What do you do when your new lover is accused of murder and you’re not really sure of his guilt or innocence? The evidence against ex-convict Mason Burke may be circumstantial but it’s so compelling even Deputy Jess Winslow doubts her lover’s innocence.
In the captivating sequel to Deception Cove, Burke and Winslow barely have time to take a breath before a body washes up on the Pacific shore. The Victim: Bad Boyd. A local celebrity who played pro hockey, Boyd isn’t just bad, he’s wicked. This heinous bully has fought, terrorized, and murdered dogs over the years, and he’s destroyed people. All for his own sadistic pleasure. Still, he’s never been caught. Until now.
The Accused: loveable, dependable Mason Burke. With his fifteen-year-stint in the Chippewa penitentiary for murder barely behind him, Burke is the last person seen with Bad Boyd. And they were fighting. Mason loves his pit bull. Boyd killed pit bulls. The altercation was inevitable.
With their newfound love belching puffs of mistrust and doubt, this high octane thriller tests the limits for both Burke and Winslow. Should he turn himself in or abandon his little family and run for it? And who will find the real killer with Burke in jail? Worse, if he runs, he’ll lose everyone he loves.
Lone Jack Trail sees us traversing more epic West Coast terrain. It’s obvious Laukkanen’s travelled these trails. His 3D sensory descriptions take us there. The small coastal town of Deception Cove is a familiar character but the surrounding wilderness is a dangerous haven for meth cookers and killers.
Laukkanen’s writing is emphatic but precise and controlled, though his feelings fleck the surface like fish for flies. When Burke visits Bad Boyd’s vacated dog-fighting barn, I thought I might have to skip a few pages. There are things I can’t read and don’t want to know. But even something so close to Laukkanen’s heart as animal cruelty is treated delicately and we feel Burke’s pain (and Laukkanen’s) in the spaces between.
What draws me to Laukkanen’s writing besides his engrossing narrative style is his ability to write ordinary heroes doing extraordinary things. Burke’s clever young sidekick, Chris Rengo, is a homeless former meth cooker, but he often comes up with the right information at the right time. Deputy Tyner Gillies, named for a real live police sergeant and author, is fearless — a warrior and one of the good guys in a town known for corrupt cops. And then there’s Jess Winslow and Lucy. Jess is an ex-Marine suffering from PTSD and her service dog, Lucy, is based on Laukkanen’s own rescued pit bull. Lucy is as much a hero as anyone in this cast of eccentric characters.
In the exhilarating climax on Lone Jack Trail, we discover just how much of a team these three really are — Burke, Winslow, and Lucy, the dog. With its satisfying ending, Lone Jack Trail will leave you smiling and wanting more in this series.
Just this week, I read that books with a dog in them are “enchanting” while books where a dog dies are “heart-rending.” Let me assure you that you’ll be safely enchanted with Deception Cove though your heart may swell in the reading.
This story is about a dog, a very particular dog named Lucy, and those determined to destroy her and those bent on saving her. Author Owen Laukkanen knows Lucy well. He adopted her as a six-year-old pit bull who was destined for death in a California kill shelter. She became his muse and found her way onto the page and into our hearts. Like Laukkanen, the two protagonists in this story are bound to Lucy.
Mason Burke has been incarcerated since he was eighteen years old and caught doing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Part of his work at the Chippewa State Pen was training dogs to become emotional support for veterans with PTSD. When he’s released, all Burke wants to know is if the dog he trained and fell in love with is surviving. He manages to find his way to Deception Cove, a small Pacific Coast town in Washington. There he meets a recently-widowed US marine named Jess Winslow whose post-war world revolves around Lucy.
Enter the problem. Winslow’s husband was playing with a bad crowd, stole something he shouldn’t and got himself killed for it. Now, the bad boys, who just happen to be lawmen, have stolen Lucy and are threatening to kill her if she doesn’t give them back their package.
There is no melodrama in this book, just deep-hearted soul that binds us to these wounded characters in their plight to stay alive. On the run with Burke and Lucy from the lawmen who murdered her husband, Jess’s story is revealed through vivid flashbacks. Afghanistan is never far away for Jess and her PTSD doesn’t take a day off. It was Lucy who saved Jess from blowing her head off and now she can’t “look at the shotgun without seeing the lead.” Who steals a war veteran’s therapy dog?
Though a thriller, Deception Cove could also be marketed as romantic suspense. The growing relationship between Burke and Winslow simmers on the page as they race to save Lucy, get the package, and avoid getting killed by some very evil men. These three are characters you want to befriend. The good news is you can. Deception Cove is only the first in this series.
