Deadly Lessons

Winston Patrick Mystery #1

by David Russell

Winston Patrick, a successful lawyer but dissatisfied with his career defending the downtrodden of Vancouver's criminal world, trades in the courtroom for the high school classroom. Soon Winston's past life meets his present when a student accuses a fellow colleague of a teacher-student love affair. Reluctantly, Winston agrees to provide legal defence, but the case takes an even uglier turn: the student is murdered, making her alleged lover the prime suspect. And this is no ordinary student. With her family connections reaching as high as the Prime Minister's office, Winston and his friend Detective Andrea Pearson find themselves immersed in a murder investigation that could cause an international incident, if it doesn't cost Winston his own life first.

Genres: Mystery

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

David Russell is a long-time member of the arts community in Vancouver. He has worked on stage and television, including performing as a company member with the Vancouver TheatreSports League for more than 15 years. Russell has written freelance for a number of publications, including Maclean's, Vancouver's Sun and Province, the award-winning online news site The Tyee, and others. He lives in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

For me this book was irritating to read because everything was just... off... It was like walking into an art gallery and finding that all of the pictures were all crooked in random, jarring ways.

>the picture of Vancouver was off

>the picture of how schools work were was off

>the depictions of how people people were off

>the time setting was off

>how the legal, cultural, diplomatic, and other human systems work were all off

Worse, while some of the ideas were off because Russell apparently was unable to perform the most basic of google searches, much of what was off was included to apparently make the protagonist look "clever" for having noticed something that no one else did. No one else notices It because It, except for the protagonist, is NOT A Thing.

After that, I hated the protagonist. His ongoing "snotty sarcasm" (as the protagonist himself describes it), his cynicism, and snide, snarky remarks both to other characters and to his unfortunate readers (he is the narrator) were tiresome and tedious and in no way makes him look as clever as he pretends to be even though that seems to be what Russell was trying to depict - unsurprisingly, he was off target there too.

Worst, the protagonist himself was off. His affect, his responses to others and the situations around him were just off. I found I spent much of the book trying to figure out which of the Cluster-B personality disorders this guy most likely feel into but even then it was all a little bit off.

Ugh! I did not enjoy this book - one star rounded up to two because I generally round up for first books. I am glad I can give this one back to the library. Ugh!

EDITED: OK, so I was telling a friend how much I hated this book and realized that I could not keep it at two stars. a) it is a terrible read, and, most importantly, b) NO! It is NOT OK for a high school teacher to sexually assault a high school student - one of his high school students. People might make excuses but the fact is even if she supposedly 'seduced him' it is still NOT OK. She never 'seduced him'. She tried to seduce him and HE AGREED to be seduced instead of telling her no. A teacher essentially sexually assaulting a student is NOT OK. It is NEVER OK. There are NO excuses for that.

UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH!

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former lawyer Winston Patrick, is still learning how to survive being a high school teacher when his friend and colleague, Carl Turbot, asks for his legal help. One of Carl’s students is about to reveal a sexual relationship with him. Considering Carl’s desperation, his vehement denial of any relationship, and that he’d befriended Winston from the get-go at this school, Winston agrees to talk to the girl. He’s well aware that this is a potential professional and public relations nightmare for all concerned, so he hopes to stop things from getting out of hand. Hope dissolves, however, when the student is found murdered.

Deadly Lessons is a timely, intelligent story featuring a protagonist who’s in over his head. Winston’s sense of humor, chronic insomnia, police friend, and ex-wife all add to a well-rounded character with a lot on his mind and no clear answers to his problems.

The Vancouver setting was spot on, as was the varied reactions to a topic that’s been in British Columbia newspapers in recent years. While Winston is a tenacious character who won’t let something alone until he gets answers, like most amateur sleuths, he puts himself in danger one time too many times, especially after taking a couple of beatings. On the other hand, how interesting would amateur sleuths be if they didn’t take risks? It’s a good whodunnit worth reading.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! Even better because it was a Canadian author.