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Leo Desroches #2
A Killing Winter
Wayne Arthurson drew critical acclaim from the likes of Booklist and Library Journal for Fall from Grace, his genre-bending debut featuring half-Cree, half-French Canadian reporter Leo Desroches. In this sequel, Leo poses as a homeless man for a story but ends up chasing something more sinister when a Native street kid he befriends is murdered. Investigating the brutal culture of a local gang known as Redd Alert, Leo uncovers secrets that jeopardize both his safety and the life he's built since beating his gambling addiction.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published April 10, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
April 16, 2012
I read our interview with Wayne Arthurson after reading his second Leo Desroches novel, A killing Winter, and wasn’t surprised by the revelations that he’d been a journalist and was aboriginal. There’s obviously a lot of personal knowledge firmly embedded in his protagonist.
One of the reasons “write what you know” is a maxim is that it works for many people. And it’s why A Killing Winter works: Arthurson has written about what he knows.
But here’s the surprise: it’s not daily newspapers. And it’s not crime reporting. He has a dicey – an occasionally wonderfully inventive -- hold on those at best.
It’s addiction.
More specifically, it’s addiction as a response to social disconnection, and the anxieties it produces.
A Killing Winter is ostensibly a newspaper action pulp, from the old school. Rough-and-tumble, down-and-out hack Leo Desroches battles his own demons and chases down stories that are risky, because he doesn’t value his own life much. And it’s the demons that make the story.
Arthurson understands the nature of addiction – its use as a substitute for security, particularly the broke trust bonds of group and family security – and so Leo does, too. When he rambles introspectively for two pages about how his life is falling apart, it’s bang on. People connect and care about characters this vulnerable.
Keep in mind this character has been addicted to gambling, nearly killed twice, and robbed banks on the side. (An odd choice: I actually knew a reporter here who’d done exactly that… and was an addict. Unlike Leo, he didn’t get away with it and served four years in Bowden.)
All the while, Arthurson layers on the emotional self-judgment as foils for his character’s ultimately good nature. He also recognizes it in others, such as his recognition that “Video Mike” is just as addicted to his handheld game as Leo is to the gaming tables, the rhythmic patterns that make up card play, the disconnection – small-scale competition, in fact – with respect to those around him.
It’s very realistic –and I get to cite this with some authority as both an addict and a student of neuroscience. There’s an emotional rawness, and the firm convictions of someone who has dealt with the numbing agony of social disconnection.
As someone who worked in daily newspapers for nearly 20 years, I can also say that Arthurson’s daily newspaper impressions are all just a little bit off, like a funhouse mirror image of the real thing. This won’t bother the average reader, but as someone who’s literally been there and done that, it’s rather annoying. No one covers non-fatal car accidents unless there’s a bizarre twist; stories aren’t routinely spiked for space anymore, because newspapers don’t have the staff numbers to spike local copy; an editor who slapped a reporter in the middle of the newsroom would probably be unemployed in about 20 minutes; I could go on.
Some elements are badly out-of-time, remnants of the old days, while others are contemporary, such as the “joy” of blogging and tweeting while trying to get a story done.
Leo waxes eloquent on the value of weeklies and, coupled with one particularly touching story he has from working there, I rather suspect Arthurson is a former weekly writer who didn’t get the daily break, for whatever reason, and has contented himself with the fact that weeklies have real advantages in some respects … which, when they’re good weeklies, is true.
As for the story and writing? I was less impressed. It has really strong moments, and some really weak ones, throughout. Leo is a great character and the story is good… but not great. His editor deserves an ass kicking for not spotting several ponderous and repetitive phrases – something I can’t put on the author, who cranks out 80,000 plus words and deserves a little better support than that. Little things, like characters using each others' names too much: nobody does that in real life. And pacing: there are pages devoted to unveiling this kid’s body and it’s all just way over the top, way too much dialogue, too much delay. It doesn’t build suspense, it just annoys.
There are also moments where the dialogue is a little forced, as if Arthurson forgot the “voice” he was writing in for a few moments. Early on, when his soon-to-be love interest tells him people were worried when they didn’t hear from him for days, we’re supposed to believe Leo is initially surprised by this but a sentence later he confirms he shouldn’t be … which we already know to be true because of how well Arthurson has sketched the character. People don’t react out-of-character, generally. It’s awkward.
