In Valhalla's Shadows: A Novel

by W.D. Valgardson

Ever since the accident, ex-cop Tom Parsons’s life has been crumbling around his marriage and career have fallen apart, his grown children barely speak to him, and he can’t escape the dark thoughts plaguing his mind. Leaving the urban misery of Winnipeg, he tries to remake himself in the small lakeside town of Valhalla, with its picturesque winter landscape and promise as a “fisherman’s paradise.” As the locals make it clear that newcomers, especially ex-RCMP, are less than entirely welcome, he throws himself into repairing his run-down cabin. But Tom has barely settled in the town when he finds the body of a fifteen-year-old Indigenous girl on the beach, not far from his home. The police write off Angel’s death as just another case of teenagers partying too hard. But the death haunts Tom, and he can’t leave the case closed―something just doesn’t add up. He begins visiting the locals, a mix of Icelandic eccentrics, drug dealers and other odd sorts you’d expect to find in an isolated town, seeking out Angel’s story. With the entitled tourists with their yachts and the mysterious Odin group living up the lake, Valhalla is much more than it originally seemed. And as Tom peels off the layers, he hopes to expose the dark rot underneath. W.D. Valgardson’s expert manipulation of metaphor and imagery brings a mythic scale to the murder mystery at the heart of  In Valhalla’s Shadows . He shapes a portrait of small-town living with frank depictions of post-traumatic stress, RCMP conduct, systemic racism and the real-life tragedies that are too often left unsolved.

480 pages, Hardcover

Published March 30, 2019

About the author

William Dempsey Valgardson (born 7 May 1939) is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, and poet. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Gimli, Manitoba, he completed his BA at United College, BEd at the University of Manitoba, and his MFA at the University of Iowa. He was a long-time professor of writing at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.

His writing often focuses on cultural differences and involve irony and symbolism. His short stories involve normal people in normal situations, yet under certain circumstances, lead unusual and surprising lives.

Valgardson has won numerous awards and accolades, including the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for The Girl With the Botticelli Face (1992) and the Books in Canada First Novel Award for Gentle Sinners (1980). His short story, "Bloodflowers", was included in Best American Short Stories 1971.

Reviews

[Kristín · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this book I thought I was about to read a crime novel. Probably because a body is found in the first scene and it's an ex-cop who finds it. So, naturally a crime novel. But it isn't. Even though the quest to find out what happened to Angel is what forces Tom to go and meet his new neighbours the story is more about him finding new roots in a small Icelandic town in Manitoba. The Icelandic connection is always there but many things are not what they seem and things unfold in a different way from what you expect. The book is full of interesting characters but what I found the most interesting was simply the description of a life in a small town far from anyone else.

[Anno · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basic premise of this book is good...the plot was dragged out. It would have been more effective to have layered the different stories within the novel instead of running them on in a linear fashion and creating thin connections. Too long.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was categorized in my library as a crime/mystery novel and the blurb mentions that as well. As a mystery, it's severely lacking. Way, way more time (476 pages) is spent on describing small town life in rural Canada. It's as depressing as the weather in winter. Valgardson doesn't sugarcoat anything and covers racism, poverty, sexual and emotional abuse, lack of government support, etc. Trudeau would not be pleased with the picture he paints. The author also incorporates Icelandic immigrants into the story echoing his personal life. Their story is no prettier than anyone else's.

The story dragged because he threw in too many story lines. There were enough to fill 3-4 books if this was a series. I also wasn't thrilled with the non-linear story telling, we gets drips and drabs of Tom's life woven through out with little reflection by the character. Why are/were things so bad? How did he feel? The romance, if it is one more than just a convenience, didn't feel real. There wasn't a connection between the characters (maybe that was the point?). There were also a couple of fantasy elements (maybe a "lyrical" element) thrown in to further muck up the story.

The mystery takes a back seat to everything else and finally gets wrapped up very close to the end. I wanted to stop reading several times because I found it quite a slog, but I thought the mystery would pick up or that it would develop into a big climax incorporating all the myriad of elements the author brought up, but it really didn't.

I can't think of any reason why this book would appeal to anyone. Definitely not someone looking for a mystery and there are better, completely non-fictional books about all the social issues it touches.

[Velvet Grimaude · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first picked this novel up, it was a struggle, I admit. There are a lot of seemingly unrelated story threads happening simultaneously, and it's not often easy to tell when the perspective shift between past and present happens. I almost gave up on the novel 100 pages in, but I am glad I didn't, as the persistence paid off. All of the setup-heavy passages at the beginning serves to give important context to the events that will happen later on in the story. The random temporal shifts are meant to simulate the temporal dissociation that Tom Parsons, the protagonist, often experiences, following his traumatic experience.

In a way, this novel is quite uniquely written, and I don't think one could confidently place it in any single genre. There's elements of thriller, mystery, mythology meets reality, angst, and romance that is about as well-woven together as the tapestry of fate is woven by the norns. I highly recommend this novel, but with the caveat that you should prepare for the slow burn at the beginning.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the setting and the characters but the story moved forward very slowly.

[Mary W. Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting novel and a fine mystery. The fascinating backdrop explores the threads among members of a largely Icelandic-Canadian community in Manitoba.

[Guy Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty darn good. Congrats WD Valgardson