Collecting Cooper is the first book by Paul Cleave that I have read. A little research tells me that all of his books are set in Christchurch, New Zealand. Cleave portrays Christchurch as the worst place on earth to live, a city full of serial killers and people down on their luck. It made me wonder if Christchurch is as desolate a place as portrayed. Apparently, Cleave is asked this question often. It is the first question in the Q&A on his website. The answer is that he thinks Christchurch is a fantastic city.

Cleave has written a page turner full of disturbing violence and mentally unstable characters. The story is told from alternating character perspectives, including Emma Green, Theodore Tate, Cooper Riley and Adrian Loaner – the former mental patient. As a reader, I felt for Tate despite his questionable past. What I did not realize is that Tate is featured in Cleave’s other books. The books are not portrayed as a series but apparently some characters overlap. I would like to read Cleave’s other books to learn more about Tate’s history before he went to jail.

Collecting Cooper is out on July 26th, and I definitely recommend this read to anyone who enjoys reading about crime/serial killers and can stomach reading about violent crime. The one aspect that got to me is that animals are killed in the story. I can read about violence towards people, but I am sensitive to violence towards animals. Go figure.

Many thanks to the publisher, Simon & Schuster, for providing me with a free e-Galley for review, via Galley Grab.