Black Rock (Eddie Dougherty Mystery #1) by John McFetridge

Black Rock (Eddie Dougherty Mystery #1) Reviews

• 
  {U n s o l v e d M y s t e r y}

  I can't get into this book.
  
  I made it to 5%. The writing was kinda all over the place. It made it difficult to follow.
  
  Since I didn't finish this one, I will not be reading book 2.
  
  There will not be a rating.
• 
  Rob Kitchin

  There’s much to like about Black Rock, a historical police procedural set in Montreal in 1970 -- attention to historical detail, the sense of place, the intersecting story lines, and the characterisation. McFetridge bases the story around two real cases -- the ‘vampire killer’, a serial killer operating in the city, and the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), a separatist terrorist movement that left hundreds of bombs across the city before moving on to kidnapping two high profile officials -- placing his central character, rookie cop, Eddie Dougherty, on the periphery of both cases. Dougherty is still trying to work out his place in the city, and on the force, both of which are increasingly dominated by Francophones. He’s a regular cop, competent but not exceptional, but since he knows the family of the fourth 'vampire' victim he becomes determined to try and help solve the murders when the investigation is put on the back burner to concentrate on capturing the key members of the FLQ. His problem is he only has one clue to go on, the sighting of a white car with a black top that was seen near to where the latest victim was discovered. It’s a slim lead and he’s not really sure how to pursue it. By focusing on Dougherty and his stuttering, hesitant investigation and not one of the lead investigators of either the murders or FLQ actions, McFetridge stifles the potential tension somewhat, the story simmering along without ever really boiling over, but that’s actually one of the reasons I liked the tale so much. The story focuses on the everyday, mundane policing in exceptional circumstances; on trying to grind out a result with limited resources and experience. Moreover, McFetridge does a great job of placing the reader in Montreal in 1970. The result, is a slice of social realism that I imagine would translate into a great television series.
• 
  Paul

  3.5*
• 
  Anna Dowdall

  Recommend! I loved this atmospheric story of a young Montreal cop, caught between his English and French roots, against the background of the 1970 October Crisis and a divided city. A well-realized plot that combines the broader events of the time, a case Eddie Dougherty is working on, and elements of his personal life and happenings in his family from the Point. The kind of book you want to get back to when you're in the middle of reading it. A Canadian crime classic, even if John McFetridge doesn't have a mass following (yet.)
• 
  Teresa Mills-Clark

  I suspect that I might score this higher than someone who did not live during this time in Canadian history and because of that might not be able to relate so strongly to how authentically the author was able to capture the time and people and perspectives and cultures.
  
  I will certainly read more by this author.
• 
  Dana King

  John McFetridge has lingered in the gray area of writers for years. Critically acclaimed, a “writer’s writer” of whose work his peers could not get enough. Readers have been slower to the party. Sales of his Toronto series have not kept pace with the praise, leaving McFetridge dangerously close to becoming a cult writer. (As defined by the late Donald Westlake, a cult writer is an author seven readers shy of making a living.)
  
  Sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back in order to take two steps forward. In McFetridge’s case, that step back is forty years, to the era of the Québécois separatist movement of the 1970s. Public places were bombed, public figures were kidnapped—and sometimes killed—and airplanes were hijacked. Montreal’s police force is stretch beyond effectiveness, so when young women start showing up dead there’s little or no response available.
  
  Constable Eddie Dougherty is an Anglophone cop in a city where both are suspect. He knew one of the dead girls and comes in contact with the detective to whom the cases belong, at least when neither of them are running down false leads or putting on shows of police presence for political reasons, which is most of the time. Dougherty sees through the facades and wants to work the real case; stealing time from his assignments as he can to work with the more experienced homicide detective, who is himself torn between wanting to catch the killer and keeping Dougherty out of trouble.
  
  History makes troubled times and their resolution seem inevitable. From the American civil rights movement and Vietnam through the Irish Troubles and South African apartheid; all seem relatively tidy and their results foreordained to those who have only read of them. McFetridge strips historical hindsight away from the reader, placing him on the ground with Dougherty, not understanding what’s happening, unable to guess what comes next, more uncertain than afraid, which may be even worse. The writing style is perfect for putting the reader in the streets with the characters. Their sense of confusion and wonder is made clear, as no overarching view is provided; the reader knows what the characters know, filtered through their eyes.
  
  For fans of McFetridge’s previous books, Black Rock has the voice and ear-catching dialog that make all of them such engrossing reads. Now add a sense of history, a You Are There sense of being involved in things larger than oneself, and you’ll have a good idea of what his newest venture is like to read. Kirkus has said Black Rock may be McFetridge’s breakout book; the same could have been said about more than one previous effort, notably 2008’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Maybe the historical connection will lend a previously unnoticed gravitas to Black Rock that will propel McFetridge to the top ranks. For years he has written books that are not only set in Canada, but are about Canada. It would be no more than fair for the book that places him most squarely into Canadian history to be the one that makes him more than a regional success.
  
