Principles to Live By

by David Adams Richards

The masterful new novel from a Canadian literary legend at the height of his powers.

John Delano is a broken man, seemingly at the end of the end of his legendary but controversial career as a police officer; the end of his sad and difficult marriage; the end of his years-long search for the truth of what happened to his missing son; the end of his fruitless quest for personal redemption; even, perhaps, the end of his life. Only one small thing keeps him his conviction that he has a final case to solve, centred around the disappearance years ago of a young boy placed in foster care in Saint John, New Brunswick. Following the delicate and convoluted thread of that case takes John to unexpected dangerously close to powerful civil servants hoarding damning secrets; to a Canadian humanitarian mission in Rwanda before and during the genocide; to New York and the compromised corridors of the United Nations; and deep into his own haunted past.
     With this new masterwork, David Adams Richards continues to astonish us, weaving familiar themes in fresh new ways. His people are still rooted in his beloved Miramichi region of New Brunswick, but his storytelling--as always, displaying his genius for plot and his extraordinary empathy for his flawed characters--has expanded to encompass the much wider world that his people the politically charged, intricately connected modern universe in all its richness, contradiction, devastation and little points of hope. In the end, what ties John Delano to every other unforgettable character in this compelling work is the shared search for principles to live as each person decides what those principles shall be, their fates inevitably and heartbreakingly intertwine.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Mystery

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 28, 2016

About the author

David Adams Richards (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, screenwriter and poet.

Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.

Richards has received numerous awards including 2 Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and "For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down", the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children.

In 1971, he married the former Peggy MacIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas and Anton Richards, and currently reside in Toronto.

John Thomas was born in 1989 in Saint John, New Brunswick.

The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Award for Fiction.

Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.

Reviews

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Delano is 6 months away from retiring from the RCMP. He is stationed with the Saint John, NB. detachment. (Not the be confused with St. John's, Newfoundland, but that would never happen, would it?). He is a broken man. He has serious health problems, and is accused by some in his own department and by the head child welfare official as having mental issues and in planting evidence. He started in a downward spiral when his stepson vanished from camp while he was away bringing in a man to face justice. He has deep feelings of guilt and sorrow, blaming himself for the loss of the boy. This brought about the end of his marriage.

A dangerous local criminal was released into the community because Delano failed to address him in French during the arrest. During his career he has been on tours to Rwanda and the UN. A kindly man, he has been accused of being anti-woman, racist, and anti-Francophone.

Delano has witnessed corruption, laziness, coverups and unwillingness to act both at home and worldwide by government officials and provincial ministers. He distrusts privileged people. He has an enemy in the head of Child Welfare for New Brunswick. She is from a wealthy family, highly educated and ruthless. She will betray others and lie to enhance her self importance, and coverup inefficiencies in her department.

Delano's problem with Child Welfare began when they tried to make an impoverished woman, Jeannie, abort her baby which was the result of rape. She refused. After the birth of the little boy, child protective services tried to take the boy, as the young woman was labelled with a low IQ as being mentally slow. Delano marries her to enable her to keep the child. Jeannie is one of the damaged children from foster homes who grows into difficult adulthood.

The story begins back in 1999. A young boy is being chased through the dark by the head of the foster home from which he escaped. He plunged over a 92 foot cliff. The head of the foster home has his son-in-law destroy the boy's winter jacket which came off during the chase. The boy's existence is erased due to a coverup by the foster home and careless record keeping of child welfare.

Some fifteen years later, Delano receives an anonymous letter wanting to know what happened to the missing boy. Delano becomes obsessed with finding out, still having guilt and sorrow about his own lost boy. A member of his police department keeps accusing him of being obsessed with missing children, and searching for a child who never existed. The clues Delano finds are nebulous as is the evidence. He makes uncanny guesses as to what happened, and is thought to be planting evidence. That he can put so much together over very little borders on the supernatural.

The book takes us to 1994 and the horror of the genocide in Rwanda, but what could this digression have with the story? We also witness the destruction of the WTC. We enter the lives of the impoverished and some of the criminal elements of Saint John, and also the lives of rich and powerful officials.

There is a great story here. I gave the author's previous two novels my rare 5 star rating. I am rating this one somewhat lower due to its convoluted nature, moving around in time and place more than I preferred. Each of the many characters are vividly drawn and connected somehow to John Delano and touched on his life. It is a powerful book and profoundly sad, but one I intend to read again soon. 4.5 stars

[Biljana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although I'd been excited to read David Adams Richards' latest, I found it depressingly bad. In "Principles to Live By", John Delano is a police officer nearing retirement. Although he is incredibly intelligent, everyone has turned on him and he is no longer relevant. He receives a letter that asks him to search for a missing boy. The plot takes us through New Brunswick and Rwanda in search of both this missing boy and Delano's son, who went missing years before.

Although the plot seemed promising, it just did not work well. Delano seems to be a police officer who uses a paltry amount of evidence and a lot of guess work to come up with scenarios as to what might have happened to the missing boy(s). It seems rather super-human that he can guess exactly what happened every single time.

Also, this book seems to be an opportunity for the author to air his grievances on the following: intellectuals, academics, abortion, education, social work and social services, activists, feminists, and more. Although David Adams Richards can believe whatever he wants, I picked up this book to read a tale and not a thinly veiled set of rants. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this one at all.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Principles to Live By” was faded over the door of 87 Shelf Street. The residents of that house had kept foster children for seventeen years. Today, fog had come in across the bay to make all the houses gloomy. It swept toward the city that noon hour. Car lights shone bleakly, and all the trees reminded one of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Poe.

By far, my favourite perk at my new job is the access to advance reading copies; even if it's only by a couple of weeks, I love being able to read new books before the general public. When I saw that there was a new David Adams Richards – I do not disagree with the statement that he is “perhaps the greatest Canadian writer alive” – I pounced and greedily snatched up Principles to Live By for myself; what a coup! So imagine the pickle in which I now find myself: I've finished a new work by a writer I admire, and having not really liked it all that much, I come to see what others have said and I can find neither a goodreads review nor yet one from a newspaper. I am entirely at the forefront with a negative evaluation and I don't want to be here. I'll stress that I was working from an ARC – so I won't be heavy on quotes – and even that bit I opened with might not be in its final form.

The book begins with a brief scene from 1999 (a happenstance at the above-mentioned foster home) and then shifts to 2011 and an anonymous letter to the police that obliquely refers to those events. The letter is addressed to John Delano – a one time superstar of the RCMP, now marginalised, friendless, and limping towards retirement – and as we nearly immediately learn that Delano's own young son went missing years before, the reader understands why he has a particular interest in child welfare cases. Yet, right from his first reading of the letter, I got the sense that Delano's powers of perception are just too good to be true: based on the thinnest of clues, the cop is able to piece together exactly what the letter writer is trying hard not to come straight out with (putting together a story in his mind that exactly matches what the reader has already witnessed in the first chapter), and as his investigation continues, not only does Delano recover twelve-year-old evidence everywhere he looks, none of these scraps of paper, old clothes, or half-burnt photos that he recovers from closets, sheds, and fire-grates turn out to be not relevant. I appreciate that after thirty-some years on the force Delano would have seen it all and become an astute predictor of human behaviour, but I simply didn't believe in these leaps of logic that always propelled him in exactly the right direction.

Early on, I was also confused by all the extraneous characters, and especially because they are always referred to by their loose or longterm connections to Delano and each other through time and space (who was that again? when?). I was confused that there was a character named Melon Thibodeau and one named Officer Melonson (the first time Melonson was mentioned, I misremembered and thought it was Melon grown up), and isn't it unnecessarily awkward to write scenes like, “Melon said to Melonson...”? That's obviously a conscious choice, but why? Is it a clever way to show that in real life you might meet people with such similar names and it would be authorial cowardice to always shy away from such clunky scenes that might have a basis in truth? By the end, all of these characters are necessary because they are somehow all related to one another (some even, surprisingly, by blood) and the “finger of fate” became wearisome: if Delano hadn't gone to Rwanda and had a driver who told him about his sister who Delano saves thereby ticking off Melissa, then Melissa wouldn't have been out to get Delano and working behind the scenes on Bennie's case so that Bennie was released in time to go for a drive in the woods while Delano is in San Francisco picking up the ecoterrorist son of the man who suggested an Edmonton family go to Rwanda: and just who was that Canadian kid in Rwanda again? But again, Richards is too clever a writer to be making these connections casually, but yet, their purpose is beyond the likes of me.

As for the politics of this book, Richards gives voice to a lot of my own beliefs – ivory tower academia, the hypocrisy of the UN, the futility and falseness of the Occupy Movement, the throwback hippydom at the CBC, the bureaucratic powerplays that undermine the ministries that civil servants are meant to serve, even the beyond-the-borders promotion of Margaret Atwood at the expense of fine Canadian regional writers – but they're so in-your-face as to startle even someone like me with sympathetic views (and I am looking forward to seeing how this book will be received at the CBC, Toronto Star, and other liberal media). Most oddly, Richards namedrops some of his own books in Principles to Live By (not too flatteringly), and again, he's too deliberate to have done this for no good reason.

So here's what I think: As Delano stands strong against those who would accuse him of sexism and racism, as he ignores those who would mock his faith, he's one of the few characters who actually adheres to his own principles to live by, refusing to chase the politically convenient in order to get himself ahead. This book is a contrast between those – bureaucrats, politicians, and academics on the one hand and police officers, foster parents, and activists on the other – who do everything out of self-interest while declaring altruism, and those others – not only the good cops, social workers, firefighters and soldiers, but also the humble bakers, welders, and taxi drivers – who do their work for the work's own sake. As a writer, Richards himself could fall into either camp, but by mocking self-serving institutions like academia and the Order of Canada (each of which Richards is a member of), and even by taking his own earlier work less than seriously (as Melonson says, I've never even heard of that book, or that writer, for that matter), it feels like an eye-wink; a dare to choose where to pigeonhole him.

