Guns Across the River: A Wakeland Novel

by Sam Wiebe

Sam Wiebe’s gripping sixth Wakeland novel delivers a taut, atmospheric mystery that dives into corruption, crime and family secrets deeply rooted in Vancouver’s underworld.

On a dark night in False Creek, a distraught young woman jumps from the Granville Bridge. PI Dave Wakeland rescues Nicola Havoc from the water. Yet what seems like attempted suicide is even more sinister: Nicola is running away from someone. But who?

Soon Wakeland and his partner Jeff Chen are pulled into a case that leads from Vancouver’s back alleys to the hills of the Fraser Valley. Nicola may hold the key to unlocking a billion-dollar construction scandal and a gun-running ring—if Wakeland can protect her from her own violent family.

304 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 2026

About the author

Sam Wiebe is the author of CUT YOU DOWN, INVISIBLE DEAD, and LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS. He lives in Vancouver.

Reviews

[Matt]

Having binged and enjoyed this Canadian police procedural series last summer, I turned to the latest in the collection by Sam Wiebe. Set on the gritty streets of Vancouver, Dave Wakeland works as a private investigator with his partner, Jeff Chen. Once forced out of the VPD, Wakeland’s PI work is tested when he and Chan hear a body splash into the water. They soon discover it is a teenage girl, which begins a new series of questions. Wakeland is once more pulled into Vancouver's corrupt underbelly, where organised crime and family secrets are firmly rooted.

When a young woman falls into the waters of False Creek, PIs Dave Wakeland and Jeff Chen are there to save her, though this only begins a series of mysteries that plague them. While Wakeland knows nothing about her, he is eyed by the police as being a person of interest in her downfall, but can soon clear his name. However, the girl, Nicola, escapes from the hospital when news that her 'father' is coming to collect her, putting Wakeland in the middle of an investigation. After Nicola agrees to let Wakeland protect her, he finds himself trying to connect the dots and keep Nicola safe, while uncovering things she knows that could send many to prison. Now in imminent and potentially life-threatening danger, Wakeland and Chen will have to use their PI skills to uncover truths many want hidden and try to keep Nicola alive long enough to report things to the authorities. A well-paced sixth novel in this gritty series.

Sam Wiebe ensures readers get their dose of Canadiana within the pages of this book, though it is definitely focused on the criminal underbelly. Wiebe keeps the narrative on point, mixing action and blunt revelations to provide the reader with something they can enjoy. Short chapters pave the way to a story that is soon clipping along. The momentum drives the reader to ask poignant questions along the way and keeps the story edgy.

Characters flavour things well and show a less than pleasant side to Vancouver’s inhabitants. Dave Wakeland never loses his edge, but is put in a more parentified role during parts of this piece, asking the reader to enjoy this other side of him. Supported by tense characters and the equally unpredictable Nicola, things take on new urgency as the story progresses with ease. Returning characters and those who make their first appearance here flavour things well for the attentive reader. This series has kept its grit with those who play various roles in the stories.

Plot points show surprises are plentiful and twists keep the reader forging ahead. The darker side of organised crime emerges in the various twists throughout the piece and leave the reader needing more. Surprises emerge at key moments, fuelling an even more exciting aspect to the story, building to a climactic reveal before the final page turn. I have liked how Sam Wiebe develops this series and he has yet to disappoint. I recommend this series to those who like a little West Coast Canadian crime thriller with a gritty edge.

Kudos, Mr. Wiebe, for another piece that has all the elements of a strong thriller.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Paul Sutter]

