Super Short Summary

In his debut novel, Inside the Black Horse (2015), New Zealand author Ray Berard draws on his experiences as a supervisor of TAB, New Zealand’s nationwide betting agency that often has outlets in neighborhood pubs, depicting the seedy underbelly of small town life. Set in Rotorua, a small community on North Island, home to a Maori village, the novel combines the genres of thriller, detective fiction, and romance to tell the story of an accidentally violent robbery that entangles a meth-dealing drug gang and a gambling corporation in ever-escalating fallout. The book depicts gang violence, drug addiction, and systemic despair.