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John Cardinal and Lise Delorme Mystery #6
Arktiska nätter
I utredningen av en serie mord och försvinnanden olikt några fall som kriminalinspektörerna John Cardinal och Lise Delorme tidigare stött på sätts de på stora prov både som människor och poliser. En senatorshustru har kedjats fast utanför ruinerna efter ett övergivet hotell i skogen långt utanför Algonquin Bay och lämnats där för att långsamt frysa ihjäl i den iskalla natten. Och hon är inte den enda. Kopplingen till händelser långt tidigare under en forskarexpedition till de arktiska öarna utanför Kanadas kust kommer inte bli uppenbar förrän långt senare.
Delorme får anledning att fråga sig vem hon verkligen är och vad det innebär att vara polis och kvinna. Och hur ska hon göra med John Cardinal, hennes partner och mannen som står henne närmast?
Delorme får anledning att fråga sig vem hon verkligen är och vad det innebär att vara polis och kvinna. Och hur ska hon göra med John Cardinal, hennes partner och mannen som står henne närmast?
Hardcover
First published August 7, 2012
15 people are currently reading
1144 people want to read
About the author
Giles Blunt
17 books410 followersGiles Blunt (born 1952 in Windsor, Ontario) is a Canadian novelist and screenwriter. His first novel, Cold Eye, was a psychological thriller set in the New York art world, which was made into the French movie Les Couleurs du diable (Allain Jessua, 1997).
He is also the author of the John Cardinal novels, set in the small town of Algonquin Bay, in Northern Ontario. Blunt grew up in North Bay, and Algonquin Bay is North Bay very thinly disguised — for example, Blunt retains the names of major streets and the two lakes (Trout Lake and Lake Nipissing) that the town sits between, the physical layout of the two places is the same, and he describes Algonquin Bay as being in the same geographical location as North Bay.
The first Cardinal story, Forty Words for Sorrow, won the British Crime Writers' Silver Dagger, and the second, The Delicate Storm, won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for best novel.
More recently he has written No Such Creature, a "road novel" set in the American southwest, and Breaking Lorca, which is set in a clandestine jail in El Salvador in the 1980s. His novels have been compared to the work of Ian Rankin and Cormac McCarthy.
Series:
* John Cardinal and Lise Delorme Mystery
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2004): The Delicate Storm
Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger
◊ 2001: Forty Words for Sorrow
He is also the author of the John Cardinal novels, set in the small town of Algonquin Bay, in Northern Ontario. Blunt grew up in North Bay, and Algonquin Bay is North Bay very thinly disguised — for example, Blunt retains the names of major streets and the two lakes (Trout Lake and Lake Nipissing) that the town sits between, the physical layout of the two places is the same, and he describes Algonquin Bay as being in the same geographical location as North Bay.
The first Cardinal story, Forty Words for Sorrow, won the British Crime Writers' Silver Dagger, and the second, The Delicate Storm, won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for best novel.
More recently he has written No Such Creature, a "road novel" set in the American southwest, and Breaking Lorca, which is set in a clandestine jail in El Salvador in the 1980s. His novels have been compared to the work of Ian Rankin and Cormac McCarthy.
Series:
* John Cardinal and Lise Delorme Mystery
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2004): The Delicate Storm
Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger
◊ 2001: Forty Words for Sorrow
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
October 2, 2025
5 Stars. The last and probably the best in a great series. I wish there were more! Do you find that some of your favourite thrillers include a major component of reader confusion? Add this one to my list. There are essentially two streams here, even three, and ne'er the twain do they meet. At least not for me until page 216 in a 300 pager! Then a glimmer. We open with pages from a diary written in the high Arctic by a man named Karson Durie, nicknamed 'Kit' of course. He's a member of a Canadian Arctic research team on an ice island - that's a large, flat and solid iceberg surrounded by pack ice. Disaster strikes as the island cracks suddenly at about the same time as the psyche of one researcher shatters because of isolation. Both with horrible results. What does this have to do with another stream in which Cardinal and Delorme find themselves investigating the murder of two women in Algonquin Bay in the extreme cold of winter? One is the wife of a Canadian Senator. An uncertain Lise Delorme is the star in this one, as both she and Cardinal are driven out on their own by politics at the police station. The third case? It's a cold one. So, so good. (De2022/Oc2024)
October 20, 2023
It’s not the cold … it’s the damp!
