Cut You
Down by Sam Wiebe – The security and investigation firm of Wakeland
& Chen is doing well in Vancouver. Jeff Chen has gained significant
security contracts. Dave Wakeland, with little interest in security, is
restless. Private investigations are his strength and his passion. When local
university instructor, Dana Essex, steps into his office looking to hire an
investigator to find a former student he is ready and willing to take on the
case.
Tabitha Sorenson was a resentful, ready
to rebel daughter, of a B.C. suburban family.
Dave describes meeting her mother in the
middle of the day at home:
Tabitha’s mother looked to be around fifty, a soft featured woman
in full makeup and heels. Her professionally cheerful smile would have been the
envy of any realty office. The smile diminished when I mentioned her daughter.
Tabitha was determined not to be
conventional. Early in university she adopted the political views of the
radical left. Later she was drawn into the position of student events
coordinator on the student council. While a modestly sized university the
council had control of some millions of dollars. With little oversight a
financial scandal was inevitable. While authorities doubt Sorenson personally
took money she has disappeared. Essex has regretted that she did not pursue a
romantic relationship with Sorenson. If Wakeland can find her then Essex will see if
Sorenson is interested.
Wakeland is hooked and sets out to find
Sorenson with the aid of his half sister Kay, formerly River.
They soon determine that while Sorenson
never took any of the missing millions she likely borrowed millions of the
student council funds and used them to generate hundreds of thousands dollars. Sorenson is far more clever than anyone around her had realized.
There are few, if any, legitimate
businesses in which millions of dollars can be invested for a few months and
bring such a substantial return. In B.C. there is a vast illegal trade in
marijuana that is always looking for funds. Can it be that a teenager from the burbs
has successfully manipulated both student council members and drug dealers?
A Wakeland investigation is not a subtle
affair. In the grand tradition of tough guy P.I.’s such as Travis McGee and Spenser he
pokes around and sees what happens.
The Hayes brothers are up and comers in
the B.C. illicit drug world. They have been establishing their reputations and
building their gang.
In downtown Vancouver Anthony Qiu, officially
a restaurant owner, is fronting various shady enterprises for a local crime
lord
Drug dealers and members of organized
crime do not like being poked.
Dave is provocative in his approach and
confrontations are inevitable.
Dave is certainly bright enough and witty
enough for other investigative techniques. He explains his disinterest in the
Nobel Award for Literature:
“Why would you trust a book award given
out by the guy who invented dynamite,” I said, “when none of the books involve
people dynamiting things?”
I do not see it a spoiler to say Dave and
Kay find Tabitha. To say what happened next would be a spoiler. It was a
startling, even brilliant plot shift, that I never saw coming. It is a rare day
I gasp aloud when reading a book.
Dave’s personal and professional
relationship with his ex-lover, Sonia, who is a Vancouver police officer is
complex and compelling.
Sam’s skill as a writer has improved from
book to book:
Well,
hearts break. They break and break. Hers was no
different.
Cut
You Down is superb noir crime fiction and I think it will be a contender for awards in 2019. I know I will be considering it for
my personal Best of Bill Awards at the end of the year.
