Rough 'justice' stuff hard work

Only the Dead paints a decidedly seedy picture of crime and the Auckland underworld, and an extremely brutal one of its law enforcement officers.

This third novel by Ben Sanders has three central characters: Detective Sergeant Sean Devereaux, his friend and former colleague, now a private investigator, John Hale, and the tough Detective Inspector Don McCarthy.

All three indulge in breaking laws and meting out forms of rough ''justice'' in a repugnant way that made this hard reading for me.

Character development in the round is missing. It certainly is ''the bad old days''.

This seemed aimed at readers who revel in lots of violence described in gory detail.

- Geoff Adams is a former ODT editor.