View source for Expectant (Detective Sam Shephard) by Vanda Symon

{{infobox1
|title=Expectant (Detective Sam Shephard)
|author=Vanda Symon
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=Crime
|summary=Driven by a really great female detective, this was a twisty turny and thrilling procedural story that kept me gripped!
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=320
|publisher=Orenda Books
|date=February 2023
|isbn=9781914585579
|website=https://www.vandasymon.com/
|cover=1914585577
|aznuk=1914585577
|aznus=1914585577
}}

Detective Sam Shepherd is approaching the start of her maternity leave when there is a brutal, shocking murder of an expectant woman in Dunedin.  Suddenly she finds herself embroiled in the hunt for a killer targeting pregnant women, with all the extra pressure that entails being pregnant herself.  Finding herself put on desk duties, which she rails against, she just can't let the case go and she starts to follow every thread to uncover what's actually happening, and the increasingly disturbing worry of just what might happen next.

This is actually book five in the Sam Shepherd series, and although I haven't read any of her previous investigations I very quickly felt like I knew her as a character.  The author is great at showing you who she is and what her situation is, so I never felt the lack of not having read the previous books, and you can easily just drop in here with this book and see what you think.  Of course, now I can also go back and discover more about her, so that's something to look forward to!

I think it's worth flagging that Sam is quite sweary!  Just as a heads up as not everyone gets on with lots of swearing in a book.  And if you are pregnant yourself, you might want to wait until your baby has arrived before reading because it is unsettling, and although my two children are really quite big now, I still found myself holding my tummy protectively as I read some parts!  But that's part of the great writing, I think, that it all feels very real, very immediate, and it's certainly one of those books that has you reading just a little bit more, and a little bit more, because you don't want to put it down!  The chapters are all very short too, so it's handy for anyone who has to read their books in snatches of moments through the day (parents of toddlers, I'm looking at you…) and it stands up well to this kind of put down pick up read.

I liked Detective Sam a lot, and I enjoyed seeing her family relationships, her internal struggles, her bursts of temper and her emotional responses to situations.  She also eats ''a lot'' of snacks in this book, which really made me warm to her.  I no longer have the excuse of eating for two, but I do like it when book characters enjoy their food!  Although I did also feel hungry all the time as I read!  The plot works really well, taking us through the final parts of Sam's pregnancy and seeing how that lines up with lines of enquiry in her work.  It's a police procedural story, but also a little bit thriller too, as you find yourself on the edge of your seat to see what on earth is going to happen.  I enjoyed the New Zealand setting too.  I haven't read much New Zealand fiction, and you do get a feel for the city as you read.

It's quite twisty-turny, and I didn't guess the 'who' until quite near the end, so I also enjoyed that feeling of being carried along by the story and not just knowing and waiting for the reveal.  And there's a lot of emotion at the end, for various reasons, and I liked that complexity to the story too.  Overall, this felt like a great introduction to the character even though it's five books in, and I'd like to go back now and see how things started for Sam.  Make sure you've got some biscuits or something to snack on, and then settle in for an excellent read!

For more by this author try her standalone novel which I also really enjoyed, [[Faceless by Vanda Symon|Faceless]] or you might like to try another New Zealand story [[The Quiet People by Paul Cleave]].

[[Vanda Symon's Detective Sam Shephard novels in chronological order]]

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[[Category:Thrillers]]