UNTIL THE NIGHT … three plots for the price of one! FROM THE BLUE NOTEBOOK is the story of the lives and loves and moods of a team of scientists working on a typical high Arctic lab station built on an enormous ice floe. Lise Delorme goes rogue, setting out on her own determined to prove that Leonard Priest, the rather obsessively single-minded owner of some free sex clubs and a quaint northern Ontario pub is a murderer despite the fact that the case is closed. Someone else has already been convicted and tossed into prison. Last but hardly least, there’s the mystifying tale of a serial killer who abducts young women, dresses them in top quality winter outdoor clothing and then ties them up and abandons them to a slow death by freezing and hypothermia.
Linwood Barclay, also one of my favourite Canadian thriller authors, contributed a cover marketing blurb for the edition I read, “One of the most finely crafted, beautifully written, and emotionally engaging series in all of crime fiction”. And, while I certainly agree with him with respect to the Cardinal and Delorme series taken as a whole, UNTIL THE NIGHT comes up a little short of the mark in the “finely crafted” department. For example, the vast, unbridgeable gap, both in time and geography, between a decommissioned, defunct high Arctic scientific research station and the murder investigation in Algonquin Bay put most of the solution to the murders up in neon lights for the reader. Lise Delorme’s noir, bizarre behaviour in proving the innocence of a convicted murderer was, to say the very least, outré, entirely unexpected, completely undeveloped and unexplained, and far too placidly accepted by a John Cardinal that readers would expect to be a little more discerning. The glaringly obvious clue of the purchase of brand new, top flight outdoor clothing in which the victims were clothed remained almost entirely uninvestigated. There are more but the point has been made.
And that point, in summary, is that, while the characters remain interesting and the writing remains compelling, the plot in UNTIL THE NIGHT is clearly the weakest in the series thus far. No question that my interest in the series continues but my hope is that some of these loose ends will be cleared up in entry #7 which I’m looking forward to.
Paul Weiss
UNTIL THE NIGHT … three plots for the price of one! FROM THE BLUE NOTEBOOK is the story of the lives and loves and moods of a team of scientists working on a typical high Arctic lab station built on an enormous ice floe. Lise Delorme goes rogue, setting out on her own determined to prove that Leonard Priest, the rather obsessively single-minded owner of some free sex clubs and a quaint northern Ontario pub is a murderer despite the fact that the case is closed. Someone else has already been convicted and tossed into prison. Last but hardly least, there’s the mystifying tale of a serial killer who abducts young women, dresses them in top quality winter outdoor clothing and then ties them up and abandons them to a slow death by freezing and hypothermia.
Linwood Barclay, also one of my favourite Canadian thriller authors, contributed a cover marketing blurb for the edition I read, “One of the most finely crafted, beautifully written, and emotionally engaging series in all of crime fiction”. And, while I certainly agree with him with respect to the Cardinal and Delorme series taken as a whole, UNTIL THE NIGHT comes up a little short of the mark in the “finely crafted” department. For example, the vast, unbridgeable gap, both in time and geography, between a decommissioned, defunct high Arctic scientific research station and the murder investigation in Algonquin Bay put most of the solution to the murders up in neon lights for the reader. Lise Delorme’s noir, bizarre behaviour in proving the innocence of a convicted murderer was, to say the very least, outré, entirely unexpected, completely undeveloped and unexplained, and far too placidly accepted by a John Cardinal that readers would expect to be a little more discerning. The glaringly obvious clue of the purchase of brand new, top flight outdoor clothing in which the victims were clothed remained almost entirely uninvestigated. There are more but the point has been made.