Laukkanen’s voice is rich, slow, and easy, though the story never misses a beat in its relentless pacing. A natural storyteller, he holds us in the palm of his hand as he spins out honest dialogue and superbly paced action in a richly detailed marine environment. Once a commercial fisherman, Laukkanen’s knowledge of boats and the Pacific coast is apparent with the expertise and ease he writes.
If you’re looking for a soulful thriller that you can’t put down, this book is for you. I kept getting drawn to the back cover and the photo of Laukkanen and Lucy. His love for her and for writing translates to the page. “It was on walks together through the city that I rediscovered my love for writing, and so I owe this book to the hound, and so much more besides.” Thank you, Lucy and thank you Owen for this gem. Perfect summer reading.
An evocative epic laced with myth and fact, Water Sight completes the Last of the Gifted Series. In the first book, Spirit Sight, we find Cymru (Wales) hovering on the eve of destruction as the English king, Edward 1, better known as Longshanks, sends his armies railing against the native Celts. Fans of Braveheart, note that Longshanks practiced his brutal conquest techniques on the Welsh before turning his eye northward to Scotland and tangling with William Wallace.
There are several things I particularly appreciate about this book.
The interweaving dual storylines are fluidly crafted. As in Book One, the story is narrated by two protagonists: Hyw (16) and Catrin (14)—a brother and sister with extraordinary gifts. As the war with the English builds, so do their gifts and their need to use them. Hyw is a shapeshifter; Cat a spiritual healer able to lead captive spirits home to their eternal rest in Garth Celyn, a mystical place as legendary as faerie.
Cat shines in this story. Her quest is to reclaim the three relics that once belonged to the murdered Llywelyn—The Crown of Arthur, the Coronet of Wales, and Y Groes Naid (the Cross of Neith)—and give them to his younger brother, Prince Dafydd to rally the people. Though she is in love and betrothed to Rhys, for the most part Cat’s on her own as Rhys is working to protect Dafydd.
Powell’s lyrical writing has a formal tone flecked with Medieval and Old Welsh Gaelic phrases in such a way that they’re contextually definable. The language reflects the culture and reminds us that what was once taken by the English is now alive again. Powerful phrasing, sensory descriptions, and mythical references abound.
There are time-ticking constraints. It’s May 1283 when the story begins and they must rally the people by Autumn Equinox, and win by Nos Galan Gaeaf (Halloween.) When the veils are lowest between the worlds, Llywelyn must leave Hyw’s body, where his spirit has been housed since his murder, and join his Princess Eleanor and the ancestors in Garth Celyn. To be defeated means the soul of the legendary Prince of Wales will be lost forever.
Though the atmosphere is violent, vicious, and grave, Powell finds ways to add comic relief through Hyw’s hijinks as he shapeshifts into various animals: a hawk, a horse, a jackdaw, a mouse, a sparrow, an eagle. His transformations become more rapid as the stakes rise and his responses are comical.
The romance is true and transcends time. Cat and Rhys are destined; while Hyw’s love for James, a boy he grew up with, is sweet, sensitive, and accepted by the culture. “We are meant to be together, Hyw. If you will stay a hawk, then I will become a falconer. But if you would be a man, then come back to me.” Indeed, as they walk through the crowds holding hands, we can only hope for them.
This is a series for young adults and I recommend it to teachers and librarians. The characters face contemporary struggles in a historic setting. The mingling of myth, magic, and adventure will appeal to middle grade and high school students, but also their parents. The Last of the Gifted is a classic.
In 2007, poet-author Gil Adamson (Gillian) published her award-winning debut novel, The Outlander. Thirteen years later, we are reading the sequel. It’s almost in real time.
The Outlander tells the story of nineteen-year-old Mary Boulton who kills her husband and flees into the Canadian Rockies pursued by her two brothers-in-law. There she meets several eccentric characters in an Alberta mining town, one of whom she falls in love with—William Moreland, the Ridgerunner. Adamson wondered what would happen if this couple had a child. They did, and thirteen years later we’re reading about the boy’s internal struggles in this touching coming-of-age story.
Jack Boulton is a twelve-year-old boy. His mother, Mary, died the previous fall. Jack got sick, and his father left him with a local nun so he could go back to his previous life of crime. Blowing up mines and robbing banks is ridgerunner senior’s forte. But William’s motives are heartfelt. He’s trying to make a slew of money so he and his boy can live somewhere peacefully. Plus, he’s trying to cope with his wife’s unexpected death. The only (well, maybe not the only) problem is, the nun, one Emelia Cload has decided that the boy is hers.
