Orenda Books Blog Tour - Containment

TITLE: Containment (Sam Shephard #3)
AUTHOR: Vanda Symon
PUBLISHER: Orenda Books
PUBLISHING DATE: January 5, 2020

FROM GOODREADS: 

Dunedin’s favourite young police officer Sam Shephard is drawn into a perplexing investigation when a series of shipping containers wash up on a sleepy New Zealand beach, and a spate of unexplained deaths ensues… 

Chaos reigns in the sleepy village of Aramoana on the New Zealand coast, when a series of shipping containers wash up on the beach and looting begins. 

Detective Constable Sam Shephard experiences the desperation of the scavengers first-hand, and ends up in an ambulance, nursing her wounds and puzzling over an assault that left her assailant for dead. 

What appears to be a clear-cut case of a cargo ship running aground soon takes a more sinister turn when a skull is found in the sand, and the body of a diver is pulled from the sea … a diver who didn’t die of drowning… 

As first officer at the scene, Sam is handed the case, much to the displeasure of her superiors, and she must put together an increasingly confusing series of clues to get to the bottom of a mystery that may still have more victims… 

MY THOUGHTS: When I agreed to be a part of the Containment blog tour, I had no idea it was the third book in a series.  I'm pretty anal about reading books in order but I'm thrilled to say reading this our of order worked out perfectly fine for me and has actually prompted me to go back and look up the first two.

Detective Constable Sam Shephard is dog sitting for a family friend when a large shipping boat wrecks along the shoreline of Anamoana, off of New Zealand, spilling shipping containers along the beach.  People rush to the chaotic scene - some to see what has happened, some to help contain the scene and some to loot the containers.  Sam ends up at the scene trying to help but ends up getting assaulted instead.  Let's just say a lot of people on the scene end up with more than they've bargained for.  Soon a body is found in the sea and the case only ends up uncovering more disturbing facts about the case.

I really feel in love with Sam.  She is not the most favorite detective on the squad as some are skeptical about how she rose within the ranks so quickly.  Luckily she is teamed with a great partner and they form a bond which is rather familial. There is also a great supporting case built around Sam with her roommate and her boyfriend Paul.  Sam is independent but realizes she's a bit of a "saver" which comes back to bite her when dealing with the current case.  Sam also meets a wonderful yet annoying college student, Spaz, who is an integral part in the current case and he added a nice comedic relief to a rather intense case.  I also love that same reviews to her boss as Dick Head, which honestly, describes him quite succinctly. 

I flew through Containment and couldn't wait to see how everything linked together.  I will admit that at times, things seemed to be falling too conveniently into place, but that was really my only issue with the book. I'm definitely going to be looking into the first two book in this series as I'm curious about what I might have missed about Sam's background.  That being said, I was able to jump right into this book and it flowed extremely well, given that it's part of a series.  If you enjoy great characters and a good police procedural, then you'll want to give Containment a go.

RATING: 4 Paws

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Vanda Symon is a crime writer, TV presenter and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. The Sam Shephard series has
climbed to number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and also been
shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for best crime novel. She currently
lives in Dunedin, with her husband and two sons.