And that point, in summary, is that, while the characters remain interesting and the writing remains compelling, the plot in UNTIL THE NIGHT is clearly the weakest in the series thus far. No question that my interest in the series continues but my hope is that some of these loose ends will be cleared up in entry #7 which I’m looking forward to.
Paul Weiss
January 10, 2023
This latest John Cardinal book focused more on Lise Delorme. We got to see a side of Lise we have not yet had a chance to see. Her insecurities and her drive to succeed were on full display. She's an amazing character. The story was another complex weavework of mysteries and murder. The parallel story in the Arctic took us to a completely new environment, which was fascinating to me. The few inconsistencies that still bother me are why it's a 4 star book.
January 20, 2022
3.5 rounded to 4 stars.
This one was hard to rate.
I have to take a few things into consideration, especially his writing, which I find compelling.
I do recommend this series, if you don’t mind violence (the first book, my favourite, was quite disturbing).
This is the sixth book in the series, and in my opinion it is the weakest (although my least favourite was book #2, because it was too political).
Here we are presented with 3 parallel stories. Two will eventually entwine. The other is a personal obsession to resolve a crime that was considered closed (and the conclusion was a bit far fetched).
I was really expecting to love this book but there was something missing for me or perhaps the story about the Arctic expedition was too long and did not seem to be part of the storyline at all, or perhaps the lack of quotations in the journal/notebook was a turn off for me.
I was more interested in following the serial killer story. The other two I did not care that much, especially with a particular character that I found to be very vulgar.
I do hope that there will be a follow up.
This one was published in 2012 and it was also adapted for the TV series, which I found exceptional.
This one was hard to rate.
I have to take a few things into consideration, especially his writing, which I find compelling.
I do recommend this series, if you don’t mind violence (the first book, my favourite, was quite disturbing).
This is the sixth book in the series, and in my opinion it is the weakest (although my least favourite was book #2, because it was too political).
Here we are presented with 3 parallel stories. Two will eventually entwine. The other is a personal obsession to resolve a crime that was considered closed (and the conclusion was a bit far fetched).
I was really expecting to love this book but there was something missing for me or perhaps the story about the Arctic expedition was too long and did not seem to be part of the storyline at all, or perhaps the lack of quotations in the journal/notebook was a turn off for me.
I was more interested in following the serial killer story. The other two I did not care that much, especially with a particular character that I found to be very vulgar.
I do hope that there will be a follow up.
This one was published in 2012 and it was also adapted for the TV series, which I found exceptional.
July 14, 2015
The John Cardinal/Lise Delorme novels, set in northern Ontario, make up the best police procedural series I've read. I know that it's my favorite, and this book (an Arthur Ellis award-winner) is the best of the series. It has a complex plot, some based on events in the Canadian arctic from thirty years before (a fascinating plot element on its own, but flawlessly integrated with the other plot arcs), and some contemporary. There are three sets of crimes that are investigated,beginning with a murder in Algonquin Bay, but the central set is responsible for most of the book's complexity. Cardinal and Delorme are very good detectives, and are utterly dogged. They are interesting people with realistic flaws. There's an additional layer of emotional complexity provided by the relationship between Delorme and Cardinal, which is believable and not just a plot diversion. Crimes are solved using legitimate police work. People behave in interesting and understandable ways, even amid the complexity. Genuine suspense is built into the book. Blunt writes better than anyone else I've read in the mystery genre.
NOTE: I bought this book in Winnipeg because it hasn't been published in the US. I'll have to track down "Crime Machine" (the fifth novel) the same way. (I did find "Crime Machine" at Munro's books in Victoria recently.) I strongly hope that there's another book coming, but "Until the Night" will stick with me for a good long while.
NOTE: I bought this book in Winnipeg because it hasn't been published in the US. I'll have to track down "Crime Machine" (the fifth novel) the same way. (I did find "Crime Machine" at Munro's books in Victoria recently.) I strongly hope that there's another book coming, but "Until the Night" will stick with me for a good long while.
August 19, 2012
I love the characters John Cardinal and Lise Delorme. I've read the whole series and loved every book. But I didn't like what Blunt did by giving us a peek at Lise's supposedly dark side. For one thing, it just doesn't ring true for Delorme. And then Blunt sweeps the issue under the carpet and expects me to believe that Cardinal adopts a can't-we-just-move-on-from-here attitude. It wasn't convincing, and I don't buy it. That was worth 2 stars right there.
The 3rd star was for not revealing how Durie was rescued from near death from hypothermia (not to mention starvation and thirst) and lost in the Arctic.
The 3rd star was for not revealing how Durie was rescued from near death from hypothermia (not to mention starvation and thirst) and lost in the Arctic.
August 24, 2012
A Masterful Canadian Mystery that doesn't apologize for the fact. John Cardinal discovers a serial murderer with cause. The high Arctic background story is magnificent on its own, but when combined with the action in Algonquin Bay, Ottawa, Toronto and points roundabout it is superb. Blunt is a brilliant writer and I'm anxiously waiting for the next in the series.
May 19, 2016
So far the last of the series and possibly the best. Two different story lines that at first appear to have nothing in common. Beautifully written, meticulously researched. Really delves into the main character's feelings. I can't believe Blunt is leaving me hanging...
November 22, 2018
A solid procedural noir with too many populist plotting tropes for my liking. Comparable to Gillian Flynn in that this is clearly a competent crime writer intent on cheap manipulation and point scoring with their readers but enjoyable enough on its own merits that the manipulation serves more to detract. I hesitate to use M.Night Shyamalam as a comparison because it doesn’t reach the sorry depths of that guys storytelling but maybe it expresses what I mean in easy shorthand so I can go read another book.
November 8, 2013
Book 6, in the John Cardinal series
I agree with those saying this series is getting better with each book it is of no surprise that with this latest Mr. Blunt won the Arthur Ellis Awards for best crime novel in 2013. Congratulations Mr. Blunt.
“Until the Night” is a dark and convoluted mystery beautifully written with exceptionally solid characters. This is a must read for fans of this series. A caution, some may be offended by the crude language and the sex scenes that pepper the chapters.
The mystery has two captivating stories cleverly interwoven in the typical Blunt’s style and technique. It opens with what looks like an ordinary case of adultery gone wrong. A man found dead in a cheap motel, the woman accompanying him has vanished and the likely suspect is the lovers’ outraged husband. One thing leads to another and the investigation uncovers a string of missing women and leads our duo of Cardinal and Delorme into a decades-old injustice committed in the high Arctic. In alternating chapters “The Blue Notebook” details what happened on an Arctic research station in the past. Reading this immediately captured my interest, it is gripping with tension and drama and of course Mr. Blunt’s powerfully describes the spell of the Arctic landscape with all of its beauties and horrors…this is quite an atmospheric mystery. Both plots are clever with plenty of twists and turns to have kept me on the edge of my seat till the final page. This book is most satisfying.
In a final note the author acknowledges this was one of those books requiring considerable research.
I agree with those saying this series is getting better with each book it is of no surprise that with this latest Mr. Blunt won the Arthur Ellis Awards for best crime novel in 2013. Congratulations Mr. Blunt.
“Until the Night” is a dark and convoluted mystery beautifully written with exceptionally solid characters. This is a must read for fans of this series. A caution, some may be offended by the crude language and the sex scenes that pepper the chapters.
The mystery has two captivating stories cleverly interwoven in the typical Blunt’s style and technique. It opens with what looks like an ordinary case of adultery gone wrong. A man found dead in a cheap motel, the woman accompanying him has vanished and the likely suspect is the lovers’ outraged husband. One thing leads to another and the investigation uncovers a string of missing women and leads our duo of Cardinal and Delorme into a decades-old injustice committed in the high Arctic. In alternating chapters “The Blue Notebook” details what happened on an Arctic research station in the past. Reading this immediately captured my interest, it is gripping with tension and drama and of course Mr. Blunt’s powerfully describes the spell of the Arctic landscape with all of its beauties and horrors…this is quite an atmospheric mystery. Both plots are clever with plenty of twists and turns to have kept me on the edge of my seat till the final page. This book is most satisfying.
