Algonquin Bay, Ontario experiences a rare January warm front that awakens the bears that should remain in hibernation. When a dog brings home a piece of an arm, the local police initiate a search for the rest of the body parts. Through diligent investigative work they conclude that the victim is a former CIA agent who worked in Montreal in 1970 during the French Canadian separatist movement that turned violent.

While Detectives John Cardinal and Lise Delorme work the case, a doctor goes missing until her nude body is found in an isolated part of the town. The police link up the two murders because the rare AB type blood was found in the doctor's office and the first victim's car. They believe the perpetrator was injured and needed medical assistance. To learn who is getting away with murder the two detectives travel to Montreal to try to reconstruct the events that happened over three decades ago to see if one of their interviewees will lead them to the killer.

THE DELICATE STORM is a very well written police procedural that takes the reader back in time to the violence of the seventies during the Vietnam protests and the French Canadian separatist movement. The police methodically follow each piece of new evidence and try to connect all the pieces to form the larger picture, but the cases prove difficult and the detectives frequently become frustrated at their lack of progress. It is very entertaining to follow the investigation with is frustrations and triumphs. Giles Blunt is rapidly becoming one of the best writers of psychological suspense.

Harriet Klausner

I must confess, I wasn't quite so crazy about Giles Blunt's debut, Forty Words For Sorrow, as others were, even though it was certainly very good. However, now, after reading The Delicate Storm I'm quite tempted to revisit his first novel and be prepared to reassess my opinions, because The Delicate Storm is, quite simply, excellent.

It begins when a human arm is discovered on an unseasonably warm day in some woods near the town of Algonquin Bay. The search for other human body parts leads investigators John Cardinal and Lisa Delorme to a remote hunter's cabin that is clearly the scene of the crime, and which holds some useful information. The deceased is soon found to have been an American citizen, and so the Mounties are brought in to assist. But, it is when the Canadian Secret Service also start sniffing around the case that Cardinal comes to uncover something far deeper and darker.

Then, a few days later, a young doctor goes missing, and the glittering woods relinquish a second dead body.

Blunt paces his novel absolutely perfectly. It's not too slow, but nor is it so fast that, come the end, the book feels like sand having slipped through a net. He has also struck a perfect equilibrium between character and plot, giving the book power from both corners, and a nicely rounded feel. The characters are excellent, especially Cardinal and Delorme, who are fascinating (both when working together and apart), and, I am sure, capable of sustaining this series for many books to come. The plot itself is great (although possibly discomforting for those who don't like to confront the possibility of a "perfect" crime), and the plotting is slick, smooth and assured, all stemming from Blunt's excellent narrative control. He also examines, interestingly and convincingly, the past and present Canadian political scene.

However, possibly best of all is the setting, which the author describes brilliantly, giving the book a sharp, edgy and entirely chilly atmosphere that broods over the whole novel like some impetuous deity. The landscape creaks and shimmers under the ice and takes on a forbidding life of its own in a way which few writers can really create.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to everyone who likes a great crime novel, because there is no way you'll be disappointed with this. It's full of interesting characters with interesting lives, great plotting, and an atmosphere that shivers. Giles Blunt is tremendous, and surely the best writer to have emerged from Canada in many a moon. I'm looking forward to the next one already!

This thriller is set in the bleak winter of Canada's Algonquin Bay. The weather serves to act as a mirror of the mood of the local police force after they discover a body out on the bay.

We are introduced to Detective John Cardinal who, we learn, had been obsessed with a number of cases of missing youths. Cardinal was sure the cases were related and could turn out to be more than just missing persons. His superiors disagreed and ended up taking him off the cases. When a body is found, it looks as though it could be one of the missing people, so Cardinal is rushed back onto the case again. The greatest fear of the Algonquin Police Department could actually be reality - they may have a serial killer in the city.

When Cardinal is reassigned to work the homicide, he is also given a new partner. Lise Delorme has come straight from Special Operations to help out on the case and, unknown to Cardinal, is secretly investigating him thinking he may have been tipping off a known criminal in return for payoffs.

