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ivanssister's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very easy to get involved with mystery. Definitely enjoyable.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
4.0
The murders are horrifying, but not gratuitous. The detective in charge is sympathetic, but not quirky. The setting is rural Canada, where the murderer travels fram small towns to even smaller towns, working on his murderous master plan. I liked everything about this, and may have found a new favorite series. The only stopping me from a five star rating was the ending. I liked how (relatively) understated and realistic the novel was up to that point, and the climax was just a little too over-the-top.
smemmott's review against another edition
2.0
Ok mystery. The main character was interesting, but I wasn't sufficiently invested in her and her relationships with the secondary characters for the climatic scenes to have much impact. There also really wasn't much of a mystery, since the reader gets the murderer's pov throughout, and the few twists about his motivation weren't that meaningful. I would be curious to try another in the series because the main character and setting have some potential.
weaselweader's review against another edition
3.0
“Why did he kill her the hard way when it looked as if she’d already agreed to the easy way?”
The Calling is a difficult book to characterize. On the surface it’s a psychological thriller built around tracking down one of the more perverse and obtuse serial killers I’ve ever encountered in literature. But, while the killer’s identity remains a mystery to the police in the novel, the readers are allowed to peek behind the curtains and determine the killer’s identity from virtually the opening chapters. That, in effect, changes the entire character of the novel from a suspense thriller into a blend of, well, police procedural, an essay on policing in small rural northern Ontario communities and an extended character sketch of the lead female protagonist.
DI Hazel Micaleff, the erstwhile commanding officer of the OPP detachment in Port Dundas (presumably modeled on an amalgamation of Orillia, Huntsville, Parry Sound and North Bay), is a 60-something, feisty, crotchety, less than happily divorced, problem drinking, uncertain female in a male world whose modest libido is most definitely under-utilized and under-served.
On the plus side, The Calling will provokes the readers to consider a number of interesting issues – homosexuality; the lifelong effects of drug addiction and alcoholism; the difficulties of small-town policing in isolated rural jurisdictions; the pros and cons of euthanasia and assisted suicide; naturopathy; organized religion and religious cults; and, the astounding possibilities of the burgeoning AI science of digital visetics (go ahead and look it up – it was new to me as well!).
On the down side, the story stretches credibility beyond the breaking point by having DI Micaleff reach the impossibly self-interested and wrong-headed decision to withhold information from ALL other municipal police jurisdictions and the RCMP on a murderer who had gruesomely chosen his victims on a spree covering a 16 town road trip across Canada.
Enjoyable without reaching the status of a compelling, page-turner thriller. Provisionally recommended and we’ll see how Ms Micaleff evolves in the follow-up novel, “The Taken”.
Paul Weiss
The Calling is a difficult book to characterize. On the surface it’s a psychological thriller built around tracking down one of the more perverse and obtuse serial killers I’ve ever encountered in literature. But, while the killer’s identity remains a mystery to the police in the novel, the readers are allowed to peek behind the curtains and determine the killer’s identity from virtually the opening chapters. That, in effect, changes the entire character of the novel from a suspense thriller into a blend of, well, police procedural, an essay on policing in small rural northern Ontario communities and an extended character sketch of the lead female protagonist.
DI Hazel Micaleff, the erstwhile commanding officer of the OPP detachment in Port Dundas (presumably modeled on an amalgamation of Orillia, Huntsville, Parry Sound and North Bay), is a 60-something, feisty, crotchety, less than happily divorced, problem drinking, uncertain female in a male world whose modest libido is most definitely under-utilized and under-served.
On the plus side, The Calling will provokes the readers to consider a number of interesting issues – homosexuality; the lifelong effects of drug addiction and alcoholism; the difficulties of small-town policing in isolated rural jurisdictions; the pros and cons of euthanasia and assisted suicide; naturopathy; organized religion and religious cults; and, the astounding possibilities of the burgeoning AI science of digital visetics (go ahead and look it up – it was new to me as well!).
