After dealing with the sobbing and utterly gutted mistress in the kindest way possible (she even let her attend the funeral), Ana has decided to move home to NZ. She moves back into her mother's cottage, and throughout the novel, we find out that her mother, Haeata, died after a long history of domestic violence with Ana's father, Jason. Ana can't deal with her father, who still resides in the Golden Cove community. Will, the local police officer, is an outsider to the community, stationed in Golden Cove, something of a backwater, as punishment and demotion for his having lost control with a suspect in Christchurch. Anahera's personal history isn't the only relevant criminal activity in the area, though. About a decade before, three separate cases of female hikers disappearing were brushed off by the former local police as hikers who weren't cautious enough with the rough conditions. After Ana returns to Golden Cove, a young and stunning local woman, only 19, also goes missing, and Will, who has better training, investigates the disappearance of Miriama as a potential crime. The fate of the young woman, and those three hikers from years before, forms the crux of the novel.

Some aspects of this novel had me unable to put it down. Still, others seemed so formulaic (particularly the writing style and Will's labeling of people as psychopaths, sometimes with the thinnest of evidence they were) that it grated on me, even as I wanted to see the characters solve the mystery of the hikers and of what really happened to Miriama. I'd definitely give another of Singh's books a shot after reading this one.


I received a digital review copy of this book, along with a paper review copy in exchange for an honest review.

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