• 
  Sam Wiebe

  The cool thing about Black Rock, other than the writing, is how authentic it feels to the era--a lot of historical novels overdo the nostalgia and forget that time periods bleed into each other. So you'll get a guy wearing bell bottoms, listening to the new Bee Gees song, and driving this year's model car. As if everyone alive was defined only by the events and mainstream cultural products of that one year.
  
  With Black Rock, there's a lot of historical detail that could only happen in 1970--the FLQ bombings and kidnappings, for example--but the characters all feel connected to the past, what for them is the recent past. Vietnam isn't just a thing going on; it's defined and contrasted by World War Two, which was only 30 years before (and for Canadians lasted a long, long time). Dougherty's father's reticence is exactly how my dad describes his father--you didn't talk about what happened in the war.
  
  A great read. The best Montreal crime novel since Trevanian's The Main.
• 
  Colleen

  In October 1970 I had just started university, and for the first time in my (sheltered) life I saw armed military and police on the streets of Ottawa. Turbulent times around the world were felt in Canada too. Black Rock has this period as the back drop to a more prosaic murder. The divided city of Montreal is shown up as police go about their work, dealing with political bombings, kidnappings and murder, as well as purely criminal murders. Reminiscent for me, with a lot more understanding of the various forces that make the situation more complex than I could imagine at that time.
• 
  Joanne Hurley

  Although a lot of what happens in this book did happen in real life, this is not really a true crime book. If you lived in Montreal in 1969-1970, then you will recognize much of what occurs in the course of the main character (a half-Anglo Montreal Police Constable) chasing a serial murderer of at-risk women (although, the term serial murder/murderer was not used at the time).
  
  If you remember the Year of Kidnappings/Bombings - the rise of the FLQ, the kidnapping of James Cross and Pierre Laporte, etc. - you will be dropped right into the atmosphere that permeated the city and environs that year.
  
  Much of the action take place in Montreal proper, but some is in Lachine, La Salle, Greenfield Park, St. Lambert and other areas that Montrealers and ex-pats will recognize. The author even mentions two gas explosions in Ville La Salle (one of which I personally lived through - although as a child; I remember, the building was there - and then it was gone).
  
  All in all, John McFetridge does just a good job of situating his novel in Montreal as he did his 'Toronto series'. Which I have yet to read.
  
  I think this book really does deserve the 5-star rating I gave it.
• 
  Claire

  Sharply drawn characters, spare, driven prose, set in tumultuous 1970’s Montreal, a city beset by bombings (over 200 bombs were placed in and around Montreal between 1968 and 1970), Mafia corruption, the rise of the FLQ and the infamous October Crisis. The ‘Vampire Rapist’ (Wayne Boden) is at large and more women begin to go missing. A young constable’s personal connection to one of the missing women draws him to investigate the case on his own time while the city’s police forces deal with the revolution in their midst.
  
  I picked this up because I was intrigued by the historical setting. I lived in Ottawa at the time and remember the craziness of FLQ crisis. What I didn’t remember, the bombings, the terrorism of the day, was vividly rendered in this novel. An excellent detective novel for those interested in learning more about this slice of Canadian history especially as there are so few books remaining in print that cover this subject. I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series.
  
• 
  Ward

  3.8-star police procedural set in 1970’s Montreal, a time of hippies, continuous worker unrest and European-like stream of labor strikes and local Che Guevara-wanna be’s setting off bombs weekly all around island city (wherein the port side mafia is no longer the news). A good portrayal of the post-Expo 67 transformation of bi-lingual Montreal that’s incorporating its surrounding communities and how it’s like to live there. I found the 1st chapter dull and hard to read, but luckily I prevailed into this solid read. The police case and young cop Dougherty’s growth, rubbing elbows with some detectives, and his solving of a murder case was also good.
• 
  Wendy Hearder-moan

  Usually when you read a police procedural, the story is told from the perspective of the detective in charge and you can get the idea that solving this one crime is the main activity. Here we have the point of view of the lowly constable who spends too much time breaking up fights in bars or standing guard for hours at some diplomat’s home and often has to chase down leads on his own time. The background of then”October crisis” in Montreal made for especially interesting reading. 3.5 stars
• 
  David Phillips

  This book has its moments but, the pacing seemed very slow to me.
  There's an interesting blend of real life historical events and the mystery that Dougherty finds himself embroiled in but, I felt that the handling of that became a bit clunky and jarring. IMHO, the resolution, after a fairly long-winded build up, was a bit of an anticlimax too.
• 
  Sally

  I never got involved with any of the characters; they never came alive. I wasn’t interested in the plot except for Eddie’s hunt for the murderer. The accents made it hard to decipher the conversations. 2.5
  
  
• 
  Richard

  An interesting read based on many true events in the history of Montreal and Quebec in the late 60’ early 70’s. But the big kick was that much of the story takes place in places I knew and where I grew up.
  
