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The Timekeeper: A Novel
Trevor Ferguson returns to the wilderness of land and soul.
The late critic Ken Adachi once wrote of Trevor Ferguson: "Ferguson writes as if he were on a wild binge, as if he were determined to compensate us for all the tidily assembled and yet listless or lifeless novels we've read." In The Timekeeper,
241 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Trevor Ferguson
24 books16 followersTrevor Ferguson, aka. John Farrow is a Canadian writer who has written nine novels and four plays and has been named Canada's best novelist in both Books in Canada and the Toronto Star. Under the name John Farrow, he has written three crime novels featuring Émile Cinq-Mars; both are highly acclaimed and popular around the world. He was raised in Montreal and lives in Hudson, Quebec.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2017
Martin Bishop is a 16 year old whose family farm is repossessed by the bank when his father dies. As he can't support his younger brother and sister they are sent to relatives, one to the east and the other out west. So he is cast into the adult world abruptly and finds himself a position of timekeeper at a remote railway building site near Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories.
He is driven in to the site by 'Soup' the Supervisor and on arrival finds himself surrounded by the dregs of society, men who have been misfits in whatever they have previously done. He reports to Fisk, the foreman but finds that his idea of accurate record keeping is at odds with both Fisk, Soup and Prud'homme, the chef. Martin's father has brought him up with a strict code of ethics and he knows what is right or wrong.
This conflict creates a lot of tension and the atmosphere becomes worse when he discovers that some of the workers who have crossed the foreman have been forced out of the camp to fend for themselves and are now living in the bush and feeding themselves from scraps thrown on to the garbage dump. They could have been bussed out but this form of punishment is meant to destroy them instead. Strangely, Martin finds that they are still listed on the payroll sheets and he is expected to put hours in for them daily. It goes against the grain for him and so the conflict escalates.
The cook, Prud'homme, who has been an ally at first also turns on him when Martin tries to find out about the disappearance of his bunkmate Lomacki. He is not expected to ask questions but what should he do when he finds Lomacki's body far below a precipice which is close to the camp? Did he fall or was he pushed? Martin has never been taught to be circumspect and his forthright questions get him tossed out of camp himself. He has now joined the 'wilder few'. He will not accept this humiliation and sets about to get revenge on the foreman and make sure he gets his fair pay. He decides the best way to do this is to spend his nights undoing the work gang's labours and relaying the track in an un-useable direction. He browbeats the others of the wilder few to join him, they will and they all retreat into the forest before the day team returns.
Fisk is not a man to accept what the boy has done and he brings a posse to find where they are hiding. Martin leads the few away as he claims he can get them away from harm. Over a number of days they are chased by Fisk and the posse. The tension builds but the boy's ingenuity is extremely interesting to read about. How he succeeds in his plan is dealt with great detail and how he is betrayed by his fellow escapees comes abruptly. After all, they were the dregs of the dregs, what can one expect?
This is definitely a male adventure/thriller and I was surprised by how absorbed I was in reading about the boy's thought processes. I was completely on his side and pulling for him all the way. You don't find out until the last page what becomes of Martin and you have to ask yourself, did he win or did he lose?
He is driven in to the site by 'Soup' the Supervisor and on arrival finds himself surrounded by the dregs of society, men who have been misfits in whatever they have previously done. He reports to Fisk, the foreman but finds that his idea of accurate record keeping is at odds with both Fisk, Soup and Prud'homme, the chef. Martin's father has brought him up with a strict code of ethics and he knows what is right or wrong.
This conflict creates a lot of tension and the atmosphere becomes worse when he discovers that some of the workers who have crossed the foreman have been forced out of the camp to fend for themselves and are now living in the bush and feeding themselves from scraps thrown on to the garbage dump. They could have been bussed out but this form of punishment is meant to destroy them instead. Strangely, Martin finds that they are still listed on the payroll sheets and he is expected to put hours in for them daily. It goes against the grain for him and so the conflict escalates.
The cook, Prud'homme, who has been an ally at first also turns on him when Martin tries to find out about the disappearance of his bunkmate Lomacki. He is not expected to ask questions but what should he do when he finds Lomacki's body far below a precipice which is close to the camp? Did he fall or was he pushed? Martin has never been taught to be circumspect and his forthright questions get him tossed out of camp himself. He has now joined the 'wilder few'. He will not accept this humiliation and sets about to get revenge on the foreman and make sure he gets his fair pay. He decides the best way to do this is to spend his nights undoing the work gang's labours and relaying the track in an un-useable direction. He browbeats the others of the wilder few to join him, they will and they all retreat into the forest before the day team returns.
Fisk is not a man to accept what the boy has done and he brings a posse to find where they are hiding. Martin leads the few away as he claims he can get them away from harm. Over a number of days they are chased by Fisk and the posse. The tension builds but the boy's ingenuity is extremely interesting to read about. How he succeeds in his plan is dealt with great detail and how he is betrayed by his fellow escapees comes abruptly. After all, they were the dregs of the dregs, what can one expect?
This is definitely a male adventure/thriller and I was surprised by how absorbed I was in reading about the boy's thought processes. I was completely on his side and pulling for him all the way. You don't find out until the last page what becomes of Martin and you have to ask yourself, did he win or did he lose?
February 26, 2022
I read Trevor Ferguson's The Timekeeper years ago, and today's re-read was a gripping page turner. I could not put the book down. While the movie starring Craig Olejnik was so well done, the book took my breath away.
Feb 2022: I have been doing a re-read of all of Trevor Ferguson's novels to help pass the cold winter months, beginning with his excellent nom de plume John Farrow Detective Emile Cinq-Mars novels.
This re-read was again a gripping page turner, a tale of a young man's battle against good and evil, both within the northern work camp, and within himself. A brutal, but powerful coming of age story.
Feb 2022: I have been doing a re-read of all of Trevor Ferguson's novels to help pass the cold winter months, beginning with his excellent nom de plume John Farrow Detective Emile Cinq-Mars novels.
This re-read was again a gripping page turner, a tale of a young man's battle against good and evil, both within the northern work camp, and within himself. A brutal, but powerful coming of age story.
April 6, 2013
There's a great review of Ferguson's work at
http://www.booksincanada.com/article_....
http://www.booksincanada.com/article_....
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews