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A review by weaselweader
Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg
3.0
OLD CITY HALL bills itself as a legal thriller but ...
... I believe it would be more accurate to describe this as a low key legal procedural or a mystery. A celebrated Canadian radio host, Kevin Brace, confesses to killing his wife in their Toronto apartment. But, once he's done confessing he refuses to say another word - nothing to the investigating detectives and not even a word to his attorney, Nancy Parish.
As an eclectic Canadian reader and a lover of legal thrillers and mysteries, I confess I was looking forward to Robert Rotenberg's debut novel with considerable relish. But I'll have to admit that the quality of the mystery was spotty and I felt that the eventual courtroom drama just wasn't worth the reading.
However, if you're looking for a novel that will definitely give you a fine flavour of the culture, the geography and the feel of Canada's largest city, I have to give OLD CITY HALL two thumbs up on that count. If the truth be told, I have to admit that I only live about 50 kilometres down the highway from where most of Rotenberg's story took place, but I definitely felt transported. Every inch of the road, every street scene and every event in the story right down to the hopeless futility of being an eternally unfulfilled Toronto Maple Leaf hockey fan resonated with absolutely accuracy and completely conveyed me into the life of downtown Toronto.
Two stars for the story line, four stars for the setting and we'll call it an enjoyable three star read that is well worth the time of an out of country reader looking to sample Canada's largest city on the printed page.
Paul Weiss
... I believe it would be more accurate to describe this as a low key legal procedural or a mystery. A celebrated Canadian radio host, Kevin Brace, confesses to killing his wife in their Toronto apartment. But, once he's done confessing he refuses to say another word - nothing to the investigating detectives and not even a word to his attorney, Nancy Parish.
As an eclectic Canadian reader and a lover of legal thrillers and mysteries, I confess I was looking forward to Robert Rotenberg's debut novel with considerable relish. But I'll have to admit that the quality of the mystery was spotty and I felt that the eventual courtroom drama just wasn't worth the reading.
However, if you're looking for a novel that will definitely give you a fine flavour of the culture, the geography and the feel of Canada's largest city, I have to give OLD CITY HALL two thumbs up on that count. If the truth be told, I have to admit that I only live about 50 kilometres down the highway from where most of Rotenberg's story took place, but I definitely felt transported. Every inch of the road, every street scene and every event in the story right down to the hopeless futility of being an eternally unfulfilled Toronto Maple Leaf hockey fan resonated with absolutely accuracy and completely conveyed me into the life of downtown Toronto.
Two stars for the story line, four stars for the setting and we'll call it an enjoyable three star read that is well worth the time of an out of country reader looking to sample Canada's largest city on the printed page.
Paul Weiss