A KILLING WINTER
The Vancouver Sun book club is discussing Edmonton author Wayne Arthurson’s mystery novel A Killing Winter, which is a sequel to his first novel Fall From Grace. We will be chatting with Arthurson on Monday, May 28 at noon at www. vancouversun. com/ books. Please join in the conversation.
Trevor Battye: What was particularly interesting for me about the “ripped from the headlines” angle to this book was the native gang aspect. I may be naive but I had no idea that native gangs even existed, or that they were prevalent.
Over the course of reading the book I did some digging into this, for news stories about native gangs, and sure enough there they were, and lots of them! Had I not read the book I would probably still be completely oblivious to this issue.
Julia Denholm: The more I think about this book the more I wish we had read the first in the series, rather than the second. I’m a reluctant fan of “character” novels that follow the life of the central figure in a chronological way: as much as I love Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin and Elizabeth George ( as examples), reading the books in any way other than in sequence is very frustrating.
I wonder, for instance, if there is some more in the first book to persuade me to like Leo better. And I wish that the “reminders” of prior events were presented a bit more smoothly ( I’m still frustrated by Leo’s history as a bank robber and murderer: surprise!). I’m one of those people who will tenaciously finish nearly any book I start, but I was dangerously close to tossing this one when that information came out.
That said, I still sort of want to read book one, so there is enough here to compel me in some way. Much better than the book I read on a recent camping trip. I finished it, said “well that was awful” and tossed it into the fire.
Bev Wake: I think Julia makes a good point and I’ve been feeling the same way: maybe if I’d read the first book I’d have had a better sense of who Leo is and what drives him and therefore find him less frustrating. I just didn’t find him believable. But, I actually would read the first book, which says a lot.
I did enjoy the ripped- from- the news element of the book. Because I had trouble with Leo, that element grounded the book for me.
As an editor, I found the comments about crime- selling to be interesting, since that’s not the philosophy at The Sun. It has to be a huge crime story to get good play in our paper, although I’ve worked at papers where the opposite is true. We do like feel- good stories — and a few years back The Province devoted an entire issue to only happy news. Daphne Wood: I enjoy characters that develop over time, and they certainly can be a winning formula. Like thousands of others this summer, I’ll line up to see the 23rd instalment in the James Bond franchise. We didn’t get to experience some of the most intriguing things about Leo’s background.
As a murderer and repeat bank robber, Leo has every reason to feel like his luck will certainly run out. But his feeling of dread didn’t carry the same weight at the beginning of the novel with me – I just assumed he was thinking of his precarious attempts to manage the gambling addiction.
The new information did help to build tension at the very end of the novel, as he could be arrested for any number of crimes, let alone a second murder.
With respect to the headlines, it was very timely to read about the challenges of the native gangs and the complexities of native leadership on and off the reserves. This read like a true Canadian perspective — it gave legitimacy to a variety of viewpoints from the characters, challenged the media for creating stereotypes, but lauded exceptional reporting such as Leo’s undercover work.
Here’s a real aside: The green apple in the urinal was puzzling to me — how did others interpret this bus station scene?
Julia Denholm: Aaagh ... the apple in the urinal was gross gross gross. No. Just no.
Trevor Battye: Exactly. I feel like that and the cheese grater scene were just the pulp of the book. Just shock value.
Ian Weir: I agree with Julia. I tend to be a big fan of series novels — it’s the comfort of settling back into the company of old friends. But it’s interesting to note that the character storyline in such novels is almost invariably a subplot, and often little more than background music. Arthur has flipped that over — in this case, Leo’s personal story is foregrounded, and at times overwhelms the mystery plot. That’s a tricky challenge, and I suspect it may have something to do with the group’s mixed reactions.
And yes, that apple. My first thought — once I was past the gagreaction — was that it was ironic meta- comment on Leo’s cultural status. Y’know, the old insult hurled at natives who compromise with the white establishment — red on the outside, white on the inside. But this apple is green, which leaves me deeply confused. And gagging. Our book club panel includes Ian Weir, author of the novel Daniel O’thunder; Daphne Wood, the Vancouver Public Library’s director, planning and development; Julia Denholm, division chair, Humanities at Langara College; Monique Sherrett, principal at Boxcar Marketing and founder of somisguided. com; Trevor Battye, a partner in Clevers Media; Vancouver Sun books editor Tracy Sherlock; and Weekend Review editor Bev Wake.