Blackfly Season

The novel I read was Blackfly Season, by Giles Blunt, the author of Forty Words for Sorrow, which I reviewed earlier.

Detective John Cardinal and Lise Delorme have a strange case on their hands – a young woman has wandered, bug-bitten, out of the Algonquin Bay forest with a gunshot wound to the head. Cardinal becomes obsessed with finding out who she is, and who is trying to kill her. When the dismembered body of a local biker, Wombat Guthrie, is found scattered in a cave, it seems that the two incidents might be related – and the link appears to be a drug dealer and a “healer” who calls himself Red Bear.

This novel incorporates different themes into the plot. Crime and mystery are two of the most noticeable. There was one more subtle one, which was the use of drugs throughout. Red Bear, who is the one who had Wombat Guthrie killed and tried to kill the young woman, makes a living off drug dealing and telling fortunes. As the plot progresses, things begin to get more suspenseful and violent. Even Red Bear’s associates are beginning to feel nervous around him, and feel that their own lives might be in danger.

The book is written in third person perspective, which is an effective tool because it allows for jumping back and forth between people. Dramatic irony is found commonly throughout the novel. This creates suspense for the reader because certain things happen that other characters in the book don’t know about… yet.

One piece of symbolism that I found was the relation of the horrible blackflies to the ruthlessness of some of the killers in the book.

Overall, Giles Blunt wrote another amazing piece of crime fiction literature that is exciting, mysterious, and creates suspense. The plot is straightforward yet unexpected, and characters are exhibited well.