Review: Dark Side of Montreal
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 4, 2013
This is an evocative, gritty, realistic novel bringing to life the seamy underside of Montreal and the crime ring that dominates it. The author skillfully has us become invested in the narrator and his family through believable family scenes, and then we experience the full extent of Big Mel and his Clover gang's horrors staring with the molestation/porn shoot made of young Chuck while drugged. It's a study in comprehensive community corruption, where a gang infiltrates every aspect of a community and keeps it under their thumb, with everything from price controlling, petty crimes and serious exploitation. You'll meet cops trying to break the gang undercover (Liam is an outstanding character) on the one hand and dirty cops on the other, psychopathic killers and families trying to cope with is all. It's a full spectrum, and really brought to life with the constant action and plot plus great dialogue. The dialogue is interesting in the way it mixes in French in a subtle way-- you never forget you are in Montreal. I recommend this if you love crime writing and tense examinations of the darker side of community problems.