It happens again when Leo is first faced with the possibility that his friend, Marvin, isn’t really missing, but just laying low. He goes through an internal monologue diatribe about his need to keep this as the focus of the story that is just off-putting and unrealistic.
And later on, when he’s waiting to be interviewed by police after being involved in an incident, we’re expected to believe he doesn’t interrupt for an entire page of dialogue about whether he might harm an Emergency Medical Technician and just say “Uh, I’m a reporter for the Journal.”
Fortunately, we get more Leo than “Leo and friends,” and when he’s writing as Leo in the first person, Arthurson writes well. It’s passionate and personal and the voice is darkly rich, vividly describing street life and Edmonton’s inner city, without turning it into a Boyle McCauley travelogue of woe.
Arthurson noted in his interview that his Leo books sell well even though he hasn’t has as much critical recognition as other local authors yet. He should be glad: to write something that entertains while still being personal enough to evoke an emotional connection in others is a rare thing. He’ll probably sell a lot of books, of increasing quality, for a lot of years to come.
Will A Killing Winter someday be considered his classic? No. Arthurson has better in him. But it is a good book, and a good read, which is why people vote with their wallets.
(disclaimer; this review also appears on the Canadian entertainment website, gigcity.ca)
One of the reasons “write what you know” is a maxim is that it works for many people. And it’s why A Killing Winter works: Arthurson has written about what he knows.
But here’s the surprise: it’s not daily newspapers. And it’s not crime reporting. He has a dicey – an occasionally wonderfully inventive -- hold on those at best.
It’s addiction.
More specifically, it’s addiction as a response to social disconnection, and the anxieties it produces.
A Killing Winter is ostensibly a newspaper action pulp, from the old school. Rough-and-tumble, down-and-out hack Leo Desroches battles his own demons and chases down stories that are risky, because he doesn’t value his own life much. And it’s the demons that make the story.
Arthurson understands the nature of addiction – its use as a substitute for security, particularly the broke trust bonds of group and family security – and so Leo does, too. When he rambles introspectively for two pages about how his life is falling apart, it’s bang on. People connect and care about characters this vulnerable.
Keep in mind this character has been addicted to gambling, nearly killed twice, and robbed banks on the side. (An odd choice: I actually knew a reporter here who’d done exactly that… and was an addict. Unlike Leo, he didn’t get away with it and served four years in Bowden.)
All the while, Arthurson layers on the emotional self-judgment as foils for his character’s ultimately good nature. He also recognizes it in others, such as his recognition that “Video Mike” is just as addicted to his handheld game as Leo is to the gaming tables, the rhythmic patterns that make up card play, the disconnection – small-scale competition, in fact – with respect to those around him.
It’s very realistic –and I get to cite this with some authority as both an addict and a student of neuroscience. There’s an emotional rawness, and the firm convictions of someone who has dealt with the numbing agony of social disconnection.
As someone who worked in daily newspapers for nearly 20 years, I can also say that Arthurson’s daily newspaper impressions are all just a little bit off, like a funhouse mirror image of the real thing. This won’t bother the average reader, but as someone who’s literally been there and done that, it’s rather annoying. No one covers non-fatal car accidents unless there’s a bizarre twist; stories aren’t routinely spiked for space anymore, because newspapers don’t have the staff numbers to spike local copy; an editor who slapped a reporter in the middle of the newsroom would probably be unemployed in about 20 minutes; I could go on.
Some elements are badly out-of-time, remnants of the old days, while others are contemporary, such as the “joy” of blogging and tweeting while trying to get a story done.
Leo waxes eloquent on the value of weeklies and, coupled with one particularly touching story he has from working there, I rather suspect Arthurson is a former weekly writer who didn’t get the daily break, for whatever reason, and has contented himself with the fact that weeklies have real advantages in some respects … which, when they’re good weeklies, is true.
As for the story and writing? I was less impressed. It has really strong moments, and some really weak ones, throughout. Leo is a great character and the story is good… but not great. His editor deserves an ass kicking for not spotting several ponderous and repetitive phrases – something I can’t put on the author, who cranks out 80,000 plus words and deserves a little better support than that. Little things, like characters using each others' names too much: nobody does that in real life. And pacing: there are pages devoted to unveiling this kid’s body and it’s all just way over the top, way too much dialogue, too much delay. It doesn’t build suspense, it just annoys.