On the down side, the story stretches credibility beyond the breaking point by having DI Micaleff reach the impossibly self-interested and wrong-headed decision to withhold information from ALL other municipal police jurisdictions and the RCMP on a murderer who had gruesomely chosen his victims on a spree covering a 16 town road trip across Canada.
Enjoyable without reaching the status of a compelling, page-turner thriller. Provisionally recommended and we’ll see how Ms Micaleff evolves in the follow-up novel, “The Taken”.
Paul Weiss
ljjohnson8's review against another edition
4.0
So, who is Inger Ash Wolfe? The author blurb says the name is a pseudonym of a "North American literary novelist." Between the Canadian setting and the "North American" specificity, I'm guessing a female Canadian novelist of some reputation ----- Margaret Atwood maybe?
This was an extremely well-written and compelling thriller with a most unusual heroine and a sickeningly mesmerizing villain. I will definitely look for more by Wolfe, whoever she is.
This was an extremely well-written and compelling thriller with a most unusual heroine and a sickeningly mesmerizing villain. I will definitely look for more by Wolfe, whoever she is.
bookcraft's review against another edition
4.0
It's nice to see a police procedural with an older female protagonist, and I like the small-town, rural Ontario setting. This is more a whydunnit than a whodunnit, since we're privy to the antagonist's actions from the start, but it's well done and while I did see some of the plot twists coming, I didn't see all of them. I'll definitely be continuing with the rest of the series.
I can't speak to the technical aspects of the writing, because I listened to the audiobook and my ears are much more forgiving of technical and grammatical errors than my eyes.
I can't speak to the technical aspects of the writing, because I listened to the audiobook and my ears are much more forgiving of technical and grammatical errors than my eyes.
julesfreak's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the unique protagonist. The plot twists kept me guessing. This was a very good thriller.
heather_g's review against another edition
4.0
Rather a creepy book with an excellent & deluded villian and the good gal struggling with her own issues. Nice read.
yorkslass70's review against another edition
4.0
A real page turner that I really struggled to put down, it gave me a few very late nights. Although set in Ontario the story takes you on a ride through the backwoods and remotest corners of all Canada's provinces, this is the tale of a serial killer with a difference and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you enthralled right to the end.
readinggrrl's review against another edition
4.0
I loved that the main character of this book isn't some svelte young beauty who is new to the job and solves the mystery all by herself with hardly a clue. Instead the main character Hazel is a 61 year old woman, recently divorced, and close to retirement who abhors technology. Hazel is also hobbled by a bad back for which she relies on pain killers and whiskey to help, and has an 80 year old mother who is constantly torturing her to lose weight so she can find a new husband. Her department is in a small town in Canada and is constantly being slated for closure. Her superiors don't think much of Hazel and are constantly denying her requests so when she stumbles on the idea there may be a serial killer on the loose its no wonder that she tries to solve it herself with no help from the higher ups.
The death of a local woman is what sparks the investigation and when they find that he is targeting terminally ill people the question becomes is he doing this out of compassion or is he acting on some sick compulsion. Leaving behind bodies that are killed mercifully but then brutally and calculatingly butchered to cover up the crime leads them on a chase from the West Coast of Canada to the East Coast of Canada.
I found this a fun fast read. I couldn't put it down. Some people are down on the police procedures not being accurate, but honestly I don't know Canadian procedure and I was just looking to be entertained I wasn't trying to learn about the Canadian judicial system. Inger Ash Wolfe has a new book out called Taken that is the second in this series, can't wait to read it.
The death of a local woman is what sparks the investigation and when they find that he is targeting terminally ill people the question becomes is he doing this out of compassion or is he acting on some sick compulsion. Leaving behind bodies that are killed mercifully but then brutally and calculatingly butchered to cover up the crime leads them on a chase from the West Coast of Canada to the East Coast of Canada.
I found this a fun fast read. I couldn't put it down. Some people are down on the police procedures not being accurate, but honestly I don't know Canadian procedure and I was just looking to be entertained I wasn't trying to learn about the Canadian judicial system. Inger Ash Wolfe has a new book out called Taken that is the second in this series, can't wait to read it.