Author: Louise Doughty
This was the first book I picked to read on the Kindle I borrowed from the library.
The story starts with the thoughts of one of the main characters as she views a courtroom, from the witness box, where she has been charged with a serious crime. You don’t find out what that crime is until well into the book. It was an interesting read, but nothing I couldn’t put down.
I see there is a recent BBC drama that is based on this book.
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Author: Stevie Cameron
This really couldn’t be considered holiday reading, but I spent most of my holidays with it. Surprisingly I could hardly put it down.
The details outlined in the book were not unfamiliar but taken in one sitting they were very disturbing. I started the book angry with the VPD because of their arrogance and inability to put aside political differences to act quickly; had they performed better there is a good chance they could have saved some of the women from the Downtown Eastside.
Because the murders took place in Port Coquitlam I was very familiar with all the places mentioned. I used to be so proud to live in Terry Fox’s hometown and then this gave us more notoriety than we ever wanted. I often saw the news vehicles and camera crews outside the courthouse as I went in to work at City Hall and knew that something was happening on the Pickton case.
I ended the book angry as well. I had forgotten that Willie Pickton had been found guilty of second-degree murder and not murder in the first degree. I also felt badly for the families of the missing women who never had a chance to have their cases go to court.
Not an easy read, but very well written.
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Author: June Hutton
June Hutton is another member of the SPiN group and an acquaintance of Pat’s. I was so moved by her first novel that I actually wrote her a note telling her so.
I was disappointed though with this, her second novel. I expected to learn more about Two-Gun Cohen and his relationship with Sun Yat-sen but the story takes place at a time in history when they barely know one another. It wasn’t until later that they led a revolution in China.
I understood the story she was telling but I had to fill in a lot of gaps on my own.
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Underground
Here’s my review of June’s first book.
I loved it. Her choice of words is exquisite. The characters are well developed and I could “see” every scene.
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Author: Rosalie Ham
This time I got the right one! Everyone that I know who saw the movie described it as odd or quirky.
There are a lot of characters and I had trouble keeping them straight. It didn’t help that a couple of them changed their names during the course of the story. Most of the characters were odd in some way and the story, on the whole, was quite quirky.
I can hardly wait to see the movie version; I understand the library has ordered it for their collection.
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