From Publishers Weekly
Blunt forgoes the shock and violence of his previous crime novel, Forty Words for Sorrow (winner of the British Crime Writers' Macallan Silver Dagger Award), in this standout sequel-though one might not think so after reading the grisly opening. Det. John Cardinal of the Algonquin Bay, Ontario, police force is called in to investigate the severed arm of a white male that has been dragged out of the woods by a neighborhood dog. After the remaining pieces of the body turn up and the man is identified as an American citizen, John and his French-Canadian partner, Lise Delorme, are immersed in a case that involves more bodies, a 30-year-old unsolved murder with ties to the violently separatist Quebec Liberation Front, and clashes among various law enforcement agencies, including the Mounties, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the local police. There are also the ordinary and extraordinary personal problems of the wonderfully drawn characters. Cardinal's wife is clinically depressed, and his father is sick. Lise's ethnicity does not help her win the trust of the locals. The novel's fascination lies not only in the meticulous unspooling of the plot, but in watching Cardinal and Delorme uncover the lattice of events linking the political clashes of the past and the covered-up crimes of the present. The detectives maneuver gingerly through a beautiful but dangerous landscape frozen beneath the weight of a once-in-a-century ice storm. In a genre where writers often compete to create vile, loathsome villains perpetrating outrageous crimes, Blunt stands as a master craftsman who shows us not only darkness, but also decency.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
*Starred Review* A North Woods of derelict trapper lodges and dangerous bars, where damp and cold pervade everything, forms a convincingly cruel background for a mystery in which one body is set out for bears to dismember and another is placed, naked, in the middle of a copse of trees. The setting is the tiny town of Algonquin Bay in northern Ontario, and the heroes, introduced in Blunt's acclaimed first novel, Forty Words for Sorrow (2001), are homicide detectives John Cardinal and Lise Delorme. They are a first-rate duo, free from the usual male cop-female cop stereotypes, and they react to one another professionally and genuinely. This time two homicides within the same week land on the detectives' plate; one victim is identified as an American accountant while the other, a woman, is the town's most capable doctor. Cardinal has still more worries, both professional (the imminent discharge from prison of a drug dealer with a grudge against him) and personal (an ailing father and a manic-depressive wife). Blunt is adept at spinning a web of horror and impending doom, but he also knows how to spice his tale with humor (Cardinal telling a maladroit bank robber that he must have made off with "tens of dollars") and human detail (Cardinal facing his domestic difficulties with grace and dignity). This one works on every level. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"The third week in January in Algonquin Bay: A freak warm front has rolled in, making it feel like April and enticing the locals into shedding their down parkas and strolling the streets. But the warm weather has also brought the bears out of hibernation, and they have come out hungry. Suddenly the stakes turn ugly when an auto mechanic discovers a mauled human arm in his yard, and the cops determine that its owner was dead before the bears got to him. A search of the surrounding woods turns up body parts placed exactly where the bears were most likely to find them. A homicide, then, but who is the victim?" "As detectives John Cardinal and Lise Delorme wrestle with what soon becomes a trail of misinformation about the victim's identity, another body is found in the woods - a young woman, apparently raped. There has to be a connection: two bodies abandoned in the woods within days of each other cannot be a coincidence in a small town like Algonquin Bay. Then police records reveal an unsolved murder with the same MO - a woman found in the nearby woods, also apparently raped. It isn't long before the two homicide detectives are following a trail that leads back thirty years to yet another open murder case - this one linked to Quebec terrorists - then twists forward to the mysterious unidentified first victim." Logic suggests all these murders are connected. Evidence is less convincing. And somewhere, a murderer - smart and powerful - is walking free.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Whenever he is describing the scenery in this cold, harsh place, Blunt writes with the flashing grace of an ice skater skimming over a frozen pond. — Marilyn Stasio

Publishers Weekly

Blunt forgoes the shock and violence of his previous crime novel, Forty Words for Sorrow (winner of the British Crime Writers' Macallan Silver Dagger Award), in this standout sequel-though one might not think so after reading the grisly opening. Det. John Cardinal of the Algonquin Bay, Ontario, police force is called in to investigate the severed arm of a white male that has been dragged out of the woods by a neighborhood dog. After the remaining pieces of the body turn up and the man is identified as an American citizen, John and his French-Canadian partner, Lise Delorme, are immersed in a case that involves more bodies, a 30-year-old unsolved murder with ties to the violently separatist Quebec Liberation Front, and clashes among various law enforcement agencies, including the Mounties, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the local police. There are also the ordinary and extraordinary personal problems of the wonderfully drawn characters. Cardinal's wife is clinically depressed, and his father is sick. Lise's ethnicity does not help her win the trust of the locals. The novel's fascination lies not only in the meticulous unspooling of the plot, but in watching Cardinal and Delorme uncover the lattice of events linking the political clashes of the past and the covered-up crimes of the present. The detectives maneuver gingerly through a beautiful but dangerous landscape frozen beneath the weight of a once-in-a-century ice storm. In a genre where writers often compete to create vile, loathsome villains perpetrating outrageous crimes, Blunt stands as a master craftsman who shows us not only darkness, but also decency. (June 2) Forecast: A tame jacket won't help this noteworthy thriller, but word of mouth is sure to be strong. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Following up his successful debut, Forty Words for Sorrow, Blunt scores again with a story also set in northern Ontario's Algonquin Bay and featuring detectives John Cardinal and Lise Delorme. When two bodies are found in the woods and a local doctor is murdered, Cardinal and Delorme's investigation leads them to an unsolved 30-year-old killing linked to Quebec terrorists. Are the Royal Canadian Mounted Police involved? What clues can be found in such far-flung places as Montreal and New York City? The plot races toward the finish line but not at the expense of the characters. What puts this book above the average tale of psychological suspense is the depth of Blunt's character study. We feel that these are real people; each is well rounded, and his or her links to other characters in the novel are explored in depth, as are their relations to the unique local culture. Recommended for public libraries.-Fred M. Gervat, Concordia Coll. Lib., Bronxville, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews