Whitcoulls Recommends: Three Reasons for Revenge and The Valley

Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan - a terrific crime thriller set in Melbourne, about Judith Lee, a detective who is drawn into a nasty case that has the police baffled. Alexis Turner walks into the police station to report an assault which Judith recognises as the mirror of an identical assault which was brought to her attention some years prior. Then three people (one of whom is Judith) each receive a beautifully wrapped box with an individually tailored, insidious gift inside which will tear their lives apart. Somehow, these things are connected and Judith embarks on a race against time to stop the perpetrator and save innocent lives. 

The Valley by Asher Emanuel - the culmination of over two years of field research and hundreds of hours of interviews, this extraordinary book follows three Hutt Valley men through courtrooms, prison, hospital, rehab, boarding houses and welfare offices, two of whom are recidivist offenders, the other being their legal aid lawyer. Told largely in verbatim dialogue, it’s a remarkable up-close and personal account bringing the realities of the New Zealand criminal justice system to life through the voices of those who experience it first-hand. 

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Joining me now is Joan Mackenzie, a Wickles headbook by
Good morning, Good morning, what have you got for us today?

Speaker 3 (00:19):
I have a new thriller from Derva McTiernan, who I
think from memory you may have spoken to some years ago,
like the Irish Woman. Yeah, that will be right. She
was born in Ireland. She thrillers, Yeah, terrific thrillers.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
She qualified as a lawyer but moved to I think
Western Australia where she now lives. And her new book
is set in Melbourne and it's about a detective. Her
name's Judith Lee. She works on the Melbourne Police Force
and she's having a difficult career moment after she's accused
a cop of wrongdoing which is a really brave move
since his father is also on the force and has
serious underwelled connections, so he's someone to be a bit

(00:56):
afraid of. So one day, when a young woman named
Alexis Turner turns up to lay a claim of sexual
assault against a locally renowned psychologist, Judith doesn't battle as
not only is this a distraction from what's going on
with her issues in the force. But the case which
this young woman outlines is almost identical to one which
was reported to her some years ago and where she

(01:17):
failed to take any action, so she sees this as
a chance to redeem herself. And then when she starts
looking into it, the complainant disappears at about the same
time that the first of three beautifully gift wrapped parcels
are left with well the first recipient, who is the psychologist,
who is subsequently found dead with a gunshot to the head.

(01:38):
And then a second beautifully wrapped parcel makes its way
to the home of a completely unrelated down at heel
solo father, and a third to the home of a
high flying business woman and associate. And these gifts appear
to be unrelated. But what's even weird is that each
one comes with a beautifully caligraphed note inside it which
means nothing to the police nor to the reader, but

(02:00):
ultimately are all linked together and makes sense. And Judith
is fearless, as she, of course in these books, race
against time to hunt down the villain, to figure out
what's going on and solve its terrific.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Okay, brilliant. Your second book tells some what I think
probably going to be some pretty interesting local stories.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yes, it is very interesting. It's called The Valley by
Asher Emmanuel, and anyone listening who enjoys really high quality
investigative journalism should sit up and take notice of this one.
He wrote this book. The Valley refers to the Hut
Valley just near Wellington, of course, and he wrote this book.
He's a qualified journalist and a lawyer, and he wanted

(02:39):
to explain to people what life is like within the
judicial system for the everyday matters that go through the courts.
And he says that most of what we pick up
on as the public is the sensational cases and the
miscarriages of justice and the extreme violence, but actually the
day to day process is within the courts is just
a kind of drab, ongoing litany of I'm going to

(03:01):
say misery, because that is a fair part of it.
But what he's done in this book is take a
young legal aid lawyer who works for the Public Defense
Service in Wellington who's assigned to a number of cases,
and Asher Emmanuel, the author of this book, embeds himself
with Lewis over the course of a couple of years
and follows him as he defends again and again and

(03:21):
again two recidivius young offenders from the Hut Valley, And
it's absolutely fascinating. It takes you through the court, the
judicial system, the rehabs, the social workers, the people trying
to help as these in this case, two young men
live lives of poverty and ongoing homelessness, oh sorry, hopelessness

(03:43):
from which there appears to be no escape.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Look, we've all got an opinion on the justice system.
We and yet I don't none of us have a
lot of us have never been through it or really
understand how it works or what people are up against.
It just sounds like a really enlightening read.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
It is enlightening, and you feel for this young lawyer
who does his job, which is a grim reality day
after day, doing his very best by these young men
who simply cannot help themselves from getting back again and
again into the system. And it must be exhausting and
depressing to be the person who is a public defender
in those instances and does their very very best for

(04:19):
their clients at I would say, considerable personal cost.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Do you get a sense of what keeps them going?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
To some degree that it doesn't go into his own
personal background. So you don't know why it is that
he is so careful and relentless in trying to do
his best by these people. But I think probably a
lot of lawyers would simply say to you that that's
their job and that's what they're called to do.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Okay. Fascinating. That was The Valley by Asher and Manuel,
and the first book were Three Reasons for Revenge by
Dervla McTurnan. Thank you so much, Jane. We'll talk next week.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
To see you then.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks they'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio