Review: Whisper Of The Seals, by Roxanne Bouchard

Blurb

Detective Moralès returns in a breathtaking literary thriller set on the icy seas of Quebec’s Magdalen Islands, in the midst of a brutal seal hunt, where nothing is as it seems and absolutely no one can be trusted…

Fisheries officer Simone Lord is transferred to Quebec’s remote Magdalen Islands for the winter, and at the last minute ordered to go aboard a trawler braving a winter storm for the traditional grey seal hunt, while all of the other boats shelter onshore.

Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès is on a cross-country boat trip down the St Lawrence River, accompanied by Nadine Lauzon, a forensic psychologist working on the case of a savagely beaten teenager with Moralès’ old team in Montreal.

When it becomes clear that Simone is in grave danger aboard the trawler, the two cases converge, with startling, terrifying consequences for everyone involved…

My Review

Thanks as ever to the delightful team at Orenda who organised the tour and sent me a paperback of this book. There ain’t many publishers who are willing to put up with my need for physical copies of books, but Orenda always try to get me a review copy if they can. It’s much appreciated.

I reviewed the first Detective Morales book some time ago (March 2018!) but missed out on the second one, so I was really pleased to get on this tour. Having finished it, I wish I’d read the second one…Might have to order myself a copy.

Morales is off on a ski holiday with his colleagues Erik and Nadine; Officer Simone Lord has been sent at the last minute to monitor a seal hunting vessel. These things shouldn’t cross over. Until Nadine lets Morales in on a case she’s working on, a teenager beaten to death, a Hells Angels connection, and a planned drug deal at sea. Can Morales get there in time to save Simone?

Bouchard writes in a poetic fashion, even in translation. I enjoyed the descriptive writing and the poetry of the text.

The dramatic tension of the novel ramps up, as two storylines run alongside each other, informing the reader but keeping vital information from the characters. The writing is tight and there were moments when I thought ‘I can’t go on reading’ but I [pushed through because it was so good.

The descriptions of seal hunting were fascinating, and obviously drawn from the experience of hunters. The criticism of animal rights activists and social media influencers in certain circumstances is pointed. I haven’t really thought about this stuff before. I support quotas to keep fish and wildlife stocks at healthy levels, and I can see why some hunters and fishermen might be frustrated and angry about them.

The descriptions of the landscapes and seascapes are very evocative. I have never been to Canada, so I have a limited idea of what it’s like, but I found myself imagining the seas in ice and a storm. Since I’m aphantasic, I struggle to see pictures in my head, but I do live on the coast so I can imagine a storm, I just add images from nature documentaries.

I really liked the characters, especially Erik. His quirks are interesting and he is funny. Simone is complex and her fears are sympathetically written. I wasn’t sure about her when I started reading the book but I grew fond of her as I read.

The crime-detective element of the novel is amazingly complex and gripping. The tension is perfectly balanced and drives the novel forward. The balance between Morales’ personal difficulties and the case is really well done. His confusion and pain is well written and hard to read at times (it’s the hyper-empathy, I struggle sometimes).

I had a good giggle reading the acknowledgements, there are three real people in the novel. Rejean and Rejeanne are especially amusing.

Highly recommended, poetically written detective novel with an unexpected ending.

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ABOUT ROXANNE BOUCHARD

Over ten years ago, Roxanne Bouchard decided it was time she found her sea legs. So she learned to sail, first on the St Lawrence River, before taking to the open waters off the
Gaspé Peninsula. The local fishermen soon invited her aboard to reel in their lobster nets, and Roxanne saw for herself that the sunrise over Bonaventure never lies. Her fifth novel
(first translated into English) We Were the Salt of the Sea was published in 2018 to resounding critical acclaim, followed by The Coral Bride, which was a number-one bestseller in Canada, shortlisted for the CWA Translation Dagger and won the Crime Writers of Canada’s Crime Book of the Year Award. Whisper of the Seals is the third novel. She lives in Quebec with her partner, an undertaker.