Jack is not enamored with this decision, and early in the story, he escapes his regimented captivity and heads home. The nun (which is what she is called most often) wants him back and puts up a wanted poster with a $2000 reward for his return. If that seems like odd behaviour for a nun, brace yourself. That’s only the beginning. The nun is an unexpected antagonist.
The boy learns to shoot, live alone, take a beating, fend for himself and, in short order, becomes a man. In fact, Jack becomes the Ridgerunner himself. The parallels between father and son are a theme of this story. They are both outlaws, on the run, and trying to survive in hostile terrain.
This is a rollicking literary adventure told in three parts. The horses, guns, and wild animals give it a western feel. At one point, Moreland spends three days treed by an old grizzly. It’s character-driven but there’s plenty of action, tension, suspense, and dropped bombs (which I won’t reveal.) It also has an historical Can Lit feel as it’s set in and around Banff and Lake Louise, formerly the town of Laggan. Since it’s 1917 when the story begins, there are references to The Great War—the working men of a prison camp feature in the plot.
Adamson’s lyrical prose and poetic descriptions immerse us in this rugged Western Canadian landscape. She is mad with details and rich with language. “Hair in horripilating waves.” Now, there’s a word. There are bits of Nakoda, a strange language spoken by Sampson Beaver the second, and interjections of folksy wisdom. “If you’re afraid of doing something son, you’re more or less obligated to do it.” Adamson comments that allusions to Huckleberry Finn, Treasure Island, and True Grit, among others pepper the book and are among her influences, along with “Western and noir movies, songs, and fairy tales.” I heard shades of Lonesome Dove and The Tenderness of Wolves myself. The haunting landscape of the wild places, of pioneers, of bygone days lends itself to lyrical prose.
In August, I reviewed Book 1 in The Daughters of Dark Root series. I liked the book so much, I threatened to buy the box set of four. Well, I did. And I just finished reading Book 2: The Magick of Dark Root.
This is Maggie Mae’s book. In book 1, Maggie came home to the small Oregon town of Dark Root to join her sisters in caring for their ailing mother. Sasha Shantay, the matriarch of this witchy clan, is aging fast. Now Maggie has officially left Michael, because of his affair with Leah, and is falling for Shane Doler, a handsome cowboy/restaurateur who has a few magick powers of his own. She’s also brought home another surprise.
The quest for a strong wand—hopefully from the Lightning Willow as was her mother’s—and the management of her power are focuses for Magdalene in this book. “The willow cannot only heal people, but extend their lives, indefinitely, perhaps” says Larinda. Though she’s one of the antagonists in this series and not to be trusted, Maggie wants to believe a lightning willow wand will bring her mother back from the dead.
Necromancy is one of the themes in this book. Birth and Life meander through this story in many guises. While Maggie is carrying new life, she discovers she has the power to take life. This deathtouch is something she believes she inherited from her powerful, rebellious father, Armand.
I’ll confess. This was one of the creepiest parts of this story and I had a hard time with it. One night, Eve and Maggie go out to a local bar to make some cash hustling pool. Eve (like her biblical man-wasting counterpart) is dressed in a “tight, black, knit number that sat low in the cleavage and high on the thigh.” She’s also wearing a dash of her mankiller scent. She targets a middle-aged man who’s sitting alone and pours on her charm. Then her pool hustle begins. “Last game. Winner takes all,” Eve says, promising more than cash. All the while, Maggie is watching and managing the shots with her witchcraft. The man, who is now “drunk on alcohol, drunk on desire” starts moving in on Eve and the women get frightened. When Eve tries to leave, he objects and comes after her. Aggressively. Triggered by her own bad experiences with men, Maggie charges at the man, her power running full throttle and kills him. Shades of Thelma and Louise?
“For every spell there was an anti-spell. For every power, an opposing power. If I had the deathtouch, then someone out there had the lifetouch.“
This is not what creeps me out. It’s when they resurrect him and he rises as this giant zombiesque man-baby that they have to care for while they figure things out, that I start feeling yucky. The creepiest part for me is that Maggie suddenly becomes his mother. She treats him like an infant and tells him she loves him. It’s like some strange rehearsal for when her own baby is born. Except he’s not her baby. He’s a creepy guy that would have raped Eve if he had the chance and now he’s not even a guy.
But that’s just me. See what you think.
What will eventually happen to the resurrected Leo? Read to find out.
There are three books left in this series. Will I keep reading? You bet.
