I think Blunt's 4th novel about Algonquin Bay, Ontario
detective John Cardinal is one of the darkest things I've
read in quite a while. I'm about 200 pages into it and I'm
finding it difficult to read, though it's gripping enough and
I do want to know how it turns out. Depression, suicide, and
pedophilia are involved. I think Blunt is a highly skilled
writer. This is the most intense of the 4 Cardinal books,
with a plot that so far seems more focused than the
others.
I don't know the crime fiction world as well as many if not
most list members and I'm not sure if Blunt qualifies as a
hard-boiled or noir writer. These books are basically police
procedurals, I believe, that get startlingly grim in their
depiction of the crimes involved. But maybe that's not so
unusual these days.
Stephen Burridge
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