A crime fiction novel that surprised me for several reasons. First, there were a lot of characters. Stonechild and Rouleau were the main detectives, who had a prior relationship in another book, and they were surrounded by a team of helpline operators, relatives, of course, and a team of colourful staff who were all wonderfully adorable and complex.
Normally, with a cast of so many, my confusion is real and I lose focus of the plot. In this case, Chapman was able to write such compelling and complex characters through each storyline I was hooked throughout, wondering how they all linked.
Starting with the report of a rape, and leading to several murders, the cases were brutal, the scenes gruesome and the emotional ride thrilling. Wrapping it up in a way that makes me eager to read the next book, and giving enough backstory to intrigue me to read the first of the series.
With a fast-paced plot, a strong cast of characters, and settings that drew me in and then spit me out, Chapman proved herself with every page turn and struggle. Including ghosts and monsters of epic terror, even the innocent seem guilty. Chapman has her characters dig deep, stand tall and peel back layers of mystery lurking around corners obscured by darkness and lets the reader into the light and up for air just long enough to turn the page.
I am a struggling artist, a challenging and challenged mother who always thinks she is failing, an emerging freelance writer and reporter, an author with my name on several books crossing genres and always hoping to find more readers who enjoy them.
I am also a successful artist, a wonderful and thriving mother of one, a reacher towards both people and dreams despite all of the turned backs and obstacles in my way. I am a thriving freelance writer and reporter, an author loved by enough readers to make it worthwhile and a discombobulated conundrum who loves to hear new music, tell new tales and meet new authors. And I’m doing something I always dreamed of doing – reviewing books to support others as well as myself and my family.
Brenda Chapman is a crime writer who has published over twenty books, including six in the lauded Stonechild and Rouleau mystery series. She lives in Ottawa.
- Publisher : Dundurn Press
- Language : English
- Paperback : 376 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1459723147
- ISBN-13 : 978-1459723146