There are also moments where the dialogue is a little forced, as if Arthurson forgot the “voice” he was writing in for a few moments. Early on, when his soon-to-be love interest tells him people were worried when they didn’t hear from him for days, we’re supposed to believe Leo is initially surprised by this but a sentence later he confirms he shouldn’t be … which we already know to be true because of how well Arthurson has sketched the character. People don’t react out-of-character, generally. It’s awkward.
It happens again when Leo is first faced with the possibility that his friend, Marvin, isn’t really missing, but just laying low. He goes through an internal monologue diatribe about his need to keep this as the focus of the story that is just off-putting and unrealistic.
And later on, when he’s waiting to be interviewed by police after being involved in an incident, we’re expected to believe he doesn’t interrupt for an entire page of dialogue about whether he might harm an Emergency Medical Technician and just say “Uh, I’m a reporter for the Journal.”
Fortunately, we get more Leo than “Leo and friends,” and when he’s writing as Leo in the first person, Arthurson writes well. It’s passionate and personal and the voice is darkly rich, vividly describing street life and Edmonton’s inner city, without turning it into a Boyle McCauley travelogue of woe.
Arthurson noted in his interview that his Leo books sell well even though he hasn’t has as much critical recognition as other local authors yet. He should be glad: to write something that entertains while still being personal enough to evoke an emotional connection in others is a rare thing. He’ll probably sell a lot of books, of increasing quality, for a lot of years to come.
Will A Killing Winter someday be considered his classic? No. Arthurson has better in him. But it is a good book, and a good read, which is why people vote with their wallets.
(disclaimer; this review also appears on the Canadian entertainment website, gigcity.ca)
August 26, 2021
PROTAGONIST: Leo Desroches, newspaper reporter
SETTING: Edmonton, Canada
SERIES: #2
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Leo Desroches is a reporter for an Edmonton (Canada) newspaper. He is half Cree and struggles with a bad gambling addiction. At the moment, he is working undercover as a homeless man during a brutal winter. During this time, he developed respect for a young native named Marvin, a street kid whose actions always seem designed to help others. When he disappears, Leo finds that he has been killed, apparently by the members of his native gang, Redd Alert. Surprised by the fact that Marvin was in a gang, Leo wants to develop Marvin's story. As he does, he struggles with some hairy situations involving native elders and racism, as well as an ongoing battle with his own addiction. The book ends in an unusual way.
SETTING: Edmonton, Canada
SERIES: #2
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Leo Desroches is a reporter for an Edmonton (Canada) newspaper. He is half Cree and struggles with a bad gambling addiction. At the moment, he is working undercover as a homeless man during a brutal winter. During this time, he developed respect for a young native named Marvin, a street kid whose actions always seem designed to help others. When he disappears, Leo finds that he has been killed, apparently by the members of his native gang, Redd Alert. Surprised by the fact that Marvin was in a gang, Leo wants to develop Marvin's story. As he does, he struggles with some hairy situations involving native elders and racism, as well as an ongoing battle with his own addiction. The book ends in an unusual way.
December 13, 2014
I enjoyed reading this second installment chronicling the story of a newspaper reporter, gambling addict and bank robber. Since the main character Leo, is also a First Nations member in Canada, he investigates the murder of another First Nations person who was a known gang member. There were interesting details of tribal rights, government influence and the power exercised by tribal council members.
July 8, 2013
This book sat on my shelf for quite a while which was a mistake. It is well written and a good look at the indigenous population of Canada.
March 8, 2021
This book doesn't stand well on its own. You could patch most of it together but you would be missing things - read the first one first.
As with the first mystery , this is a good book for getting a glimpse of Edmonton, Alberta. With it's descriptions of climate and light and neighborhoods I recommend it for any sort of geographical challenge. Unfortunately I continue to be ambivalent about the protagonist, his impulsive/compulsive behavior, and his lack of care for himself and others.
I'm giving the book 3 stars but I am honestly not sure how I feel about it. I enjoyed the beginning and the middle. However it's a genre bender that keeps arcing, and veers even more at the end. I found this frustrating rather than compelling but I'm not sure my frustration is justified. The semi-circular construction echoes fiction I've read by Erdrich, Momaday, and other indigenous authors. I just wasn't expecting it in something labeled as a mystery. There is no tidy ending here.
Content notes for extreme cold weather, homelessness, gambling, addiction, and several scenes of violence (the violence is mostly loaded towards the end of the book).
As with the first mystery , this is a good book for getting a glimpse of Edmonton, Alberta. With it's descriptions of climate and light and neighborhoods I recommend it for any sort of geographical challenge. Unfortunately I continue to be ambivalent about the protagonist, his impulsive/compulsive behavior, and his lack of care for himself and others.
