Demonstrating maturity as an author: J.P. Pomare’s 17 Years Later

Endless possible motives, that's what the prosecution had - and circumstantial evidence for every one of them.

17 Years Later is J.P. Pomare's eighth book and it shows. 

17 Years Later

Engaging the reader from the first line, the story begins with a crime already solved and a man imprisoned for mass-murder: the killing of an English immigrant family. The hook here is the possible misdirection of justice in a case that was closed pretty darned quickly by police.

Seventeen years after the grisly stabbing of the Primrose family in Cambridge, New Zealand, a pivotal clue is discovered by an Australian true-crime podcaster with a nose for the truth. After looking at the case of the man found guilty of the murders, Sloane Abbott sees a potential show emerging from the idea that Bill Kareama didn't get a fair trial. 

"The dark mouth of sleep swallows me whole."

This book demonstrates Josh Pomare's maturity as a writer and I expect it to do well. Not only is the story so twisty I felt like I'd been bitten by a snake, Pomare's language is next level.

"She blustered about, tidying up, going from room to room, constantly changing direction like those moments before a storm when the wind is not sure which way it's blowing."

The characters move between Australia and Aotearoa, where Sloane's team is based (Pomare too). Protagonist Bill Kareama lived there, training as a chef before coming home to Rotorua.

Is Bill a victim of injustice, or a murderer? He's never admitted culpability, in seventeen years of his staggering twenty-five-year sentence. Ironically, if he had, he would've been out on parole years earlier. That's a shocking example of justice right there.

Why then is his staunchest supporter, ex-prison psychologist T.K., convinced he is guilty?

This is perhaps Pomare's most dastardly book so far. There are shocks, reveals and twists aplenty, as the author subtly points the finger at almost all the characters in the book: 

• Bill, the chef: he's seen enough racial mistreatment from his employer and their guests to make anyone angry. Accused of forcing himself on the Primrose's seventeen-year-old daughter and dismissed, this is seen as motive and used to convict him based on evidence placing him at the scene of the crime. 
• Fleur, the acidic, game-playing au-pair past her expiry date, who remains in the Primrose's service although she appears to hate them. She's been sneaking out at night to meet a man:  
• " ...I can look after myself. If a man doesn't listen when I say no, I might just open him up like a zip."
• Bill's Uncle Mooks, the previous gardener: he's mild-mannered and kind. Although fired over a pair of broken shears, he's still supplying fish to Bill to cook for the family. Astoundingly, Mooks also thinks Bill is guilty. 
• Simon, the head of the Primrose family: he's unlikeable. He 'lords it' over employees and disrespects cultures not his own. (Bill falls foul of this when making a dinner to showcase Kiwi cuisine to overseas dignitaries.)
• Tate, the new gardener: he's dodgy - often places he shouldn't be. He has a chip on his shoulder and claims to be the son of an Oxford friend of Simon's, though this is never confirmed.
• Teimoana, the gangsta brother of Bill's ex-girlfriend, Maia: he tries to threaten Bill into giving him access to rob the Primrose home. He's also served time for Grievous Bodily Harm - was it a beating, or a fight, as he claims? 
• The PE teacher at Elle's school:  fired from the school for sending Elle inappropriate notes.
• Elizabeth Primrose: the distant aunt, who was the only beneficiary, and
• family members of victims killed in a train crash: Simon Primrose was officially held responsible for decisions that led to this. A woman who lost her husband, while her son was badly hurt in the disaster, turned up to threaten the family with a knife, at their home in England:

"One day you'll get what's coming. I'll get you while you sleep." 

Who was the driver of a Holden Commodore, found burnt out after the murders?

The evidence is against Bill Kareama but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Seen leaving the scene, Bill supposedly travelled three kilometres in twelve minutes, on foot, despite chronic asthma. He claimed it was to retrieve his Chef's knives, but was spotted by witnesses fleeing the Primrose house covered in blood.

Supposedly obsessed with young Elle, and sternly warned off Simon, Bill was profiled with several motives: humiliation, rejection, wrath, lust and psychosis (a drunk rage). Did Bill commit the murders or take the fall for the real perp? 

There's something NQR (Not Quite Right) about all this, and Sloane Abbott intends to find out, one way or another. 

Pomare (Ngāpuhi) who grew up on a farm in Rotorua, has averaged a book a year since he won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel for Call Me Evie in 2019.

Call Me Evie

Pomare's novel In The Clearing was adapted for the screen as an eight-part miniseries by Disney this year, while The Last Guests (Watching You) has been adapted for televisions by Stan.

Pomare dedicates 17 Years Later to Teina Pora, a young man whose wrongful conviction was overturned largely due to an expose written by another of Aotearoa's successful authors, Michael Bennett. 

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