A Murderer on the Loose: Read our Review of The Long Game by Simon Rowell

A summer of relentless heat. A local surfer named Ray Carlson is found dead in a house not far from Portsea back beach. There’s a silver-handled kitchen knife deep in his chest, and blood everywhere.

Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer is scarcely back from extended leave, and still wrestling with her demons, but she is assigned the case, alongside her new service dog, Harry, whose instincts help her in unexpected ways.

There’s an obvious suspect for the murder, and Zoe makes an arrest. But it’s all too neat, and none of Zoe’s colleagues believes her theory that the whole thing is a stitch-up.

Except now someone is trying to hunt Zoe down.

Superbly plotted, and vividly set in the beachside suburbs and hilly retreats around Melbourne, The Long Game is a mystery about a tough and clever investigator who won’t give up.

As we all know, it’s hard to get back into the swing of work after taking some time off. But for detective Zoe Mayer, getting back to work has never been harder. Simon Rowell’s The Long Game is an edge-of-your-seat crime thriller that examines what it means to believe in yourself, even when everyone else is telling you that you’re wrong.

Rowell’s character work is fantastic here. Zoe is an interesting, well-written character who not only excels in her detective work but does so while navigating a male-dominated workplace. I also enjoyed the dynamic between Zoe and her service dog, Harry, who adds a light touch to an otherwise grim story. Rowell handles Zoe’s mental health issues with a great deal of sensitivity, and it’s often Harry that ends up saving Zoe from spiralling.

Another standout feature of the story is the complex and gripping plot. The story takes off with the murder of Ray Carlson, and from there the grisly action doesn’t stop. I was blindsided by the number of twists and turns. As the mystery slowly unfolds, we also come to learn why Zoe had to take time off, making for an utterly riveting conclusion.

With a mystery that will keep you guessing, and a character I won’t soon forget, The Long Game shows us that Rowell is well on his way to becoming a household name in the crime genre.