Some mysteries you read and can’t put down. Some make you
want to read every other book ever written by the author. This is not one of those. It is well written but I could not get into
the location. I have no prior knowledge
of Inuit culture, language or even of life in the Arctic Circle. If I didn’t think about the conditions, the
food, the cold, etc. I was able to get into the mystery!
I cannot imagine life in the Arctic. The farthest north I have been is Thunder
Bay, Ontario and that was during the summer months. Six months of darkness
would drive me insane. I could handle the long day much better. I also can never imagine my favorite food
being seal blubber and blood soup.
I think the author did a great job of describing life in
this part of the world. Alcoholism and
drug abuse run rampant as does despair and people looking for a quick
dollar. Like in the Killing in the
Hills, people are caught up in the circumstances of living to the point that
they are willing to go to almost any lengths, including murder, to improve
their own life.
Joe and Edie were two who seemed to have come to terms with
life in Autisaq. Edie was guiding tours into the wild and teaching at the
school. She had stopped drinking two years prior and was using much of her
guide money to help her stepson, Joe, save enough money to enter nursing
school. Then a series of accidents
happen which threatens to destroy the life they are building. Joe ends up dead, an apparent suicide! Of course, the reader does not think he was
the type to commit suicide any more than his step-mother does. I first thought it was a bit too easy but as
the story developed the complexity of life in the wild drew the reader into its
tangled web.
Edie is a multifaceted woman, half Inuit, half foreign! She works hard, plays hard, maintains a
relationship with her ex-husband, and often prefers her dogs and the frozen
world to interaction with many humans.
She is also a very determined individual who is determined to get to the
bottom of the murders/accidents that cost her her job and her step-son. To do so she must rely on a policeman who
prefers to watch the goings on of lemmings to doing any real work. However, Derek Pallister does not like to let
go of a hunch any more than Edie.
Together they get to the bottom of this and the outcome will surprise
most!
M J McGrath ties many themes into the novel. Russian vs US desires to gain access to
Arctic oil and gas rights, possible terrorism in the blowing up of an oil rig,
meth labs, murder and interpersonal relationships make for a good read. Now if I could just get over my inability to
like the cold, the raw food, and the names I can’t pronounce!