I'm giving the book 3 stars but I am honestly not sure how I feel about it. I enjoyed the beginning and the middle. However it's a genre bender that keeps arcing, and veers even more at the end. I found this frustrating rather than compelling but I'm not sure my frustration is justified. The semi-circular construction echoes fiction I've read by Erdrich, Momaday, and other indigenous authors. I just wasn't expecting it in something labeled as a mystery. There is no tidy ending here.
Content notes for extreme cold weather, homelessness, gambling, addiction, and several scenes of violence (the violence is mostly loaded towards the end of the book).
February 13, 2017
Leo continues to battle his addiction to gambling -- which he resorts to when under particular stress. I was glad to see that his other stress-treatment habit (robbing banks) seems to be in the past -- it just didn't seem to be congruent with his personality. Actually the gambling addiction doesn't seem that true either though it is central to the description of Leo's life trajectory.
In this book -- taking place in the depths of an Edmonton winter -- Leo is researching a story about Native gangs, and particularly trying to find out who killed a young Native teenager who he had befriended.
He takes a couple of steps forward in the relationship to his son, and to Mandy (his editor).
I wasn't exactly sure just what happened at the end of the book, but presumably we'll find out in the next volume.
In this book -- taking place in the depths of an Edmonton winter -- Leo is researching a story about Native gangs, and particularly trying to find out who killed a young Native teenager who he had befriended.
He takes a couple of steps forward in the relationship to his son, and to Mandy (his editor).
I wasn't exactly sure just what happened at the end of the book, but presumably we'll find out in the next volume.
January 7, 2024
I picked this up from B-I-LAW because of the title, because I needed something to read and the title indicated something relevant Rather than just a dectective story this author is writing to give most story to the Bause and advantage taking by the people who are using the IndiansTENDED FOR A DECTECTIVE READ as doormats in the relationship with the oilcompanies on the reservation. He made his point and I was glad to be told again of the exploitation. SHOWS -- READ THE JACKET MORE CLOSELY I'm not sorry but it sure was not what I intended.
January 9, 2018
Definitely an author worth following and I am also currently reading another of his books: The Traitors of Camp 133 which is completely different, but still set in Alberta. I like Arthurson's style and in this book Leo Desroches reminds me of someone I used to know, a talented and intuitive writer who was also tortured with depression and addiction. Wayne Arthurson makes his characters and story feel real and believable.
July 24, 2020
A second great book from Arthurson, about Leo Deroches, a newspaperman in Edmonton, Canada. Leo constantly faces trouble, death, violence, gangs, homelessness, and many other things that line the dark side of the streets and local Indian reservations. He is determined to report on this dark side, while trying to desperately not to slide down into it. Arthurson does a great job creating a character that, through his triumphs and failures, you hope and pray will stay on the right side of luck.
July 21, 2017
I have really been enjoying these first two Leo Desroches books. When he has the urge to gamble and then follows through, I go through, at least indirectly, the agony he experiences with this addiction. He is quite a combination of being a competent journalist and a guy who is expert at using poor judgment. This second book was a cliffhanger, and I am looking forward to the next one.
September 2, 2017
I really enjoyed the first one in the series: Fall from Grace, but didn't enjoy this one as much. As a former Edmontonian, I was really excited to read a book set in a city I know so well, but I found the story kind of meandered around and just wasn't as well plotted as the first book. I'll still pick up another in the series though as I want to know what happens next to Leo!
Read
February 7, 2020Leo Desroches is an intriguing, struggling, determined journalist in Edmonton. He is on assignment among the homeless of his city when he realizes his young friend Marvin is dead. The journey to and from the reserve is not easy, nor is the information learned. The final chapter may be the most bleak of the book, I am ready to read more about it soon.
March 11, 2018
I did not like the main character at all and the story was not compelling enough to make up for that.
May 14, 2019
This moved along at a good pace, although it didn't really come to a resolution at the end, it was fun to follow.
October 15, 2020
Really?!? That ending?! And I can’t find a copy of the third book in the US.
January 26, 2017
Read it pre Good Reads.
May 3, 2012
Journalist Leo Desroches is going undercover as a homeless person during an especially cold Edmonton winter. During this time, he tries to look up someone he knew when he actually was homeless, a young First Nations man by the name of Marvin.
