Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #277608 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-29
• Released on: 2008-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set in remote Algonquin Bay, Ontario, Blunt's compelling fourth crime novel to feature John Cardinal (after Blackfly Season) finds the police detective mourning the death of his wife, an apparent suicide. Then Cardinal starts receiving cold, hate-filled notes gloating over his loss. Stirred and angered into believing that his wife may have been murdered, he sets about looking into who might be refusing to let the dead—or, more particularly, himself—rest easy. Meanwhile, his partner, Lise Delorme, is busy trying to track down the pedophile responsible for a cache of appalling photos featuring a small girl who may live in or near Algonquin Bay. An unexpected yet utterly realistic twist lifts this novel into extremely interesting (and entertaining) territory. Sharp dialogue, complex characters and a satisfying conclusion should help Blunt, who has won Britain's Silver Dagger and Canada's Arthur Ellis Award, win new readers in the U.S. Author tour. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The fourth crime novel featuring Detective John Cardinal may give acclaimed Canadian author Blunt the popular recognition he is due. In this installment, Cardinal, who lives and works in fictional Algonquin Bay, Ontario (a bucolic small town similar to Blunt's native North Bay), grieves the death of his manic-depressive wife. Local authorities label it a suicide, but Cardinal isn't so sure, a fear confirmed when he receives a series of "anti-sympathy" notes in the mail. Detective Cardinal relentlessly pursues the case, though he knows it's much too early to return to the beat. Meanwhile, fellow detective Lise Delorme investigates a child pornographer who posts his wares on the Web. Suspense and a relentless sense of doom pervade this latest offering from Blunt (Blackfly Season, 2005), winner of the British Crime Writers Silver Dagger and Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis awards. Here even the most minor characters are rendered in vivid detail. A fellow Algonquin Bay citizen is "a wisp of a woman, so dehydrated she looked as if she should be dropped in water to expand to her natural size." In Blunt's dark world, even the seemingly well-meaning are eyed with suspicion, for demons lurk in places civilized souls least expect. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"An exceptionally well-written, deftly plotted novel . . . a superior novel of suspense . . . highly recommended. -- Mysterious Reviews, February 28, 2007

"Blunt excels at...shedding light on the chilling inner workings of the criminal mind." -- Globe and Mail

"Giles Blunt poses two major puzzles in [his] most affecting Algonquin Bay novel to date." -- Toronto Star

"Giles Blunt's fourth crime novel is cause for celebration...By the Time You Read This is the best of an excellent quartet." -- Hamilton Spectator

"In Blunt's dark world, even the seemingly well-meaning are eyed with suspicion, for deomn's lurk in places civilized souls least expect." -- Booklist (starred review)

"The book's conclusion, when it comes, is as darkly disturbing as any I've ever read, a blast of pure evil not easily fogotten." -- January Magazine

Customer Reviews

Were we reading the same book!
After seeing all of the other reviews, I started to wonder if we all were talking about the same book? While the idea behind the novel was an excellent one, I'm used to fast paced thrillers--which this definitely was not! It took until the middle of the novel to even get around to what the book was about. And even after that it continued to plod toward the ending. The idea, while unique, was thinly plotted.

I do believe the author has talent. This is displayed in part by the complexity of the main characters, John Cardinal, Detective Delorme, and Dr. Bell. For these he gets 5 stars as they had depth, plausibility, and significance. However, John's wife Catherine was not very likeable and I wasn't certain why the author made her so distant and remote. I found it hard to care about her the way I did the other main characters.

I also found the subplot unconvincing as though it had been thrown in to give Delorme something to do and a way to bring John and her together. However, it was unpersuasive at best. For example, I found the way Blunt brought the child abuser's victim into a relationship with Dr. Bell was only a construct so that he could tie it back to Cardinal's discovery of Dr. Bell's involvement in his wife's "suicide". This was just too convenient. Delorme's investigation didn't seem to be well thought out, and therefore, it lacked credibility. I also did not think Delorme's investigation would have led her to the correct perpetrator given the details in the novel.

I think Blunt has a fine career ahead of him but this book did not rank with the many fine mystery novels I've read this year. I look forward to faster paced thrillers and I will read Blunt again, in the hopes that as he continues to write, his novels will mature with him.

Suicide Season
For fans of Giles Blunt and his north woods detective John Cardinal, the apparent suicide of Cardinal's long suffering wife Catherine comes as no huge surprise. With Catherine having spent much of Blunt's three previous novels in and out of psychiatric wards, the crime scene investigators of Ontario's Algonquin Bay have little reason to suspect foul play in Catherine's fatal dive off a nine-story building. But the distraught Cardinal is not so sure, and embarks on a grief-ridden one-man crusade to get to the bottom of his wife's death.

There is no question that Blunt has talent, and "By the Time You Read This" starts with an intriguing premise set in this poignant backdrop. The author does a good job of capturing the pain of Cardinal and daughter Kelly without getting maudlin, and renders a credible portrait of Cardinal's dealings with his colleagues during this difficult time. Seemingly unconnected subplots involving a child pornography ring and the shotgun suicide of a local college student provide additional depth and deflect some focus from Cardinal's pain, and provide some context to keep detective Lise Delorme in the story. And Blunt adds finds some interesting new dimensions to add to the crime scene forensics. So far so good. But about halfway through the book, the plot starts showing some strain, and has thinned to the point that with nearly 100 pages left to go, the outcome, if unbelievable, is virtually inevitable. In setting up this complex and suspenseful thriller, it feels like Blunt got a few too many threads running in too many directions, and had to rush to reach a neat and tidy climax which instead felt forced, lacking the credibility promised in the opening chapters.

All in all, an average read from Blunt - better than "The Delicate Strom" but not up to the "Silence of the Lambs"-class depravity of "Forty Words for Sorrow", or the tightly wound "Blackfly Season". With the paperback due next month, you may want to wait for it and save a few bucks.

Giles Blunt has got this mystery stuff down, he does.
Giles Blunt, By the Time You Read This (Henry Holt, 2007)

Some years ago, I read Giles Blunt's breakout novel, Forty Words for Sorrow. It was enjoyable, but nothing terribly memorable; in my review, I likened it to the literary equivalent of a Law and Order episode. Well, here we are a few novels later, and it seems that Giles Blunt (who, it should be noted, was in fact a staff writer for Law and Order and other TV cop shows back in the early nineties) has gotten it figured out-- By the Time You Read This is a good'un.

John Cardinal and Lise Delorme return, this time to solve their toughest case-- the death of John's wife, which everyone (including John, sometimes) believes was a suicide. John uses his bereavement time to put together a case that his wife's death was, in fact, murder, while Lise finds herself embroiled with some particularly nasty child porn photos whose origins have been traced back to Algonquin Bay. Old characters return, new characters pop up, and all's right (or as right as it can be, given the situations everyone involved finds themselves in) with the world.

Blunt has done quite a job with this one. It's a bit slow to start, but once it finds its pace, it chugs along quite nicely. The characters are well-drawn and believable, the plot all fits together (if, in some spots, a bit too neatly; one aspect of By the Time You Read This falls into the world of mystery-novel-cliche, but to tell you which aspect would make for a major spoiler), and Blunt has a built-in plot twist that will keep you confused long after you think you've got the whole thing figured out. A good book, this. If you're a mystery fan and have not yet discovered Giles Blunt, perhaps now's the time to do so. *** ½