Around halfway through the book we are introduced to the killer and get an insight into his world. The pace of the book suddenly steps up a notch as the two storylines begin to run in parallel to one another, comparing Cardinal's progress in the investigation with the actual focus of his attention.

Tension is heightened by allowing us to be privy to the killer's identity, particularly when he takes a new victim. The case then turns into a race against time.

I found this to be an excellent thriller combining a tight storyline and methodical detective work with a strong sub-plot that threatens to unravel the whole investigation. The uncertainty provided by this sub-plot was very effective in creating doubt in the reader's mind as to what the outcome could possibly be.

According to the brief bio in the back of this book, author Blunt has written scripts for such notable shows as Law & Order. It is clear that he brings a lot to the table: a fine sense of narrative timing, strong skill at characterization, and a crisp writing style. These gifts all come into play in Forty Words For Sorrow. From the outset, the wretched cold is as integral to the plot as the characters. Blunt succeeds in evoking the climate both of a mythical northern Ontario town and of the local police force, where personalities clash and collide and, ultimately, pull together to solve the mystery of who has murdered a number of missing kids. There are finely wraught characterizations with not a stock character in sight. The issue of mental illness is addressed with sensitivity and insight. And at the point where the narrative focus shifts from who the villain might be to the interior rationale(s) behind the crimes, the momentum moves into high gear and stays there. The tension is spread across several lines: detective Cardinal's anxiety over his secrets and personal sorrows; the heightened fears and sorrows of those related to the victims; and the ongoing investigation of Cardinal's past by his new partner, Lise Delorme, who is torn by conflicting emotions and relentless ambition. This is a can't-put-down book, lean and taut. I'll be eagerly waiting for the next in the series.
Highly recommended.

Time is a precious commodity so there's always some degree of risk to start a novel by an author I'm unfamiliar with. In this case, the time devoted to read enough to decide if it was worth continuing was short. The story of an investigation of the murders/disappearances of three young people starts with the discovery of a body while describing the main characters in the setting of bitter cold Algonquin Bay, Canada. The cold winter weather is expertly described and matches the cold, detached feelings of the heartless killers. Once they are introduced, the pace of the story quickens. The technique of alternating between Cardinal and Delorme ( the primary investigators ) and the killers and their captive heightens the tension and accelerates the pace so by the time the storyline is clearly established, the investigation is in overdrive. The subplot allows the reader to witness the internal struggle of conscience in one of the characters and the total emptiness and lack of conscience within the other killer. The comparison offers enough contrast to lift the story above the run of the mill thriller by offering the reader some substance and material for reflection. To put it simply, invest the time, it'll pay off.

Having read the author's recent Forty Words for Sorrow, I was curious to read his first novel. Published in 1989, Blunt has come a very long way in the intervening years. Cold Eye is a cold book on a Faustian theme: an artist, in essence, makes a deal with the devil -- in this case a hideous dwarf -- in return for success.

Nicholas Hood's chosen theme for his paintings is violent death. While his work is much admired for its technical skill, it lacks heart/insight/passion. So, in fact, does the artist who is married to an impossibly sweet and lovely musician (harpsichord). Everyone in the book is far too tolerant of this unpleasant man who becomes ever more unpleasant exponentially once he's made his "deal with the devil."

The writing is fine; the subject matter is merely unpleasant and not particularly revealing. Although the one truly inspired aspect is that as Hood becomes exposed to more and more violent murders, courtesy of Bellisle (the "devil" of this tale), Bellisle becomes, to Hood's eyes, more and more handsome. This is a very well conceived corollary: that the more attractive something becomes to a person, the more attractive becomes the purveyor or facilitator of that particular something.

Otherwise, while all the secondary characters are well-drawn and sympathetic and, no doubt, the author intended us to dislike Nicholas Hood, unfortunately he's so dislikable that it makes for difficult reading. This makes Blunt's progress as a writer notable, because Forty Words for Sorrow is one of the best books I've read in a long while. Cold Eye is worth reading for its value in tracking the growth of the writer. And I expect some horror fans might find it very entertaining.