Very solid, very hardboiled, modern detective story told in classic first-person. The author does a fine job of laying out a couple of compelling mysteries and showing the dogged determination and sometimes inventiveness of a young private eye in solving them. The detective does come across as a little too experienced and world-weary for his stated age and background. But I just visualized him as older. This is one of several rough edges exhibited by this first novel, but none detracted from the story. Very enjoyable, if you like your stories dark and gritty and your detectives morally ambiguous. ( )

READ IN ENGLISH

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

Publication Date: August 18th 2014

Another Canadian suspense novel. This one set in Vancouver. Michael Drayton is a 29-year-old private detective, who still haunted by the case of a missing little girl he was unable to save. When another father comes in telling about his son gone missing together with his car, he takes the case. But it's not going to be easy as neither the police nor the last private detective on the case really cared about it.

It was a decent novel, but nothing special. The story was okay, it still felt a bit too long for what was told in the end. Near the ending the plot became a bit unbelievable and I was not really happy with the ending. I had seen it before. It has a first person POV from Michael but then decides it wants to tell something he's not present at. This is solved by shifting the POV slightly in a confusing way. I had to read twice to know that he wasn't present. The story is made a bit lighter to read by a sub-plot containing a necrophiliac in a funeral home, which Michael has to stop before he strikes again.

Micheal is very young for what he has done already. He's an ex-cop and had already run his private detective agency for a few years. And he's only twenty-nine. I wonder how long he's actually been a cop. He's surrounded in his job by his secretary/assistant Kathleen, a boy with a completely different job who for some reason is always around, and a witness/(possible suspect) from his newest case. Together they form a weird group and there is even *sighs* a hint of a love triangle (they now have escaped into other genres besides YA). ( )

One caveat: I know Sam Wiebe personally. He was my student when I was a TA at SFU in the Fall 2008 term. I haven't seen much of him in the intervening years, and this is the first of his writing I've experienced since marking his assignments six years ago. Reading is part of my job description, and this is not the first time I've read something written by someone I know; I do my best to remove my subjectivity, just as I ask my students to do. Now my review:

This is the debut novel of Vancouver writer Sam Wiebe, and the first in his proposed Vancouver Noir series following the cases of Michael Drayton, former Vancouver Police (VPD) officer and current independent private-eye. Independents was the unanimous winner of the Unhanged Edgar Award in 2012, an award given for the best unpublished mystery novel in Canada. Fortunately for us, Dundurn picked up Wiebe’s book, and we can now settle down to an evening or two of highly entertaining modern noir.

Drayton is a private detective, the self-proclaimed "Last of the Independents." This is likely an homage to The Pretenders 1994 album, which fits right in with Drayton's age and type - 29, and a bit of an outsider. His friends and his work are completely indivisible - they either work for him, or are his work. Drayton's life is complex, and nothing about him is easy. He's sympathetic yet flawed, honest to a fault, hard as nails, yet unable to euthanize his direly ill dog.

Drayton's personality is where the novel absolutely shines. He's a true warrior on the streets, if a reluctant one. Never claiming to be more than he is, his well-developed sense of justice and a clear understanding that the world isn't divided up into Manichean black and white means that he can easily shift between the worlds of official Vancouver and its darker alleyways, speaking the language he needs to be able to deal with cops, bosses, and bagmen. No rose-colored glasses on Drayton's eyes - he sees all the world's shades of gray. And despite his sense of honor and justice, when facing his own heart of darkness, Drayton can - and does - make the difficult decisions that define a person.

I think that terms like "tour-de-force" and "triumph" are bandied about far too easily in reviews, especially by those looking to get their copy on the front of a book or magazine. I've never used those terms myself, but here I think they do apply - Wiebe's debut novel shows a masterful touch, an awareness of the giants whose shoulders he is standing upon, and a great deal of promise for his new Vancouver Noir series. I look forward to reading more of Michael Drayton's investigations in the future. ( )

I read this book as an electronic advance reading copy (e-ARC) provided by Edelweiss, and I have submitted my review to the publisher via that web site.

This book is an excellent noir mystery: hardboiled and cruel, but also comic. A twisted plot and colorful characters create a fascinating but bleak story. ( )

Last of the Independents is written in first person, from the point of view of PI Michael Drayton. His character is an intriguing mix of bad boy and good-hearted hero. The cast of supporting characters is original and well-developed.

The story feels believable. We follow Drayton as he attempts to solve two different cases, one with a darkly humorous edge and the other far more serious and complex. As we delve into the cases, we also see parts of Drayton's personal life. This insight adds layers to the story while, at the same time, bringing us deeper inside.

My problems with the book are relatively minor, and might not be a problem at all for other readers. First, there are several weird POV shifts late in the story. Rather than the first person we'd been in throughout, Wiebe suddenly shifts to a kind of remote first person, in which we're told what is happening when Michael Drayton is absent. It feels like a third person POV, though there is no particular character this shift leans toward. Instead, Drayton occasionally pops in to relay that this is how the story was told to him later. This technique doesn't quite work for me. It comes so late in the story that it feels odd and jarring, more like the author needed to convey certain information to wrap things up but he couldn't find a way to do that in first person.

The other problem I had is that I really, really hated the epilogue. I don't want to give spoilers, so I can't give too much detail as to why I hated it. For one, it's in first person POV of a different character, which feels strange since that person had no POV throughout the story. But, more importantly, I just didn't like how it played out.

Aside from these issues, I thoroughly enjoyed Wiebe's writing style and look forward to spending more time with Michael Drayton.

** I was given an advanced review copy from Dundurn Publishing via NetGallye, in exchange for an honest review. ** ( )