Missing Persons

 

Missing Persons by Steve Braunias (2021 Harper Collins softcover 264pp)

Another fairly brief book, ‘Missing Persons’ at 264 pages is a quick read if you’re at all interested in the contents. Writer-Journalist Steve Braunias once again puts on his court reporter hat and gives us a behind-the-scenes look at some of New Zealand’s recent high profile court cases. He often highlights details that never really made it into the media at the time, some of which that could have given cause for pause.

There are 12 chapters, 2 of which bookend the text, cover the Grace Millane case which obsessed New Zealand in 2019-2020. In between we have a rogue’s gallery of names you may have heard in the news over the last decade or so.

Besides the court room dramas, Braunias also gives us some longer-form chapters regarding those who have gone missing and turned up dead or those who seemed to have vanished totally. These chapters I found to be the best writing in the book – Braunias looks into the history of these men, their family and friends and investigates where and how their lives went wrong.

A couple of lighter chapters provide some relief from the sombre tone. These cover Colin Craig’s endless libel cases and Kim Dotcom’s plans to survive the end of the world in a South Island bunker (if only those pesky court cases stopped getting in the way).

It’s a bit of a mixed bag but overall eye-opening. Braunias remains on good form, injecting just enough of himself into each chapter to keep things grounded. A taste of New Zealand as it is rather than how we’d like it look perhaps.