Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

After the Horses (Dan Sharp 4)
By Jeffrey Round
Published by Dundurn, 2015
Five stars

Mournful is the word that kept coming to me as I read this excellent, emotionally rich detective story. I’ve loved this entire series, which I’m savoring bit by bit. Dan Sharp is a character whom I admire, but with whom I’m not sure I could be friends. He’s overcome a crap childhood, raised a child he fathered by accident, maintains a great relationship with both his son and his son’s mother: what’s not to admire?

But Dan Sharp is a little sad. He’s forty and alone, and I’m the kind of gay man (old enough to be his father) who finds that sad. So does Dan, and the author keeps that motif running through all the books.

The murder that triggers the entire plot arc is also smartly constructed. Yuri Malevski is a mass of contradictions, and his death is as confusing as it is violent. I have to admire the way the author shows Yuri as both a hero and a rogue; civically generous, mindful of his status as a gay immigrant, while also indulgent of drug use and sexual practices that push the boundaries of acceptable. There are multiple threads related to immigrants and the injustice they face in Canada (really? I thought only we did that in the USA!). It’s an excellent technique to keep the reader emotionally confused. I don’t love being confused in the way I feel about a book and its characters; but I have to admire the writer who can make me feel that way.

What I like most about Dan Sharp is that he doesn’t really understand what a good man he is. It’s my belief that the best people always doubt their goodness, which is what drives them to really be better. Dan’s internal life is rewarding and beautifully drawn. He is not stupid or ruthless, but he’s not a genius or magically intuitive. He’s very believable as a character, and is clearly loved by the people who matter to him most.

I’m looking forward to book 5 in this series. Maybe Dan will be happier in that one.