So, I didn't like Delano's superhuman detective skills, didn't like the way everyone and everything is related (Saint John isn't that small; I lived there as a child in the seventies myself and don't appear in the storyline, har har), I didn't find the politics to be nuanced enough (but perhaps that's an all-too-Canadian complaint), and the characters are too black and white; wholly good or wholly self-serving. I understand that this is the first book in a trilogy (Richards' last trilogy?), and I'm not turned off enough to give a pass on the rest of the series; I will always greedily snatch up a David Adams Richards ARC if I see one; I will continue to buy my favourites of his books for my own collection. And I will be a coward and give Principles to Live By a very wishy-washy three stars.

[Sarah Reicker · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a number of things that keep me coming back to this author. One thing that I have always admired is his ability to describe landscapes that are at once tragic and beautiful, and uniquely maritime. I often find that he writes his characters in similar ways; so many of them appear meek, or outcast, or going against the hostile rumors that can so often ruin people in small towns. And yet, these characters tend to have the biggest hearts, the most honest approach to life. In this particular book, I didn't really feel myself connecting with myself the way I have with characters from his previous works (Sydney Henderson, Jerry, even Owen from Friends of Meager Fortune). The central protagonist, John Delano is a cop who always looks bad and is actually doing good; on the other side of this we have Melissa (something...i already forget) who is always doing something for her own sake, cutting down other people to advance herself, and yet is often celebrated in the town as a powerful woman and a leader.

To me it was apparent in this that John Delano is a clear mouthpiece for DAR. He is very cynical in this book - but as Delano notes, just because something is cynical doesn't mean it isn't true. This book is quite plot driven, and for me the joy in reading DAR has always been more about getting those inside looks into his characters. Like I said, without really connecting to the characters like I normally can, I had a heart time experiencing that sense of tragedy. I guess that's why I love his work, is because he crafts these tragedies, these sad lives like no one else (that I have read, anyway). His books normally teach you something grand about human nature. I didn't get the lesson this time.

There are some recurring motifs in this book that have appeared in the bulk of his other works: Ivory tower academia, how useless the UN and big politicians are, he even talks about how empty the Occupy movement was because it's just a bunch of fake anti-capitalists that really just want to be a part of something, but give up after a week and go back and turn on their cell phones and work their jobs. (My words...). He also talks a lot about "progressive" women who basically say every man is a chauvinist, and push these big ideas to get to a position of power. I can't phrase it like he did but he's basically saying that some women will say they are feminists simply because it makes them seem progressive to do so. Maybe he is saying that like the occupy movement, there's an emptiness to it. But I guess that's what he is talking about in general: all these academics who make false claims and look important but don't actually care. I dunno. I'm butchering this shit. He talks about how appearing progressive depends so much on othering those you would deem as backwards. He even talks about how there are so many acclaimed Canadian authors and yet, despite the immense talent of many authors in the Maritimes, few actually get recognized among the "Atwoods or the Ondaajties." I'm not sure. DAR seemed kind of bitter about a lot of stuff and used Delano to convey that. It was brave, I thought. He pushed some good issues.

There was one thing that I found really weird. JP gives Luda a book and we later find out that it is Night's Below Station Street, one of DAR's other works, though he does not list the author in Principles to Live By. Later people question him and hes like (loosely) "It's the type of book that could only have come from here. Really, it's a part of this world" (may have ruined that too...I'm really tired). I just found it strange that he would do that. I dunno.

Even though this wasn't my favorite read by him, I still enjoyed the classic DAR elements in it.

[Esther Linetsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

David Adams Richards is my favourite author. This book was, in my opinion, one of his worst. I thought it was boring and it dragged. I had no empathy for any of the characters. If this had been any other author, I don't think that I would have finished it. I think this was made even more disappointing because I thought that his previous release, Crimes Against My Brother, was one of his best works. I had high hopes for Principles To Live By. I hope his next book is better.

[Deidre Bjornson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a die hard follower of David Adams Richards. I didn't find this storyline to be as compelling as others (for example Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul - my all time favourite) but it did have many of the elements that I love about his writing. The way that Richards is able to define character by showing those 'who have none' always intrigues me.

[Corinne Wasilewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite David Adams Richards book, but, now I smile every time I think about Trudeau naming DAR to the senate.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel opens with a harrowing scene. It is March 1999 and very cold. A man named Bunny McCrease is chasing a scrawny young boy across a field in Saint John New Brunswick. The boy is running away from his locked room in Bunny McCrease’s foster home. He had left without warning and Bunny’s wife Moms has sent her husband out to bring him back. As the boy tries to escape, Bunny grabs his jacket by the sleeve but the boy pulls away and wriggles free of McCrease’s grasp. It is dark, and the boy continues to run but on unfamiliar terrain, he stumbles over a cliff and drops ninety-two feet below. There is not a sound after his fall. Bunny peers over the cliff looking for the boy, but he cannot see anything. He must have fallen all the way down. Bunny panics. He knows he is in big trouble. Not only is he responsible for the boy’s safety but he could be charged with bullying. And then of course there is the issue of the money. Bunny and Moms will be given one less monthly support payment for the boys in their care. Bunny runs to get help from his stepson Vernon.

The boy had been brought to the home by Police Constable Melanson who found him in the streets without any identification. The boy said his name was Jack and he was looking for his parents. Melanson believed he was a runaway, a boy who was good at making up stories and did not want to go back to wherever he came from. Not knowing what to do with him, Melanson recorded his name as Jack Toggle, took him to Bunny’s foster home and forgot about him. The fact no one was looking for him or had reported him missing combined with careless record keeping meant the young boy had simply been erased from existence.

From this sad opening scene, Richards moves the story forward to November of 2011 and introduces readers to John Delano, a brilliant former RCMP officer who has a reputation for solving crimes when there are few clues available. No longer with the detachment, he still gets calls and works on occasional cases. Delano has received an anonymous note addressed to him at the police station describing the disappearance of a thirteen year old boy nicknamed “The Limey” from a foster home over a decade ago. It is a disappearance that is not recorded in official records but the note is so simple and kind hearted it convinces John that it is not a ruse. Thinking the boy may still be alive, Delano begins to investigate, feeling duty bound to find out what happened. But in the process of searching for long forgotten evidence and imagining theories of what could possibly have happened, he is blocked at every turn. No one is interested in finding out what happened to a boy that was never reported lost by his foster home, whose disappearance was never followed up by social workers and who may not even exist.

John’s own son disappeared nine years ago and despite his efforts he never found out what happened to him. It drove him to despair and broke up his marriage. Delano shouldered the death of his son, blaming himself for not being home at the time. This is not the first time he has not been able to find a young boy. As part of the U.N. contingent sent to Rawanda to rescue Canadians fleeing the genocide, he failed to find a young Canadian boy whose parents were volunteers there. Fueled by that experience and the loss of his son, Delano sank into a life of self pity, drink and self blame, a period which lasted five years and nearly ended his career until he finally pulled himself out of it.

Many at the police station believe Delano has been pushed into finding the lost boy mentioned in the letter because of the guilt he feels over never finding out what happened to his son. Some also believe that past experience has shown Delano to be both a bigot and a chauvinist. And others, secretly jealous of his reputation, are suspicious that he may be fabricating evidence. None are motivated to help him find out what really happened and block his efforts to search for the truth. His biggest foe is Melissa Sapp, provincial coordinator for Child Protection Services of New Brunswick, who is intelligent and beautiful but selfish and untrustworthy, a woman interested only in reaching the next stepping stone on her career path. John Delano and Melissa Sapp have been at odds with each other for years, ever since Sapp insisted a young woman under her care have an abortion. John had encouraged the woman to have the baby and later married her, adopting the child as his own. Since that time Melissa Sapp has harboured a grudge against Delano which over the years has evolved into deep resentment. She believes he has crossed her and so has tried to impede his career whenever the chance presented itself.

John is a lonely tormented man with few friends, a bad heart, and a failed marriage. A man, now at the end of his career, he is still affected by a life of traumatic experiences including the genocide he witnessed in Rawanda. There he saw how inept U.N. functionaries whose failure to act led to the slaughter of hundreds of men, woman and children. He is a deeply flawed man but one who easily elicits the reader’s sympathy for his difficult personal life and his crusade to uncover the truth.

Richards spells out a complicated plot with Delano confronting corrupt civil servants, jealous colleagues in the RCMP, self-serving U.N. attaches and an assortment of city based criminals as the scene moves between different settings and time frames. Richards provides a rich background of several fascinating and distinctive characters whose lives serve as the context for unraveling the mystery of exactly what happened to the two young boys. Delano appears to be connected to all these characters, a fact which seems conveniently coincidental. Granted Saint John is not a large town, but even so, all these connections seem quite improbable.

Apart from John Delano, the narrative includes two other strong compelling characters. Melissa Sapp represents all that is both good and evil in a well paid civil servant bent on a successful career. She is a political animal, a woman without friends but a rolodex full of contacts. She avoids those who could compromise her and harbours revenge for those who cross her. The other outstanding character is the sinister Velma Cheval, the wife of petty criminal Bennie Cheval who is smarter than her husband or the average petty criminal found on the streets of Saint John. She is a portrait of evil, a ruthless, shrewd and canny woman who knows how to prey on those who are most vulnerable and keeps many secrets.

Delano’s investigative techniques are intriguing and complex. He has few facts but is constantly reasoning, imagining possible scenarios of what could have happened in the past. His mind is full of ideas but it is not always easy to follow how he moves from one supposition to the next with few facts as a viable bridge to the next great leap in his logic. As a reader I found it puzzling to understand how he connects one particular piece of information to another. It is his innate sense of what evidence is important and how it all connects that baffles his colleagues. He finds ways to link a frayed piece of paper, a marble, and a children’s book, things others feel are not worthy of their consideration. It is why he is considered a brilliant detective.

Richards’ work usually focuses on the lives and experiences of the poor working classes living in the Miramichi area of New Brunswick. He often explores spiritual and philosophical themes influenced by his strong Catholic faith and creates strong characters who wield power against those who are helpless. In this novel, which is the first in an expected trilogy, the scene is moved to Saint John, a blue color town dependent on the mills, which like the Miramichi has suffered several economic downturns. But whatever the locale, Richards’ stories are always peopled with individuals from opposite ends of the social classes. His writing portrays a deep distrust of those who are privileged -- the well educated, well paid, and politically correct, but always sympathetic to the poor, uneducated and unfairly maligned. He knows how the systems designed to protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged in society often fail and his stories often reveal how and why this happens. He is clearly more sympathetic to those few in society care about -- children growing up in dysfunctional and uncaring families, the homeless with chronic disabilities and mental health issues and those simply beaten down by a life that has given them few if any opportunities to make a life for themselves.

His writing openly criticizes the inefficient but expensive bureaucracies designed to protect the disadvantaged, clearly pointing out the moral failings of those who work there and are entrusted with the lives of others. He despises the innate arrogance of well paid civil servants who pronounce decisions from their softly padded chairs in their well furnished offices, believing they know what is best for those under their jurisdiction, oblivious to the enormous impact their edicts may have on the lives of the very people they have been entrusted to protect.

I have read many of David Adams Richards’ books and admire his writing. His novels are often bleak, lonely and dark, but they always have a strong impact on the reader forcing them to think long and hard about the people and the lives he creates in his fiction.

[Lori Bamber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got half way through this book and gave up. I generally enjoy Richards brooding, Atlantic Canada way with mystery and social injustice, and I loved the first pages of this book.

But he lost me as John Delano was very quickly the victim of shallower colleagues, incompetent and neglectful social workers, feminists who didn't understand him, rich elites who adopt social justice causes to entertain themselves ... and the UN. When we followed him through rapid-fire global UN assignments to Rwanda, where he fails by following direction, I packed it in.

It isn't that I have an issue with the failures of police forces, social services, the misunderstanding of feminists, the vagaries of the wealthy, the flaws of the UN and the horrors of Rwanda and the way the world failed there. It is simply that it felt like the editor of this book also just gave up at some point and let Richards ramble.

It's really too bad. I think there is probably a good book in here somewhere.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t even know what to say about this one. It’s just an absolute mess. The dialogue is laughably unrealistic. One character’s name is spelled wrong repeatedly, and in different ways. There’s a character named Melon, and another named Melonson (huh?). An idea presented in one paragraph is then contradicted two paragraphs later. Richards actually includes a copy of one of his own novels as a piece of evidence in the case! It’s completely bonkers.

It seems like everything was just thrown together without much care, but because the author is so highly respected, no one bothered to tell him, “Man, you have made some incredibly questionable decisions here.” And the best part? He thanks only three people in the acknowledgments, the first of whom is his editor!

I gave it two stars because I do think there’s a good story in there somewhere, but it’s almost entirely lost in the telling. Truly unfortunate from a great writer like Richards.

[Justine Teplycky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the last kind of review I wanted to give to an author who is gifted at weaving a complicated, twisted, and meaningful story. But… I think Richards missed the mark on this one, and it hurts me to say that.

The story outline itself is beautiful, devastating, and thrilling.

It’s the main character that loses me. John Delano is an experienced detective, and yet he sees what could be a clue and comes up with a theory that a reasonable person would say is a far stretch. His inner monologue pulls me away from the story.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, there’s another David Adams Richards book you need to read if you haven’t yet. Crimes Against My Brother. Read it.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story taking place in an area of Canada that I grew up in. A page-turner about an about-to-retire RCMP officer, and his search for a missing boy who no one was aware was missing until this officer intercepted a letter and decided to investigate. Found it a bit difficult to connect all the threads at the beginning, a bit convoluted, otherwise would have been a 5. Probably a book that I will re-read, as still thinking about the story and appreciating all the off-shoots of this story, which all become connected.

[Rebecca House · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great start and premise. Intriguing back story but honestly by the end I felt confused as to what was going on where and there was way too much tell than story. I felt a distinctive shift from a personal telling of the story to a bird’s eye view or rather a cold account and general ranting of the events just to get to the end. I had no connection to any of the characters. First time I have read this author, may not read again.

[Dd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had soooooo much potential - such a shame.....

[Jodi Lofchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disjointed!!

[Dan Jakel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second David Adams Richards book in a row. I felt the need to remind myself that certain people's lives, like some in New Brunswick’s Mirimachi for example, are far worse off than mine over this hellish Christmas period. Reviewers generally disliked it, compared to his others; overreaching with the connectivity of circumstances and unrealistic leaps (á la Sherlock Holmes) of logic with deductions that always turn out true. I noticed this myself. However, the book jumps back and forth in time, and as I advanced I wondered if the author had provided the circumstances that allowed the main character, ageing and retiring RCMP officer John Delano, to do so. I will have to read it again to decide.
I read it quickly because I was so absorbed in his characters developing circumstances, that the building number of clues pertaining to the underlying investigation became secondary. I have the same problem reading John LeCarre, I enjoy the complexity and humanity of his characters so much I pay less attention to the plot's advancement, and end up reading his books over and over. (And enjoying them just as much!) I’ll have to reread Principles to Live By again for this same reason.
In any case, the reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did, is the characterization, in particular the many unlikely heroes that emerge. Firstly Melon Thibodeau—undersized, tattooed, ex-con on probation, afraid of his shadow, a firebug, and so forth—commits a heroic act. He writes an anonymous letter to John Delano, at great jeopardy to himself, of a boy gone missing years ago, at the foster home. His heroism unveils itself slowly; he looks after and sticks up for his abused younger sister, he survives the abuse of a foster home, and finally honours Delano by rising above, and fulfilling his promise to become a welder.
There is Jeannie, of low IQ and self-esteem, who is cruelly teased through her school years. One evening, while drinking, she is raped by multiple men, and becomes pregnant, not knowing who the father is. But she endures, and defies the will of bureaucracy and overbearing social workers while insisting on keeping the baby. The baby is seized, however, Jeannie eventually gets the boy back, with Delano’s help, proving to be a nurturing, competent mother.
There is Luda, the abused wife of spiteful, murderous Bennie Cheval. Luda summons her courage, to rebel against evil, aka Bennie and his scheming sister, protect Jeannie against their attempts to defraud her of a settlement payout, and tell her exactly what happened to her son.
There is Jack, a fireman in New York City. While eating out with his wife, he overhears snobbish Canadian UN diplomats disparaging the USA. He confronts them, committing the unfashionable act of defending his country. This the day before 9/11.
And of course there is John Delano, who has suffered a heart attack while trying to save Luda and subsequently fails, who has seen horrible depravity in Rwanda while trying to extricate a Canadian family of missionaries, who has lost his own son years ago, who sees and speaks with the ghosts of those he has failed, and who is now viewed with contempt by his colleagues during his final days with the RCMP. Despite their ridicule, derision and admonishments, he determines to track down the boy mentioned in the anonymous letter.
Unlikely heroes are seemingly a trademark of Mr. DAR, such as the four year old Percy, in Mercy Amongst the Children, but that’s a review for another day. ‘Pawnmesoultagawd!’ There you have it, for getting me through a stressful Christmas he gets five, read five, stars L’s and G’s. Out.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARGH! NO! JUST NO!

I have tried, I have really tried. I even took this book on my commute with no other books so I would be forced to read it but NO; staring at the walls of the train route was more interesting than this book. I made to about 1/3 in but I will waste no more time or energy or life on this monumentally boring book with these horrifically horrific characters.

New Brunswick has always been one of my favourite provinces (never lived there but several visits). But, this terrible book makes me want to never visit anywhere in the Maritimes again (I still will; the Maritimes are beautiful, but I will have to get past this book first).

UGH! ARGH! NO!
Not even to complete a reading challenge (which this book would) will I read another page, another paragraph, another word of this mind-numbingly terrible book. I will also be removing all other books by this author from my TBR list and avoid picking up any more of his writing again.

ARGH!

I would love to give full details about why I hate this book so much but i) I have wasted enough of my life on it already and ii) it is published by one of the big five publishing houses (see note below).


Note: I used to give full reviews for all of the books that I rated on GR. However, GR's new giveaway policies (Good Reads 2017 November Giveaways Policies Changes) have caused me to change my reviewing decisions. These new GR policies seem to harm smaller publishing efforts in favour of providing advantage to the larger companies (GR Authors' Feedback), the big five publishers (Big Five Publishers). So, because of these policies from now on I will be supporting smaller publishing effort by only giving full reviews to books published by: companies outside the big five companies, indie publishers, and self-published authors. This book was published by one of the big five companies so will not receive a more detailed review by me.

[Doreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The protagonist, John Delano, is an RCMP officer nearing retirement in Saint John, New Brunswick. He receives a letter which suggests that a 13-year-old boy went missing from a foster home twelve years earlier. Delano feels he must investigate but there seems no record of such a boy since he was never reported missing and even his name is unknown. His very existence is questionable, though the novel’s opening flashback shows that he did indeed exist and explains what happened. Delano is thwarted every way he turns, a colleague even suggesting Delano is planting evidence. Regardless he persists.

Delano is a broken man. His health is failing, his career has stalled, his marriage has failed, and he is tormented by the unsolved disappearance of his stepson and by the horrors he witnessed during the Rwandan genocide. Delano arouses sympathy in the reader. He has suffered a great deal. He feels responsible for his stepson’s disappearance since he wasn’t at home because of work; the boy’s last words to Delano were, “’Dad, you forgot to say goodbye’” (178). When his psychiatrist asks if he has ever considered suicide, Delano replies, “’Oh – not so often. Four, maybe five times a day’” (171). When asked if he has friends, he says, “’Not that you’d notice’” (201). His professional reputation has suffered; his actions and comments have been incorrectly interpreted to label him a racist and sexist.

He also arouses admiration. Delano is a brilliant man with uncompromising ethics. He has a personal code of honour. Believing that evil exists in the world (69), Delano feels that he must root out evil wherever he suspects it lies. If his pursuit of evil means that he must suffer, so be it: “If Saint Catherine’s heart could be pierced by the cross of Christ, why shouldn’t his be” (178)? Delano is very much David in a David versus Goliath struggle between good and evil. He and his goodness are at odds with a society in which political correctness and appearances take precedence, in a world in which “common decency” (117) is exceptional. His decisions and actions often complicate the struggle; his unwillingness to deviate from his principles means his enemies can portray him as an inflexible troublemaker.

There is one major problem with how Delano works on the case. At the beginning, he mentions that though he is no longer an active officer, he does get called in to work on cases: “He was better than good at them. Why this was he wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone. He had in fact been around the globe doing work. He had been an officer for many years” (11). His reputation proves to be deserved, but his powers of observation seem almost superhuman. Everywhere he searches he finds objects that are clues to a decades-old disappearance. Every object he finds turns out to be relevant to the case. From the flimsiest of clues, he builds a narrative that always proves to be correct. Some of his leaps of logic are astounding. Often he seems to rely only on supposition. It is understandable, therefore, why he is often regarded with suspicion; evidence does appear by chance and he always makes astute analyses and uncanny predictions. At the end, one colleague is astounded and asks, “’I know he is good, but is he that good?’” while another replies, “’Except . . . he is that good. He always has been that good’” (255).

In terms of characterization, another issue is the portrayal of the villains. Melissa Sapp, for example, seems to be the embodiment of evil. A career politician, she seeks revenge against Delano because he openly opposed her decisions many years earlier. She portrays herself as an altruist but she is a hypocrite because she does only things that will aid her ambition and bring her more power. She is beautiful and intelligent and uses those traits to be unscrupulously manipulative. The author takes pains to state that Sapp “did have one entirely admirable trait. . . Although not in her marriage, she did have loyalty in most other things that concerned [her husband]” (266). The author, however, “doth protest too much, methinks.” Velma Cheval is another villain who, likewise, seems to have no redeeming qualities.

The tone of the novel is sometimes troubling; the author’s anger almost overpowers the narrative. He lashes out at academics, social workers, feminists, political bureaucrats, and even writers. For example, Canada’s special envoy to the UN is described: “This special envoy had the pallid, studied look of a world-weary intellectual and a practised, face-saving inscrutability when he spoke of delicate matters – matters when to actually be concise and forthright was critical. That is, like so many diplomats, the more vital the need the more tenuous the response” (75 – 76). Then there are comments like, “[John] had seen as many self-serving and wounded feminists as chauvinists. A few of them had murdered. But more of them had done something even worse, in John Delano’s mind unforgivable: Like some of the writers he had got to know from Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, they had pandered” (60). Professors do not fare well: “the security professors had, the safety they enjoyed, the coddling they experienced, . . . and the monies they received seemed disproportional to anything they had achieved. If there was an ideal idle class, a class that pretended to have great experience, even great suffering, without experiencing the pain, professors certainly came close” (160).

Another weakness in the book is the interconnectedness of characters. Saint John is not a huge metropolis, but it is not a small town either. It is unlikely that everyone will have a direct connection to Delano. When the relationship between Delano and a petty criminal is revealed at the end of the novel, it explains a lot, but then everyone seems related to everyone else. “By some trick of fate” (77), a political mandarin is the father of a man Delano once arrested. That son influenced the decisions of the parents of the missing boy and is a friend of Melissa Sapp. So many tricks of fate seem excessive. Certainly, Melissa Sapp’s involvement in so many aspects of Delano’s life over so many years stretches credulity.

My review of this book seems negative, and I feel there are definite problems. Nonetheless, I would recommend it. David Adams Richards has been a favourite novelist of mine for many years; in my blog, I’ve mentioned that his Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul is a book that should be read by all Canadians. Though this book is not his strongest, I still found it enjoyable. A damaged detective solving a case suggests a police procedural, but this is anything but a conventional mystery. It seems that David Adams Richards always surprises and offers something out of the ordinary.

Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of years back, I read David Adams Richards “Mercy Among the Children” and “Friends of Meager Fortune” and recall finding them excellent novels. So I decided it was time to circle back and read more from this prolific Canadian author.

“Principles to Live By” is one of Richards’ more recent works and not what I was expecting. Perhaps I was expecting too much. While it is not what I consider a first class novel, it has its merits.

“Principles to Live By” tells the story of New Brunswick RCMP officer John Delano who earlier in his life was considered a brilliant officer with a particular talent for missing person cases. But time spent in Rwanda as a Canadian representative in the humanitarian mission, before and during the genocide, and the disappearance of his step-son, left him traumatized and broken with a corresponding effect on his career.

Nearing retirement and with little left to live for, he takes on the case of a young boy who went missing from a foster home many years ago. The case turns out to be linked to his life history, resurrects experiences he would rather not relive and puts him at odds with powerful people who already dislike him. But he becomes obsessed with the case and determined to solve it regardless of the toll it takes on him.

The phrase “that is” is used repeatedly throughout the work conveying the message that life is messy and complicated and requires continual clarification, re-examination and interpretation. The repetition of this phrase also comes to symbolize John’s obsession to solve the case.

