Paper Cage

January 8, 2024
Baragwanath’s deliciously tense debut paints an evocative portrait of a New Zealand community at risk. Lorraine Henry’s quiet clerk job at the Masterton police station gets complicated when two Maori children from the economically depressed small town are kidnapped in quick succession. A short time later, Lorraine’s own great-nephew, Bradley—the son of her half-Maori niece, Sheena—goes missing. Though investigators tap Lorraine for insights into the Maori community, they’re put off by her sense of urgency. So, she sets out to find the kids on her own, utilizing her law enforcement ties and familiarity with Maori language to track them down. Baragwanath powerfully highlights the racist treatment of New Zealand’s Indigenous people without sacrificing pace or intrigue, and the complicated bonds between Lorraine and the rest of her family add weight and dimension to the narrative. In weaving together a lived-in portrait of small-town New Zealand with a truly crackling mystery, Baragwanath proves himself a writer to watch. Agent: David Forrer, InkWell Management.

June 28, 2022
Paper Cage is a thrilling whodunnit and the winner of the 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize. The story centres on Lorraine, a records clerk at a small-town police department. She’s bright and well respected in the community but under-utilised at work and spoken down to in a way that many readers will be all too familiar with. Lorraine has a lot to deal with in her personal life, too: her niece Sheena is in an abusive relationship and using drugs. Lorraine is concerned and does her best to be supportive without overstepping, for fear of being cut out from her life, as Lorraine’s top concern is the wellbeing of Sheena’s son Bradley. When a boy goes missing in their small town, Lorraine holds Bradley close because she knows the police have no leads. She throws herself into the case and when Bradley goes missing too, she doubles down, doing whatever it takes to save her nephew. She cracks the case (no thanks to her colleagues) because she is smart, because she has valuable local knowledge and because she’s incredibly brave. Lorraine is a perfect heroine: she’s tough, unflinching and gets the job done. She’s also a woman refusing to let her voice be silenced in a male-dominated field. Paper Cage is a gritty crime novel that has all the fun, literary techniques of a thriller with an added layer of feminist commentary. This book is for readers who are built up by strong female characters and want more depth to their collection of crime novels. Danielle Bagnato is a book reviewer and marketing and communications professional.