My first book by author Vanda Symon saw me chuckling and smirking at the irreverent dialogues that Sam could come up with. Her banter with partner Smithy was the most fun I'd had the whole day. Samantha stood as the shining beacon, guiding me to keep turning the pages. Being a police procedural, it did have the interrogation, breaking into a house and discovering illegal stuff. Suspects were abound and bosses were horrid. But nothing could deter my favourite cop. She was on a roll. The writing was absolutely brilliant, the humor in it forced me to keep reading, despite the late hour. The setting of the town Dunedin, the characters both good and bad, and the short, snappy chapters pulled me into its swirling mist. A crime thriller set in a small town of New Zealand, I loved how the investigation took me down its winding lanes. And the ending managed to make me gasp inspite of expecting it to be unexpected. Ah well it was so far left that I hadn't seen hints of it at all. A brilliant book.

This is really starting to become one of my favourite crime series. Book three and I am totally invested in the characters, plot and of course setting. The setting is particularly crucial to these books as it’s so intrinsically woven into the novel on every level. The crimes, the investigations, the work force of the police, the characters who live in the small town…..all fit perfectly and can I say even complement each other? It’s a very nice mix of all you could want from a cracking crime mystery. Containment is the title that means so much. The story centres around a container that washes up on a Dunedin beach. That gets violent as looters come to try and scavenge what they can. There is also a bizarre death as a diver is found dead and the trail goes all the way back to that. The strange state of affairs continues with the discovery of a body that comes ashore. The body is that of a diver but it’s soon apparent that the man was stuffed into the suit after his death. He didn’t die from drowning either. Shephard has a lot on her hands and has been injured after the looting on the beach. Now, despite all this, you might think that this is another police procedural, a study of a small-town, a New Zealand infused crime thriller. Well, it is all this and more. Sam really is the star of her own show. She’s funny, self-deprecating and does like to beat herself up about things! IT’s her commentary on her own life, what she does day and day out, her background and her sense of humour that makes the books for me, and makes her who she is. Some books narrated by the main character can become inward-looking but not this one! That’s not to say that the supporting cast is any less appealing. Maggie is her best friend with the voice of reason and she complements her friend Sam well. I think we all wish we had a friend like her! There’s a lot to like in this book. I have to say that I have never quite ‘enjoyed’ seeing a body recovered from water in a book before. This is a gruesome scene for sure (Try not to be eating when you read it). However, it was the humour and sensitivity attached to it that made me smile. The novel is very visual and very atmospheric so there’s a great sense that you are zooming into scenes when it matters and seeing events with a bird’s eye view the next. A new favourite author for me. The language of Containment and the skill of the author captures the setting of Dunedin and the Aramoana coast perfectly. It’s definitely on the BookTrail radar to go there for real!

I am such a huge fan of Vanda Symon and her heroine, Sam Shephard, I love love love this series! Every single thing about them works for me and the books just keep getting better and better (‘Containment’ is book three) and reading this was like putting on a pair of well worn comfortable slippers. The first chapter opens on the scene of a container ship accident, a beautiful beach being overrun with opportunistic looters and we see Sam, witnessing the carnage, missing the day when a dog turd was the worst thing you could find on a beach. Instantly within that first couple of paragraphs you fall in love with Sam, for the first time if you’re a new reader or all over again if you’re happily returning to Sam’s New Zealand. A grim discovery is made and so begins a fresh investigation for Sam and her team. But our dear leading lady isn’t running at full tilt. The beach is also the scene of a brutal assault that leaves Sam suffering with severe concussion. Now I didn’t think I could adore Miss Sassy Pants Shephard any more but then Vanda Symon gave me, quite possibly my most favourite scene of any book ever – Sam Shephard high as a kite on pain killers and communing with a spider, Charlotte’s Web style, in her hospital room. A moment of comic genius! Of course it’s not all fun and games, there is a murder to solve and Dunedin’s best are on the case. And despite her beach run-in, Sam is determined to catch a killer and unravel the threads that all seem to lead back to the container accident. This isn’t an edge-of-your-seat, thrill a minute crime book, it’s an incredibly well-written police procedural tale full of subtle plot twists and witty dialogue. I found I was more invested in the characters, than the actual crime and the well-plotted mystery was just an added bonus for me. We get to see a more vulnerable side of Sam in ‘Containment’, her assault leaves her defences down and more reliant on those around her, notably, Paul, who is certainly and most definitely not her boyfriend, even though he should be! I just want to shake her a little bit when it comes to him. Along with Paul, all our old favourites are back and the comradery between Sam and her friend’s is wonderful, you get a really sense that this group adore each other and I love seeing them interact and banter with each other. Fantastic writing, characters that feel like your friends, a superbly sassy leading lady and a wonderful setting. If you couldn’t already guess I absolutely loved every second of reading this and I recommend this series to everyone.