In summary, “Principles to Live By” is not really my type of novel. But it does weave a complex and multifaceted story that is engaging in its own way.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love David Adams Richards. Everytime I read one of his books I kind of feel like I should be hunkered down by a fire, with a warm blanket and a smooth glass of scotch...and well into the wee hours. When I pick up one of his books, I almost never feel like I'm reading a book but feel more like I am being reminded of something that actually happened and am being reminded in detail by someone who was actually there. Moreover, someone who cared.

It's pretty masterful actually. His writing is gentle and subtle and it packs a mean wallop. There were most definitely passages that moved me, physically and emotionally. I appreciate, admire and envy a writer who can do that so, and seemingly, easily. I have never been to the Maritimes, generally, or the Miramichi region specifically, but I kind of feel like I know it after living in his books for a while.

I love his writing, and have had the privilege of hearing him read from his work in person. I just picked up another of his work, crimes against my brother, and greatly look forward to reading it.

Not sure which of his works I would recommend first - but you can't go wrong with any of them.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was generally entertaining and I found myself turning pages easily. I had just read Mercy Among the Children and wanted to explore some more of Richards' work, so I borrowed this from a friend.

The things I like about this book tend to also cause its problems. Richards brings (through John Delano) a clear and often-unheard criticism of institutions and the seemingly well-meaning progressive-minded thinkers and activists. But his critique comes across as a straw man when he places his protagonist in the corner against malevolent and dishonest enemies. It sometimes seems like he doesn't take the arguments of others to heart, and this weakens his position in my view.

I also wasn't sure how to react to Delano's sleuthing abilities. The way he puts the past together, often with details that seem beyond human reasoning, doesn't always seem believable. I don't recall him ever following a red herring or getting details wrong. Is he really lucky, or is he just that good?

In the end, I don't think it's at the same level of Mercy, but it was a nice bit of more leisurely reading that sometimes made me think. It's enough to make me want to read more of Richards' works.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It contains Mr. Richards' usual exquisite prose, bringing artistic life once again to New Brunswick, which continues in his universe to be the most unhappy & soul destroying part of Canada. However, on this occasion, his labyrinthian missing child plot, stretching from New Brunswick to New York to Rwanda, stretched my grey matter into quite the pretzel. By the time the big revelations arrived, I was struggling to follow what was happening (or what had happened) to a number of the protagonists. David Adams Richards' stories work best when he's examining characters at the most intimate & microscopic level...and in those moments, this is where the novel truly shines.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Adams Richards has the innate ability to open the door, to invite you to look inside to a world that no doubt exists. He can tear down and rebuild our expectations in humanity. In particular in this book as Canadians on an international scale. The injustices resulting from the tragic events of genocide in Rwanda are still not accounted for.
How dare we be so innocent and pious? There are principle to live by.
In reading this novel we share the world through the views of believable characters reacting to societies challenges.
You can't help but wonder who are the under appreciated John Delano's of the world?

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my uni English class and was surprised by how much I liked it. I'm not the biggest fan of books with lots of historical references as I'm not much of a history buff but the novel was so much more than that. It's a beautiful story of a still grieving cop searching for a lost boy. Such a simple premise with amazing twists and turns that weave together so beautifully. I also had the honour of meeting the author and having the first chapter read by him. He's an amazing author and I can't way to read his other works.

[DebPei · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fact that it took me a month to slog through this book tells you everything you need to know. I didn’t realize it was the third book in a trilogy and it may be a better read if you’ve read the first two books. I wasn’t invested in any of the characters and it was unclear to me why the one-dimensional good cop was considered a bad cop by many. The story was long and convoluted. Some of the writing was great but then this happened at page 263: But she had him at “Hello.” Really??? I’ve heard good things about this author but otherwise wouldn’t have finished this book.

[Charles · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this to be a horrid book written in a meandering vague style with frequent references to events seemingly unrelated to the central story being investigated by a nearly retired cop who received a letter regarding what could have happened to a missing mysterious boy from a foster home a number of years ago & who seemed to have intuitions about the events without any obvious reason. I gave up P.51

[Lauren Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I've long been a fan of Richards' writing, this one didn't work for me. It felt as though novel was merely a platform for the author's personal principles. Fiction writers must be careful not to turn their novels into political/theological essays and sadly Richards is way too heavy handed with this one.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

The story follows the once-respected detective John Delano as he works the case for his missing son. The case is cold, but there's still evidence to (re)examine and people to (re)interview. People pity him while also thinking he's lost it a bit.

John is a recurring character in Richards' universe, making this book an essential read if you're into Richards' work.

[Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy David Adams Richards but find his topics profoundly sad. For all their efforts, some people never get a break. Having said that, this book has more hope than some of the other novels I've read. Also, I enjoyed some of his references to novels he has written without being overt about it.

[Trish S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muddled and boring. DNF, made it about 100 pages. Library book, thankfully. I loved Hope in the Desperate Hours, but so far no other by DAR has moved me. Although I have not tried all. I will keep going.