Singh pulls out all the tropes here: a moody heroine, a man with a clouded past, a hamlet hiding horrors, a heretofore unknown serial killer and, overall, does these oft stock mores deftly. Golden Cove’s residents are each written with nuance as are the complex relationships they share. Sex, power, money, and violence shape all in the town and with each successive chapter Singh erodes the veneers almost everyone in Golden Cove wears. I tore through this book. The mystery is compelling and Singh’s prose is evocative and precise ... If you’re looking for an atmospheric, beautifully written suspense novel with a soupcon of romance I highly recommend this book.
...a complicated, compelling story that addresses the pain posed by the title of Thomas Wolfe’s famous book, You Can’t Go Home Again ... A Madness of Sunshine doesn’t condescend to readers; it is through inferences and Maori phrases that Anahera’s ethnicity is made obvious ... Set aside the weekend before starting A Madness of Sunshine because it’s unputdownable. Check out your airline miles too because after you finish, you may want to accept Nalini Singh’s invitation to visit her 'distant country' ... beautiful.
Singh elevates the missing-girl trope with a compassionate cop and nuanced secondary characters. Readers are immersed in New Zealand, from the Maōri language and culture to the rugged, dangerous beauty of the landscape. An immensely satisfying procedural, and, though the romance is secondary, it has the intensity that Singh’s fans have come to expect.
...a tightly plotted thriller that has pervasive feeling of rage coiled around it ... This creates a superb tension that carries throughout the novel and, when combined with a perfectly plotted mystery and well-developed characters, results in a fantastic reading experience. This might well be my favorite book of the year ... I don’t want to go into more details regarding the mystery because it unravels so wonderfully, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone ... For me A Madness of Sunshine was the perfect read. It’s got the gothic elements I love, a well-plotted mystery, thoroughly developed characters, and it allows it’s female lead to be really fucking mad.
Pairing her keen eye for characterization with a taut pace and a finely tuned ear for suspense, Singh has produced a thrill ride that will keep readers turning pages long past sundown ... an atmospheric novel above all things. Singh crafts the setting so meticulously and expertly that you can feel the daytime sun bearing down on you as easily as you can hear the crashing waves and feel the lush greenery around you. It would be easy and true to say that the setting is a major character in the book, but that is not all Singh brings to the metaphorical table. Her characters feel fully fleshed out and familiar, yet compelling. I think what I loved most about them was the way they formed a separate character entirely as the town of Golden Cove. As desperate as I was to learn their secrets and histories, I was equally conscious of wanting to respect their community. This dissonance not only kept me reading, but immersed me in the story more fully than if I simply wanted answers. This is no small feat for an author, especially in a stand-alone novel ... While the book is certainly suspenseful, I would draw the line at calling it a thriller. While there is a missing girl and threats of violence at its center, I felt that it was more slow burn than I would expect from a thriller. Many of the mysteries at the heart of the novel were playing out internally between characters rather than with bloody knives and fingerprints, making it more of a mystery than a thriller, but it was every bit as riveting. Singh clearly has an ear for personal dynamics, and it was these relationships that really moved the story along for me ... stellar; it has everything it needs to succeed and plays upon its author’s previous talents beautifully. I look forward to seeing where Singh turns next.
... [an] atmospheric if flawed thriller ... Several members of the cast, particularly the men who become prime suspects in Miri’s disappearance, come across as plot-propelled chameleons. But the one character that rings absolutely true is the untamed, sometimes treacherous, always breathtaking New Zealand landscape.