#3 in the Sam Shephard series, but can also be read as a stand-alone. Set in the Small town of Dunedin, New Zealand, (which the author describes so well I feel I know it)…A cargo ship has run aground and shipping containers are strewn across the beach, so obviously people see this as an opportunity to loot. The police arrive amid the mayhem and DC Sam Shephard arrives only to be assaulted by one of the looters. A skull is found on the beach and an investigation begins, for there only then to be found a divers body in a nasty state. Sam is heavily concussed, but with just a few days rest she’s back and searching for the truth…. I loved Sam, with her messy personal life, her family and her dogged determination at work. She’s strong, feisty, full of a dark humour and stubborn to say the least. The amazing plot will keep you guessing, with plenty of twists and red herrings that all come together in a perfect and satisfying end. A marvel of creative writing by Vanda Symon and I was hooked from start to finish in this refreshingly original and totally compelling crime thriller. Brilliant. Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for a free copy of the book. This is my honest, unbiased review.

Although this is the third instalment in the Sam Shepherd series, this book would work perfectly well as a standalone for anyone who is coming new to the novels. This book throws you straight in to the middle of the action and in to Sam’s distinctive world and character, as she finds herself immediately in the midst of an affray on a beach where locals are looting beached shipping containers after a wreck. Beaten, but coming back fighting, what at first seems like a minor issue of theft, spirals into something much more sinister as bodies begin to pile up, all linked to the wreck. This author offers something new with every book, and this time we are confronted with the recovery and examination of a body dumped at sea (fascinating but fairly graphic and gruesome, steel your stomach), the law surrounding recovery of goods from wrecked cargo ships, the market in stolen valuables and the nefarious goings on of the local student population. All her books are packed with description and illuminating detail, meticulously researched and seamlessly stitched into the narrative until the setting and the world come to life for the reader through the text. At a time when we are all housebound, these are books that can take you to the other side of the world and immerse you in a totally different life for a few hours. The books are well-paced, with short chapters that keep the momentum and new bits of evidence appear around every corner. In the same way a real investigation would unfold, this case starts out in one direction but gradually unfurls like a maze to become something entirely different, veering off in multiple directions and drawing the protagonists down a variety of obscure paths before they find the truth. It demonstrates how a mixture of great detective work, instinct and some pure luck can lead the police to the answer, and it may end up being more than one thing and very far from where they started. The plot is quite convoluted and complex, involving many different strands and characters, and the reader must focus to sort them out, mimicking the thought processes the police have to similarly go through to get there, but the writing is so accessible and flowing and the pace so quick that this is no chore. Sam is a wonderful character, and she is the main draw for the books. She is small but feisty, brave, impetuous, honest but complicated, with a strong moral code and sense of loyalty. Some of her behaviour is totally outrageous, but she seems to get away with it because it comes from a positive place, a real desire to see natural justice served, which sometimes involves bending the rules. This does not always sit well with her boss, DI Johns, and the tension between the two of them plus throughout the text to add conflict. in addition, her personal life is no more straight forward, either with her blood family or in her romantic life. New developments add strain in this area, and things seem to be getting more complicated not simpler. There were certain matters in the book which were raised but not resolved, leaving me with theories about what might be coming in the next instalment, and eager to find out. However, do not fear, this book is perfectly concluded as a single story for readers who are not yet invested in this as a series, but i predict you will be once you sample Vanda’s writing. The Sam Shepherd books are always a satisfying read, this one is no exception and I have added a physical copy to my collection. I eagerly await the next book in the series, and my next armchair visit to New Zealand.