He returns to White Rock near Vancouver. He finds employers are not hiring ex-cons with work experience in construction but no certificates.
At 29, with no prospects, he rejects an offer from Zoe Prentice of Prentice & Associates, wanting information on the League of Nations which is composed of white and South Asian gangsters. They are a “feeder group, street level associates, of the Heaven’s Exiles Motorcycle Club”. The League handles cross-border narcotics trafficking and is engaged in other illegal activities. Ratting on the League will be dangerous work. The League’s motto is “Thrive or Die”.
Staff Sergeant Meghan Quick of the White Rock RCMP detachment is at a house fire on Marine Drive. It is efficiently put out. The fire appears to be a routine situation until the body of a young woman is found in the house.
Quick, divorced from Rhonda, grew up in White Rock and knew the Reed family who owned the house. She is saddened when it is determined that Alexa Reed is the deceased. Her neck was broken before the fire was started.
Reading comments on social media from Alexa that no one cares and no one pays attention to what is happening in White Rock, Quick vows:
“I am now,” ….. “Sorry it took so long.”
Cam, after a confrontation at a warehouse with members of the League, re-considers his refusal of Prentice's offer.
Cam, using his manslaughter qualifications, edges into the League. A gang leader,Tito, likes the reserved Cam who wastes no words.
Quick wants to see him when she realizes that Cam killed Roger Garrick whose wife, Liz, is Alexa’s cousin and that he was released from prison just before the fire.
Following a fundamental principle of investigating, Quick gets surprising information by following up on the finances of Alexa’s parents, Emily and Richie.
How far will Cam go as a gang associate? He is not a violent man at heart.
The Vipers gang with its pair of suburban brothers is clearly inspired by a real life gang and brothers who created havoc in Vancouver.
As with almost all of us there are trials and tribulations that drag down Quick. She has her own means of coping:
Whiskey and pills she thought. This heady connection was believed by superstitious middle-aged divorced lesbian police officers to contain miraculous curative properties. Often paired with cigarettes and reasonably fresh coffee …
Life is harder for Cam. He is ill-suited for the gang lifestyle. With little money, little employment and no family beyond a semi-estranged uncle his prospects are bleak.
There is more violence and more violence.
The plot is a little disjointed with the mysterious Prentice not having a presence for over 200 pages of the book. I thought the book would have worked better without this mysterious subplot.
Wiebe has become a literary craftsman improving his writing from book to book. Ocean Drive moves swiftly and smoothly. The characters are believable. He draws the reader into the somewhat shabby White Rock and its enclaves of wealth. Drugs infest White Rock.
Cam and Meghan are excellent characters. I hope they appear again.
****
Wiebe, Sam - (2015) - Last of the Independents and The Unhanged Arthur Award; (2016) - Invisible Dead and Sam Wiebe on His Sleuths; (2018) - Cut You Down and Sam Wiebe on Dave Wakeland; (2021) - Hell and Gone andA Vulnerable Tough Guy; (2023) - Sunset and Jericho
Wiebe really is a talented writer, Bill. And this one sounds like an action-packed thriller. It's interesting you'd mention the characters, too. Sometimes, in thrillers, characters take a backseat to the action and suspense. But in a well-written novel, they are the focus of the story. I'm glad to hear this one's like that.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. I agree that modern thrillers too often only have characters for the purpose of driving the action.
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