Vantage Point
CBC Books | | Posted: June 20, 2019 8:25 PM | Last Updated: August 13, 2019
Scott Thornley
Two bodies have been found in the master bedroom of a mansion in Dundurn's old-money neighbourhood under the mountain. Howard Terry and his son Matthew have both been shot twice in the chest. Under Matthew's body is a doll with blood red cotton wadding spilling out of its head. Nearby, a female mannequin in a nightshirt lies on its back with two bullet holes in the chest.
On the other side of town, a body is discovered below the Devil's Punch Bowl waterfall. Leaning against an enormous rock is a man in a cotton nightshirt wearing a papier mâché donkey's head. Two rounds in the chest. Something about the way the bodies have been arranged triggers a memory in MacNeice of an image he saw years before... (Published by House of Anansi Press)
From the book
"Do you know why you're here?"
MacNeice smiled and took a deep breath. The sheer curtains covering the open windows behind Dr. Audrey Sumner billowed casully, sending pale grey shadows of the mullions dancing across the fabric. He would have been happy to spend the hour watching them move, ideally with something mellow from Miles for a soundtrack. Though Sumner exuded patience, she was waiting for a response. He wondered if she might wait through the entire session.
MacNeice took another breath. "The last two cases were very hard on my team... hard on me." A blue jay called from the garden, so loud and sharp it might have been inside the room. He looked at her and smiled. It was a good omen, he thought, as he searched the shadows for a flash of wing between the sun and the sheers. "Beyond the physical trauma, I think it's reasonable for Wallace to question what psychological damage might have occurred during my time in Homicide."
From Vantage Point by Scott Thornley ©2019. Published by House of Anansi.