by Roxanne Bouchard - Translated by David Warriner
SYNOPSIS
Detective Moralès returns in a breathtaking literary thriller set on the icy seas of Quebec’s Magdalen Islands, in the midst of a brutal seal hunt, where nothing is as it seems and absolutely no one can be trusted…
Fisheries officer Simone Lord is transferred to Quebec’s remote Magdalen Islands for the winter, and at the last minute ordered to go aboard a trawler braving a winter storm for the traditional grey seal hunt, while all of the other boats shelter onshore.
Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès is on a cross-country boat trip down the St Lawrence River, accompanied by Nadine Lauzon, a forensic psychologist working on the case of a savagely beaten teenager with Moralès’ old team in Montreal.
When it becomes clear that Simone is in grave danger aboard the trawler, the two cases converge, with startling, terrifying consequences for everyone involved…
REVIEW
Fisheries Officer Simone Lord is sent out on a seal hunt onboard the Jean-Mathieu with five men to enforce the strict rules necessary for this type of trip. It is clear from the start that not everyone is pleased to be accompanied by Simone and that every second she stays out on the trawler, her life is in serious danger.
Running alongside this storyline, we join Detective Joaquin Moralès as he embarks on a cross-country expedition with his colleague. Never quite able to switch off from work, Moralès is looking into an assault case which, as it develops, collides with the events on the Jean-Mathieu and he soon realises that Simone is in a very treacherous situation.
I think that the thing which stood out the most to me about Whisper of the Seals was the sense of place. From the very first page, the setting, descriptions and characters totally transported me to the ice cold landscape of Quebec, and I stayed there with them the whole way through. I'm not sure if it was the bleakness of the weather, or the insidious storyline, but it created quite a harsh atmosphere, with a sinister and unsettling feeling creeping in from very early on in the story.
The only negative for me was that I have not read the two previous books featuring Detective Moralès. He is such an interesting character that I think I would have enjoyed Whisper of the Seals even more if I had been able to build up the history and backstory of the character through the three stories and investigations.
Whisper of the Seals is not an easy read. It is beautifully written, but as you can probably imagine from the subject matter, there are scenes which some readers might prefer to avoid. This is just the nature of the storyline, it was tackled in a way that made it not too gruesome, but still detailed enough to fully explain the processes involved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Over ten years ago, Roxanne Bouchard decided it was time she found her sea legs. So she learned to sail, first on the St Lawrence River, before taking to the open waters off the Gaspé Peninsula. The local fishermen soon invited her aboard to reel in their lobster nets,
and Roxanne saw for herself that the sunrise over Bonaventure never lies. Her fifth novel (first translated into English) We Were the Salt of the Sea was published in 2018 to resounding critical acclaim, followed by The Coral Bride, which was a number-one bestseller in Canada, shortlisted for the CWA Translation Dagger and won the Crime Writers of Canada's Crime Book of the Year Award. Whisper of the Seals is the third novel. She lives in Quebec with her partner, an undertaker.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks and Roxanne Bouchard @RBouchard72 for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Crime Fiction / Detective
Publisher: Orenda Books
ISBN: 978-1914585241
Pages: 300pp
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