Ben Sanders is a young (born in 1989) Auckland crime writer, who seems to have hit the ground running, and is about to make it truly big internationally. He's already published a highly acclaimed trilogy featuring Sean Devereaux (HarperCollins 2010, 2011 & 2013) which he wrote while studying engineering at Auckland University. He then went to the US, where he was signed up by an American publisher for a new series to be set in America. He then sold film rights to Warner Brothers. Bradley Cooper is set to produce, and star in the lead role.
I've read a manuscript of the first novel in the series, American Blood, set in New Mexico, and featuring Marshall Grade, an ex-NYPD cop turned mob informant, in the Witness Protection Programme.
It's extraordinarily sophisticated, classic hard-boiled crime fiction; superbly plotted and characterised, with unexpected twists and turns. Short, snappy sentences, brilliant dialogue and extreme violence are combined with powerful descriptive passages. Shades of Elmore Leonard, 'Breaking Bad'; Marshall is a bit like Raylan Givens in 'Justified', laconic, quick on the draw, ruthless.
This is quite brilliant crime writing. I think we're about to see another young NZ talent go global.