The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave

Hello! Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Did you miss me? Back from my biggest holiday in 23 years, although if you're following my socials, it looks like I'm still away! However, I am home & jumping back in today for my stop on the blog tour for The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave. Huge thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for invite & to the publisher for my review copy.

 

The Blurb

How can you catch a killer
When the only evidence is a dream…?

James Garrett was critically injured when he was shot following his parents’ execution, and no one expected him to waken from a deep, traumatic coma. When he does, nine years later, Detective Inspector Rebecca Kent is tasked with closing the case that her now retired colleague, Theodore Tate, failed to solve all those years ago.

But, between that, and hunting for Copy Joe – a murderer on a spree, who’s imitating Christchurch’s most notorious serial killer – she’s going to need Tate’s help.

Especially when they learn that James has lived out another life in his nine-year coma, and there are things he couldn’t possibly know, including the fact that Copy Joe isn’t the only serial killer in town…

The Pain Tourist is published by Orenda Books and came out on 10th November 2022.

 

My Review

Although The Pain Tourist is Paul Cleave's thirteenth novel, it's only the second one I've read following last year's The Quiet People. But that one blew me away so leapt at the chance to read this one. Just need to find the others now...

This has a hell of an opening, heartstopping, heartbreaking. 11 year old James Garrett falls into a coma, where he stays for nine years. When he finally wakes he can't understand that his parents are dead because, for him, they've lived a full life in the intervening years. Nobody can explain what he's experienced in Coma World or the detail of his memory of it. As well as trying to solve the Garrett case, Detective Kent also has another major case on her plate & then the possibility of a third one. But can the latter even be plausible, considering where the information came from?

There is A LOT going on in this book! It's not always action of the kicking down doors, guns blazing variety but that doesn't mean it's not packed with excitement. Three different storylines, Coma World, a tight cast of characters, and an 11 year old in a 20 year old body trying to navigate a world he doesn't understand. James is the standout character for me - brave, vulnerable, determined. I liked Kent too for much the same reasons and developed a fondness for Tate, a man with his own share of demons. And Dr McCoy was inspired! But everyone is well drawn, including the antagonists. Reading my notes back reminds me how frustrated I was trying to work out the identity of Copy Joe! I failed. And the discussion around the pain tourists of the title, gosh, some people. 

I like that whilst Cleave explains how Coma World might have come about, he doesn't go into detail of explain the science behind it, if that's even possible. It remains a mystery, a world within a world, and I love that. 

The Pain Tourist is action packed, fast moving with short, sharp chapters. It's compulsive reading, a crime story with a difference. And one with a whole lot of heart. 

The Author

Paul Cleave is an award-winning author who often divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where his novels are set, and Europe, where none of his novels are set. His books have been translated into over twenty languages. He’s won the won the Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur Crime Novel of the Year Award, and Foreword Reviews Thriller of the Year, and has been shortlisted for the Ned Kelly, Edgar and Barry Awards. He’s thrown his Frisbee in over forty countries, plays tennis badly, golf even worse, and has two cats – which is often two too many. The Pain Tourist is his (lucky) thirteenth novel.