Survival tactics

Pandemic satire delivers pacy plot and much food for thought.

- BRIGID FEEHAN

KIND, by Stephanie Johnson (PRHNZ Vintage, $37)

A Kiwi pandemic novel with elements of a pacy thriller, Stephanie Johnson's Kind is also a wry and clear-eyed commentary on New Zealand, where we are and where we're headed. There are many plot strands - each richly peopled and filled with nail-biting jeopardy - and multiple perspectives. This satisfying complexity means the novel is way more than an exploration of lockdown-related claustrophobia and navel-gazing. There is a bit of that - but just enough.

It's the second week of Level 4 lockdown and newly separated Lyall Hull, a National MP for Christchurch, has "had enough of looking at walls and Netflix [and] memes about... being kind". So he leaves his soulless apartment and takes off for the Southern Alps in his work van. The van has his face "the size of a P-class sail" on the side, "backed by high-sheen National Party blue". His new mountain bike is in the back.