Giles Blunt's latest offering takes place in – where else – Canada. Detectives Lise Delorme and John Cardinal are each investigating a heinous crime in Algonquin Bay in Ontario. This seemingly safe and tranquil lake community is unknowingly the haunt of what appears to be a sex crime involving a young girl whose photos appear on the internet to be viewed by predators. As Delorme is investigating this crime, Cardinal is traumatized by the sudden death of his wife in an apparent suicide. He cannot accept the idea of a suicide, and so begins his own independent investigation of her death while he is off-duty during his grieving period.

While each of these events are fairly common in modern fiction, Mr. Blunt's astonishingly well devised plot has some twists and turns that make his a “can't put it down” kind of book. It is more than a book about two different crimes. It is a psychological study of the long term effects of childhood trauma and the ups and downs of the intellectually bright but emotional flawed, and how those effects change the lives of those closest to them.

This is my first introduction to Mr. Blunt's work, so I am not sure if these two detectives are featured in a series. I hope so, because I would like to get to know them better. They are both very sympathetic and interesting characters, and they make a great team. It would be impossible for this writer to delve further into this particular plot, as there would be a danger of revealing too much and thereby spoiling the most unusual exposé. This is a book that needs to be thought through as it is read, as there lies beneath the words and events a secret thread that only the observant reader might uncover, and that's half the fun.

I look forward to reading more of this author's work, and I suggest that you start with this one.
Review by Litera Scripta