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weaselweader's review
4.0
“Seeing people spilling out of the bars, he realized that the whole city was likely going to shut down for the final game.”
Eddie Dougherty is a constable in the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal. As a man with a French mother and an English father, his life and his thinking sits astride that tall, near impermeable fence dividing what Hugh MacLennan labeled as The Two Solitudes. As a young man whose beliefs are a product of their times, his upbringing and his work environment, it is hardly surprising that he doesn’t really understand the growing gay community in his city. Nor does he hold any respect for the rising tide of peaceniks, protesters, draft dodgers, deserters and conscientious objectors fleeing the militant environment in the USA, weary with its participation in the interminable Vietnam War.
On the eve of the legendary “Summit Series”, the hockey showdown between Canada’s finest and the USSR that would electrify and all but paralyze an entire nation, a gay man is bludgeoned to death for no apparent reason. The same night, a country and western night club filled with patrons is torched and 37 young people meet their maker. Later that week, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is relieved of over $2 million of its most treasured art. Eddie Dougherty finds himself and his aspirations to a career as a detective adrift in a turbulent sea awash with class politics and “fag-bashers”, American Vietnam War politics and organized crime.
If a reader is forced to categorize A Little More Free by genre, the probable choice would be “police procedural”. But, for my money, it was much more a vibrant re-creation of the city of Montreal in the 70s that used a week in the life of a young detective as a canvas on which an exciting historical, sociological and anthropological portrait of French Canada could be created.
And, make no mistake, McFetridge’s detailed and unerringly accurate brush strokes brilliantly brought that canvas to realistic and gritty life – the first whiff of the politics of Quebec separation; free sex unburdened by fears of STDs or AIDS; smoking in hospital waiting rooms and restaurants; 60s and 70s protest rock music; the release of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung; the murder of Israeli athletes held hostage at the 1972 Olympics in Munich; Trudeaumania and the re-election of Nixon before his ultimate resignation after the Watergate scandal; and, of course, Paul Henderson’s never-to-be-forgotten series winning goal in the last 34 seconds of the final game of the series in Moscow.
Those looking for a somewhat more traditional mystery or procedural novel may be disappointed. But if realism is your bag and you’re interested in what French Canada felt like in the latter part of the 20th century, then you’ll likely find A Little More Free as captivating as I did. Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Eddie Dougherty is a constable in the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal. As a man with a French mother and an English father, his life and his thinking sits astride that tall, near impermeable fence dividing what Hugh MacLennan labeled as The Two Solitudes. As a young man whose beliefs are a product of their times, his upbringing and his work environment, it is hardly surprising that he doesn’t really understand the growing gay community in his city. Nor does he hold any respect for the rising tide of peaceniks, protesters, draft dodgers, deserters and conscientious objectors fleeing the militant environment in the USA, weary with its participation in the interminable Vietnam War.
On the eve of the legendary “Summit Series”, the hockey showdown between Canada’s finest and the USSR that would electrify and all but paralyze an entire nation, a gay man is bludgeoned to death for no apparent reason. The same night, a country and western night club filled with patrons is torched and 37 young people meet their maker. Later that week, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is relieved of over $2 million of its most treasured art. Eddie Dougherty finds himself and his aspirations to a career as a detective adrift in a turbulent sea awash with class politics and “fag-bashers”, American Vietnam War politics and organized crime.
If a reader is forced to categorize A Little More Free by genre, the probable choice would be “police procedural”. But, for my money, it was much more a vibrant re-creation of the city of Montreal in the 70s that used a week in the life of a young detective as a canvas on which an exciting historical, sociological and anthropological portrait of French Canada could be created.
And, make no mistake, McFetridge’s detailed and unerringly accurate brush strokes brilliantly brought that canvas to realistic and gritty life – the first whiff of the politics of Quebec separation; free sex unburdened by fears of STDs or AIDS; smoking in hospital waiting rooms and restaurants; 60s and 70s protest rock music; the release of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung; the murder of Israeli athletes held hostage at the 1972 Olympics in Munich; Trudeaumania and the re-election of Nixon before his ultimate resignation after the Watergate scandal; and, of course, Paul Henderson’s never-to-be-forgotten series winning goal in the last 34 seconds of the final game of the series in Moscow.
Those looking for a somewhat more traditional mystery or procedural novel may be disappointed. But if realism is your bag and you’re interested in what French Canada felt like in the latter part of the 20th century, then you’ll likely find A Little More Free as captivating as I did. Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
melwyk's review
4.0
This is a very enjoyable crime novel, well told and with wonderful characters. The setting, Montreal, is a character in and of itself. Lots of description of places and the political climate in 1970's Montreal.
I enjoyed the way the author developed the characters amidst a swirl of politics, protests, urban development issue, and of course hockey. It is a great introduction to a certain time in our past, and it's also a fascinating crime read. The main character is complex and really worth following.
I'm definitely going back to read the first book in this series now!
I enjoyed the way the author developed the characters amidst a swirl of politics, protests, urban development issue, and of course hockey. It is a great introduction to a certain time in our past, and it's also a fascinating crime read. The main character is complex and really worth following.
I'm definitely going back to read the first book in this series now!
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