What makes the series featuring PI Dave Wakeland so entertaining, is the character of Dave keeps evolving every book out. This is the sixth book of the series, one that has so much going for it because of the characters, and the way they are presented throughout the book. Dave and his partner Jeff Chen are at times like the odd couple, sometimes at odds, but they have the same end game, and that is to make sure that crime does not run rampant in the streets of Vancouver. They will do everything in their power to make sure that is always what happens.
But they definitely have their work cut out from them, when they happen to spot a young girl about to take a dive off a bridge. It is obvious she is doing this voluntarily, and there is no crime apparently involved here. Dave dives into the water to rescue the teen, before death can come to claim her. She obviously did this for a reason, and it is up to Dave and Jeff to get the story behind her suicide attempt.
There is no identification on her, so she is known as Jane Doe at first when she is in the hospital. Police interview Dave, and he becomes a suspect in the case, as if he caused her to go in the river, perhaps because he was about to harm her and then made it look like a rescue. Eventually the identity of the young girl is known, and she goes by Nicola. Then she suddenly disappears from the hospital, as it appears that her father Mark may coming to get her. Further investigations find her and her father’s last name is Havoc, and that her father may be part of a massive illegal guns operation.
Dave and Jeff are not the only ones desperate to locate Mark. A woman posing as police seems first in line, but there are many more who are hunting for Mark. Dave locates Nicola, and uses a fatherly approach to keeping her safe, with the girl actually trusting him, but still wanting to find her father. The race is on for Mark, and Dave finds himself caught in the crossfire in more ways than one as there are more deaths and deception in heavy doses.
There are also some shocking revelations at book’s end when it is all said and done, that will definitely affect Dave Wakeland going forward. Sam Wiebe continues to make Wakeland a character we care about, and each book out we understand and accept his flaws and the decisions that he makes for better or for worse.

[Benoit Lelièvre]

I don't know what bugged me about this book.

Am I burned out on mystery or is Dave Wakeland in dire need of creative reinvention? Because the core principle of mystery series is to create variation on the same terms and Sam Wiebe's Wakeland novels always rely on plausibility and British Columbia culture in order to renew themselves, but this felt a little impersonal? Gun running, a runaway teenager trying to save her deadbeat dad from herself. This feels like it happened a couple times before.

When does a character stops being himself and when does he start being a conduit for things to happen around him? There's a definite market for that, but this is both unarguably competent and the least character driven thing Sam Wiebe has written. I'd love him to slow it down and get atmospheric again, but maybe I'm the one moving away from what he does.

[Pgchuis]

This opens with a teenage girl jumping from the Granville Bridge, witnessed by Dave and Jeff from Dave's float house at Granville Island. They rescue her, and she confides in Dave and asks him to find her shady father. This setting could not be more local to me and I enjoyed that about the story, but found everything else a bit soulless. The author note at the end refers to portraying the distinction between 'the legitimate world of shooting' and the 'absolute insanity of assault rifle kits and ghost guns', but I am not sure this was borne out by the plot. Did Dave used to carry a gun all the time? Is that justified? Is the tragedy at the end not a direct result of his welcoming Nicola to the 'legitimate world of shooting'? Not my favourite of this series.

[Kim]

Loved the Vancouver and Fraser Valley setting. In previous books Wakeland usually ends up in the hospital at some point, so when I got to the last few pages, I breathed a sigh of relief that he had avoided that in this book, and we might have a happy ending. Spoiler alert, not happy.
I think one of the books from this series would be a great Canada Reads book. Terrific Canadian settings with many discussable issues.

[Corbin Saleken]

The colourful characters are all extremely well-drawn, and Sam Wiebe’s crisp, evocative, highly specific writing keeps the narrative moving along at an impressive pace. This latest installment of the Dave Wakeland PI series, which has Wakeland trying to help a girl who jumps off the Granville Street Bridge and he subsequently rescues from False Creek. is maybe the best one yet (I seem to say that every time I read one, make of that what you will).

[Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson]

Guns Across the River by Sam Wiebe

"I'm never quite comfortable around guys like him. Why is that, Dave?"
"You were a teenager once," I said. "Teens know the nice guy figure of authority is the one most likely running a game on them."

[Tim Wong]

These are becoming more and more difficult to read. There is a level of sadism the way that Wakeland is treated by Wiebe. This was a bit more of what I was expecting up to the very end which was a gut punch. Tough.

[Chuk]

This one was as great as the rest. Love the local colour and the changes to the main character's life, also an interesting mystery and at least one possible new character that might be around in later books?

[Cathi]

Another action packed gritty novel that I devoured in two days!

[Liz Rachel Walker]

A gripping read. I cared about the characters and couldn't imagine how everything would go given the various threads of the plot. Wiebe weaves the story well with great realism and suspense.

[Volare]

I enjoy this series and the Lower Mainland of BC setting.

Gut punch ending, enough loose ends for next book.