Auckland city bars, 1996, when the click / whirr of a Polaroid 600 proved you were living your best life. Betty’s is on repeat: waitress till late, drink till dawn, in bed to forget. But partying like there’s no tomorrow is no fix for the problems crowding in. Her ex is back and drinking at her favourite haunts, her flat was burgled and she faces eviction if she can’t pay late rent. And then there’s the serial rapist called the Psychic who’s terrorising women in their homes. When her ex is murdered and left in her bed, Betty and her flatmate Alabama turn to the bar world to find out who did it. Was it the Psychic – or someone closer?
Polaroid Nights fizzes with the wild energy of the city nightlife of 1990s Auckland. It’s compulsive reading – pitch-perfect with wicked humour and a dark hinterland that chills and fascinates in equal measure. Don’t miss this brilliant debut, the inaugural winner of the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize.