Paul Cleave is one of New Zealand’s most internationally recognised and commercially successful crime writers. He is known for ingeniously plotted noir thrillers with comic and hyperbolic elements. Although most of his novels are stand-alone works, Cleave has developed a series based around investigator Theo Tate, in addition to a shorter series based around serial killer Joe Middleton. While Cleave’s thrillers are clearly designed to entertain, they also offer a sustained inquiry into human motivation through repeated motifs, such as psychological doubling and emulation, the self-fuelling pains of humiliation, and acts of righteous revenge which spiral outwards through multiplier effects. Cleave’s oeuvre, taken as a whole, suggests that the question that seems to underlie the…
3123 words
Citation: Lawn, Jennifer. "Paul Cleave". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 April 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14095, accessed 18 April 2024.]