To begin with, you should know that Isabel is not the name of the protagonist who lives in the Epitome Apartments and solves the crime in this book. Isabel is actually the name of Ogden Nash’s daughter. For the uninitiated, Mr. Nash was an American master of light whimsical verse, a poet who appreciated tone and rhyme and odd rhyme schemes. In his 1932 poem, which is printed in full at the end of the novel, the unshakeable heroic Isabel meets an enormous bear, a wicked old witch, a hideous giant, and a troublesome doctor. Are they all characters in the saga of our unnamed protagonist? That, dear reader, is for you to discover.
Like Nash’s poem, Dorsey’s novel is light-hearted and whimsical—though frosting serious violent themes like gay-bashing and murder for hire. It’s clever, casual, and abounding in asides. A cozy dramatic mystery written in raw, effectual, and not-so-cozy language. I feel, I must caution you here: Dorsey’s characters are LGBTQ, real, and raw. They live that way and talk as they live. This is the mark of a writer who understands that most of the world doesn’t live in a hallmark card.
Our female hero, her cat Bunnywit, who she affectionately calls F*wit, her lesbian lover, and her diverse crew, are extraordinarily unique characters. This, in and of itself, calls to me. Denis (one of my favourites) is a gay crisis worker and our hero’s best friend. He calls on her for help when his friend Hep—she’s Hep because of her uncanny resemblance to Katherine Hepburn—Hep’s granddaughter gets murdered. If you don’t know who Katherine Hepburn is, I suggest you google her as our hero recommends, or watch an old movie called The African Queen—or at the very least, google images of the movie—to get a picture of what Hep may be like except for her white spiky brush cut. Katherine Hepburn would never go for that; then again, she might if she were alive today.
Maddy—full name, Madeline Pritchard—goes by the same name as her grandmother, and is a prostitute with a drug problem, so Hep assumes the police won’t care much about her murder. Denis does though, and knows our unnamed hero, a “downsized social worker” who got locked up at age fifteen and is considering becoming a prostitute herself in order to pay her bills, will too. And so the story begins with our hero drafting personal ads to sell herself as a pansexual play-toy for hire.
Denis dresses our hero up to resemble Maddy in her hooker boots, and she and Maddy’s girlfriend, Vicki cruise the streets searching for clues. During her perambulation, our unnamed detective meets a homeless Asian woman in the subway named Jian who knows Maddy and recognizes the boots. (The thigh-high boots are a recurring motif as Bunnywit falls in love with them. Cats!) When she invites Jian home for a meal and a bath, the two quickly become lovers.
Other characters of interest are Roger, a homicide detective and one of the hero’s ex-lovers. And the hero’s Christian cousin, Thelma. The Christian question dominates the story as Thelma’s church supports a group of skinheads called “Soul Patrol” who use their placard as a crowbar to beat up gays and anyone else who gets in their way. Our hero, who provides footnotes, for the proper terminology to describe her gender identity—bisexual, ambisexual, pansexual—is targeted by this Christian hate group and suffers at least one major beating that lands her in the hospital.
Dorsey subtitles her work a “postmodern mystery, by the numbers” which, in and of itself, requires a professor to unravel and a whole lot of philosophical jargon which I’m not prepared to tackle. Suffice to say, the “postmodern” phenomenon grants Dorsey a license to run amok with language, style, and social morality. I say, “Yay, Dorsey.” Her narrative is structured in short, numbered, and wittily titled scenes with footnotes and casual asides. Moreover, her narrative flips at her discretion between first, second, and third points-of-view. Please don’t be put off by this. Dorsey explains as she does it, and you never feel like you’re not a crucial part of this narrative. In first-person the private detective tells her own story. In third-person she narrates the actions of others because she’s not there and can’t share their experiences. And, in second-person, she speaks directly to the reader about the writing process. “We put in what’s necessary to build character, create mood, and advance action” and leave things out that are boring “habitual actions.” Dorsey promises never to knowingly fool the reader by “withholding clues” and admits she hates those “Jeffrey Archer twist-in-the-tale things.”
To solve Maddy’s murder, our hero’s crew visit some unusual locations. The night of her murder, Maddy was seen with two nasty looking characters and a very tall and memorable drag queen who the crew think might be responsible for the young woman’s murder. Denis, Hep, our hero, and her lover, Jian, dress up and cruise the clubs searching for this enchanting being.
If you’re looking to cruise with a Canadian Lisbeth Salander (think Dragon Tattoo) you may discover that Isabel’s Adventures work for you. Our hero triumphs over every evil thrown at her as does the unflappable Isabel. She’s not only our postmodern poster woman, she turns the tables on evil and is a necessary hurrah in our chaotic world. Oh, and did I mention, she’s Canadian, as is the city where the story is set?
Published by ECW Press, October 2020 #ExceptionalCanadianWriting
*As reviewed on the Ottawa Review of Books, October 2020