• 
  Carolyn Walsh

  This is a routine police investigative novel into the serial murder of three women and the disappearance of a fourth. The media has dubbed the case 'The Vampire Killer". The book was interesting to me more because of the historical and time-frame setting than the criminal investigation.
  Occurring in Montreal during the FLQ crisis in Quebec, there are riots, bomb explosions at Sir George Williams University, stock exchange, McGill University and Westmount homes. British Trade Commissioner, James Cross is kidnapped . Politician Pierre Laporte is kidnapped and murdered. The Canadian army is in the streets. Members of the FLQ are demanding flights to Cuba or Algiers. Turmoil in the rest of the world is mentioned: he Viet Nam war, civil rights movement, South African apartheid, rebellion in Ireland, etc.
  Constable Eddie Dougherty wants to solve the murder of women before the killer can strike again, but the Montreal police force must cope with the separatist movement, and so there is little time or help in assisting Dougherty in solving the case of the 'Vampire Killer'.
• 
  Ron S

  Crime fiction based on true events set in 1970 Montreal. While most Canadians will be at least familiar with the FLQ and the kidnappings of James Cross and Pierre Laporte, McFetridge does a great job of painting a wider portrait of the times, which included bombings at the stock exchange and McGill University, the murders of three women, and a city in thrall to corruption with organized crime expanding its grip. Planes are hijacked, political figures assassinated and musicians die as the War Measures Act is invoked. This is a story that would seem far fetched if it hadn't actually happened. My high school English curriculum included Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. As great as that book is, this would be a better read given the way it captures a time of staggering calamity and change in Canadian history.
• 
  Rob Brunet

  John McFetridge uses the backdrop of the FLQ October Crisis in Montreal to tell the story of a beat cop finding his way on the job. The mystery that drives Black Rock is the kind of case that would be front page news any other time, but McFetridge’s Eddie Dougherty is one of few people taking notice. This creates a realistic tension between the young constable’s story and that of a city going through the nightmare of continual bomb scares. Black Rock weaves in plenty of 1970s Montreal. The setting and violent politics are revealed through a combination of raw news and Eddie’s perspective.
  
  One of the things I enjoyed most about the book was the way McFetridge depicts the reality of life carrying on—in particular, life in the city’s shadows—regardless of history being made. That and getting to know a cop you can’t help wanting to read more of.
  
• 
  Kendra

  I'm a sucker for good Canadian crime novels -- and this police procedural hit many of the right notes for me. The book boasts a winning combination of historical fiction and the fresh, emerging police-constable-detective-wannabe. Set during Montreal 1970, with a heavy focus on the FLQ crisis, young police officer Dougherty is torn between bomb threats, political kidnapping, and a compelling serial murder case he just can't stop investigating. Dougherty's fresh-faced naivete was believable in his role of eager cop trying to get ahead in the force. In contrast to more jaded heroes, I enjoyed reading about his exploits tracking the killer. By no means thrilling or fast-paced, this story embraces the minutiae of policework as well as a healthy dose of history thrown in.
• 
  Elisabeth

  A nicely done police-procedural, set in Montreal in 1970. Lots of real events and situations pictured (kidnappings, bombings, FLQ, French-English tensions etc) as a backdrop for a fictional murder story. Introduces a young Anglo/Francophone police constable named Eddie Dougherty. (Clearly lays the basis for a series, following him in his police career - at the end of the book he is advised to take the detective exam.)
  
  I enjoyed it, and the writing was quite fresh and non-formulaic. I liked the characters. I did occasionally find the interjected French phrases too bluntly followed by their translations, though mostly this was not overdone.
• 
  Gary Van Cott

  This book is a bit outside of my normal reading range (set in Canada and in 1970) but I really enjoyed it. I lived in Plattsburgh NY from 1974-1980 which is only 60 miles from Montreal. Plattsburgh is mentioned in the book in a song title. I didn't get to Montreal that often when I was in Plattsburgh (mostly for the 1976 Olympics and a couple of baseball games). I am glad the major troubles were over when I was there.
• 
  Jill Edmondson

  I haven't read a police procedural in ages and ages, so it was a treat to dive into this! I loved the main character Eddie (Dog-er-dee), and Montreal in 1970 is a terrific setting for a crime novel (heavily steeped in reality - McFetridge certainly did his homework.) Great mystery - highly recommended!
• 
  Bridget Coyle

  Interesting story line
  
  Story line was wonderful and flowed well. Personally all the back and forth between French and English (albeit fairly minimal) was a bit distracting and made it less comfortable for me to read. Enough so that I will check out his future books and not read them if they are all written the same way.
• 
  Beth Farrar

  Just finished reading Black Rock by John McFetridge. For anyone having lived through the events of 1969/1970 era, this is a blast from the past. It was great revisiting places I've actually been, a town where I grew up and meeting a very interesting lead character. Highly recommend it!
• 
  Gilda

  Unlike other reviewers on Goodreads, I did not enjoy this book. I found it too long - and too wordy. I did enjoy the references to the various parts of Montreal as I'm a native Montrealer. I found the storyline dragged and it wrapped up too quickly.
• 
  Peter

  Pretty good. Would read another from this author. Story had a deliberate pace. Not flashy, forced, or unbelievable, which would have ruined it.
  
  Newmarket library.