BOOK REVIEWS
Hell Bent For Paradise
Zoë Cano
2019
R
There’s no doubt that Zoë Cano, now onto her fourth book,
knows what adventure is about. There’s no dirt (well, very
little), there’s no exotic animals, no extremely remote locations
or dangers, yet the adventure is there … Zoe challenges herself,
her abilities, her perceptions.
Hell Bent For Paradise, is Zoë's fourth instalment of travel by
motorcycle, this time through Aotearoa, the Land of the Long
White Cloud … New Zealand.
In Zoë's unique way she recounts a point by point adventure
aboard a rented Triumph Bonneville over a two-month, 5,000
kilometre ride through both islands. Hell Bent For Paradise
takes the reader up and down the full length of both of New
Zealand’s islands and with it comes chance encounters with the
locals and their personal stories, including one of the world’s
most interesting motorsport events, the Burt Munro Challenge
(of World’s Fastest Indian fame).
Sticking to bitumen, aboard a road going bike, with pre-
planned hard accommodation might not be everyone’s idea of
adventure however, yet again Zoë proves that adventure is a
state of mind, adventure is what you make of it, adventure is
how you are challenged and in Hell Bent For Paradise Zoë cer-
tainly has her own adventure.
Cyclones, unfamiliar roads, reckless drivers, all challenge
Zoë to the limit yet she comes through learning more about
herself than she ever could’ve imagined. Isn’t that an adven-
ture?
Hell Bent For Paradise is an interesting tale, perhaps less
of the riding from point to point could’ve been replaced with
more detail of encounters and locations, in some part it reads
as a present tense novel and skips across areas where more de-
tail would’ve been welcomed. It reads well
despite the mix of British and USA Eng-
lish, perhaps annoying for some readers.
If you are planning to ride New Zealand
or are a rider that is threatened by mis-
conceived perceptions of adventure, then
perhaps Hell Bent For Paradise is for you.
Adventure, in all shapes and forms is for
everyone, New Zealand is a country that
must be on everyone’s adventure list. Zoe
Cano tells an honest tale of both, Hell Bent
For Paradise is worth a read.
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