He's unable to find him, and upon learning that the normally reliable guy hasn't shown up to work in a week, he files a missing person report with the police, only to be asked to identify a John Doe in the police morgue who fits Marvin's description. The body is indeed Marvin's, and Leo learns that a tattoo on the back of the boy's hand is a gang marking, and that it's likely Marvin's death was a gang punishment.
Leo is aware of the existence of native gangs, but knows few details. Surprised that Marvin, who was employed and took care of other native teens adrift in the city, was a member of the largest native gang in the country, Leo begins to investigate on his own. He uses his own half-Cree status to wangle a meeting with some members of the Redd Alert, and that is when things begin to go awry.
Unfortunately, Leo hasn't informed anyone at the paper about what he's doing, so he has no backup.
"Going rogue" has consequences, and Leo may lose everything he worked so hard to regain due to his gambling addiction.
It's helpful to read Fall From Grace, the first book in the series, before tackling this one, though not absolutely necessary. Still, if you read A Killing Winter first, you'll find yourself searching for its prequel.
He's unable to find him, and upon learning that the normally reliable guy hasn't shown up to work in a week, he files a missing person report with the police, only to be asked to identify a John Doe in the police morgue who fits Marvin's description. The body is indeed Marvin's, and Leo learns that a tattoo on the back of the boy's hand is a gang marking, and that it's likely Marvin's death was a gang punishment.
Leo is aware of the existence of native gangs, but knows few details. Surprised that Marvin, who was employed and took care of other native teens adrift in the city, was a member of the largest native gang in the country, Leo begins to investigate on his own. He uses his own half-Cree status to wangle a meeting with some members of the Redd Alert, and that is when things begin to go awry.
Unfortunately, Leo hasn't informed anyone at the paper about what he's doing, so he has no backup.
"Going rogue" has consequences, and Leo may lose everything he worked so hard to regain due to his gambling addiction.
It's helpful to read Fall From Grace, the first book in the series, before tackling this one, though not absolutely necessary. Still, if you read A Killing Winter first, you'll find yourself searching for its prequel.
April 23, 2012
The first book in this series is well regarded so I was looking forward to jumping in at book two and then going back to book one. I never find it that difficult to do with mystery series. That said, maybe the narrator Leo is more likeable if you are introduced to him in book one.
A Killing Winter is ok but it's not as literary as The Waterman's Daughter, which I really liked, or as polished as A Trick of Light, which I also very much enjoyed. Mysteries aren't my first choice for reading so I have limited comparison points.
My challenge with this book is that Leo is a tragic hero and the underdog but he's hard to cheer for, in comparison to say Rocky.
Overall I wanted more from this novel. It was a fast read and in some ways it could have used more beef on its bones.
A Killing Winter is ok but it's not as literary as The Waterman's Daughter, which I really liked, or as polished as A Trick of Light, which I also very much enjoyed. Mysteries aren't my first choice for reading so I have limited comparison points.
My challenge with this book is that Leo is a tragic hero and the underdog but he's hard to cheer for, in comparison to say Rocky.
Overall I wanted more from this novel. It was a fast read and in some ways it could have used more beef on its bones.
July 18, 2012
Leo Desroches is a fantastic anti-hero, and Mr. Arthurson does a great job describing the various worlds he inhabits. I definitely want to read more about Leo. My only problem with the book was the solution to the mystery--I figured out whodunnit halfway through, and I was right about the whole scenario. I read a fair number of mysteries, and I never know whodunnit! TL;DR: sub-par "mystery", fantastic, complex protagonist.
November 30, 2013
A character study within a mystery clothed in the rites of newspaper journalism, colored by Central Canada, this effort entertains without dazzling. A good solid workmanlike story, with a disintegrating central character whose determination and dedication wins our interest and support. Worth reading but no rave reviews from this quarter.
January 13, 2014
This is the second book by a new author who lives in Edmonton. His characters are very realistic down to having many flaws yet there is a sense of hope and pride in each person's daily life. The plot is typical of a northern community with many native residents yet there are many unusual twists and turns which leave you pleasantly surprised.
January 11, 2016
Leo Desroches is a former street person who now has a job as a reporter. He also has a gambling problem. When he goes undercover as a homeless person one of his contacts is killed. As he develops the search for the killer and his story he sinks deeper and deeper into the world that could destroy him.
August 7, 2012
It was a decent read. It fizzled out at the end.
September 9, 2012
Well written, crisp, with an exciting new character.
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