Jake's Long Shadow

With the same skill that he demonstrated in Broken Hearted, Duff weaves together a multitude of storylines and voices so we see all sides of this fractured community. . . . while this one has moments as shockingly violent as Warriors and Broken Hearted, there is a quietness that is slowly layering itself over the gore. . . New Zealanders can be awfully polite when it comes to expressing ideas or passionate opinions. Well, there is nothing polite about Duff: he's out there, stirring us all up, tearing down shibboleths, facing up to public opinion with great courage, armed only with his mighty weapon, the written word. . . . Duff is revealed as an eloquent optimist, a powerful advocate for the possibility of individual transformation. Whether his work will be read by the people who could most benefit - those still trapped in that social wasteland of Once Were Warriors - is doubtful, as Duff acknowledges. But for the rest of us, it makes extraordinarily compelling reading.

Margie Thomson, NZ Herald