Douglas Michael (he insists on the full names to distinguish himself) Sykes, is wounded in the thigh, in a biker bank - an apartment for counting money - with three other people dead is being charged with murder. He says he is the fourth victim. Sykes insists on talking to one man, Emile Cinq-Mars, a retired Montreal police officer recovering from a bullet wound.
Sykes explains why he will not trust a former partner of Cinq-Mars:
“I’ve been found guilty by association in my life when that was dead wrong. I understand it: People had no way to decide so they went by association. You want me to find you worthy by association. Like the judgement of those who put me away, that could be wrong.”
Sykes requests police protection fearing he will be killed in a Montreal hospital.
Frederick “Mittens” Gregoire, another aging career criminal, is clinging to his leadership of a biker gang while serving a life sentence. It was his bank that was hit. He gives a bi-lingual order - Ghost Sykes tout de suite.
Lest “Mittens” be thought of as an unlikely nickname for a mobster, the real life bikers of Quebec have often used unexpected nicknames. A ruthless leader was Maurice “Mom” Boucher. He may have been an inspiration for Farrow. As with “Mittens”, “Mom” had sons and a daughter involved in crime, continued to direct his biker chapter from prison and survived assassination attempts in jail.
Organized crime in Quebec has become more complex as in the rest of North America. Where Armand Gamache in Louise Penny’s Three Pines series takes on the traditional Italian mafia, the Montreal police in Bright Shining as the Sun are dealing with the Hell’s Angels.
The challenge for the killer, “Raccoon”, contracted to ghost Sykes is the police officer outside Sykes room. Because of the direction in the order for swiftness there is little time for preparation.
Raccoon is clever and cold blooded.
The resulting police reaction is brutal. I hope that I am correct that Montreal police of the 21st Century in real life do not beat suspects in interrogation.
For the opening 100 pages Sykes is the lead character. Cinq-Mars barely appears.
He is slowly recovering in hospital from the combined effects of being shot and getting a blood infection. His mind is clear.
The unusual duo of Sykes and Cinq-Mars, both recovering from gunshot wounds in the present, met 40 years ago. Cinq-Mars gave him a break partly because of his age. Another factor was Sykes’ intellect. At 15, this teenager who grew up in a working class Montreal neighbourhood, was reading “Hemingway, Camus, Sartre, Dos Passos”.
At their current meeting Sykes, a greater realist than many criminals, explains his motivation to talk to Cinq-Mars:
We say: I can do five years standing on my head with my head in a bucket. Touch the ceiling with my toes. Entertain myself walking that way, walking on the ceiling. We say those things horsing around, figuring life out ….. But there’s a cutoff. Comes in about eight years. I’ve done the calculations. Nobody in their right mind gets into double digits …. Wherever you leave off from, 10 years later nothing exists …. That’s how the honest wretchedness in life passes you by when you pull steady time.
Sykes is facing far more than ten years.
As I noted above, an eloquent criminal is unusual. Intelligent conversation between police and criminals is equally uncommon in crime fiction. Cinq-Mars and Sykes engage in a battle of the minds. For Cinq-Mars to learn what has happened decades before and in recent days he must determine the motivations behind secrecy and honour.
Intelligent conversation between Cinq-Mars and his wife, Sandy, was less of a surprise. She understands aspects of the psyche of Cinqu-Mars better than himself.
In Sykes, Farrow has created a fascinating villain. He has the intelligence to achieve greatness. Instead, his life was spent in the lower echelons of crime. Cinq-Mars pursues the question with Sykes that was in my mind. Why did he not use his fine mind to lead a productive life? The answer was sad and believable.
Farrow keeps the plot moving quickly. His dialogue is impressive. While written in English Farrow effectively conveys that French is the dominant language of Quebec.
The ending was breathtaking. It is dramatic without relying on a heavy dose of violence. It is credible. It is satisfying as well as brilliant. It blindsided me.
I regret I had not pursued the Cinq-Mars series sooner. I will be reading more of the bright French Canadian detective and his “garguantan” nose.
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