In a final note the author acknowledges this was one of those books requiring considerable research.
November 11, 2021
Another very good book with intersecting story lines & with one new interesting police character, that being Loach. Blunt and amazing job with the four scientists and how they were part of the killers revenge & how "Notes from the Blue Book was integral to the majority of the book; I liked the way the leaked /found video tape at a police party enabled the detectives to track down mysterious French voice, the interactions with other police members in Ottawa, Toronto and of course, Algonquin Bay, tracking down possible suspects and the subsequent interrogations and investigations to solve the murders.
I think the story could have done without Delorme's sex life and the graphic portions of what goes on in sex clubs and having Priest's perversions on full display.
And, as most likely expected for fans of this series, Delorme and Cardinal are finally together!
I think the story could have done without Delorme's sex life and the graphic portions of what goes on in sex clubs and having Priest's perversions on full display.
And, as most likely expected for fans of this series, Delorme and Cardinal are finally together!
August 29, 2012
Perhaps my favourite in the series so far. I particularly enjoyed the chapters "From the Blue Notebook", chronicling a scientist's time at an Arctic research base. Slowly, Blunt reveals how this seemingly unrelated journal is relevant to the main story. Blunt's writing in this novel - like in all his others - is suspenseful, informative and emotionally engaging.
August 13, 2012
Until the Night marks the sixth (and much awaited) entry in Giles Blunt's mystery series featuring Detective John Cardinal.
Until the Night opens with a cryptic entry from something called The Blue Notebook, giving us a brief glance into an Arctic science station. The next chapter takes us back to more familiar territory - Algonquin Bay, Ontario - 340 miles north of Toronto. It is here that John Cardinal lives and works. He and counterpart Lise Delorme are called in to investigate what looks to be a domestic murder - a husband murdering his wife's lover. But the wife is missing too - also murdered? She is found, dead, but in odd circumstances. As is yet another woman. And the case leads Cardinal and Delorme down paths they couldn't imagine.
As their investigation progresses, so do the entries from The Blue Notebook - and we are slowly privy to more and more details.
Blunt has done it again - an absolutely original, intelligent, riveting plot that kept me reading.....Until The Night. (Sorry couldn't resist) But, seriously, I did use a Sunday off to devour it from first page to last. Yep, that good.
Why do I like this series so much? Protagonist John Cardinal is the big draw for me. In him, Blunt has created a believable, realistic character whose life has evolved over the course of six books. His personal life involving his wife and her difficulties have provided a storyline handled with thoughtfulness, realism and genuine emotion. His relationship with Delorme has him quite confused and is explored further in this book. We get to delve much deeper into Lise Delorme's life this time. Her own issues, insecurities and demons lead her to a dark place, putting herself and her career at risk. I have become quite invested in both of these characters.
The plotting was fantastic - the link between The Blue Notebook and Cardinal's case was slowly, inexorably revealed. The setting of Algonquin Bay has become quite familiar and I can almost feel the cold seeping into my fingers as I hold the book. Blunt grew up in North Bay, Ontario, so he knows what he writes of! Blunt also takes us to other Ontario locales with the seamier underside of Toronto and Ottawa woven into this latest mystery.
I think this latest book just might be my favourite Cardinal book yet. If you haven't discovered this Canadian author and series yet, I encourage you to.
CTV has announced plans for a TV series based on the John Cardinal novels, with Blunt himself doing much of the adaptation.
Until the Night opens with a cryptic entry from something called The Blue Notebook, giving us a brief glance into an Arctic science station. The next chapter takes us back to more familiar territory - Algonquin Bay, Ontario - 340 miles north of Toronto. It is here that John Cardinal lives and works. He and counterpart Lise Delorme are called in to investigate what looks to be a domestic murder - a husband murdering his wife's lover. But the wife is missing too - also murdered? She is found, dead, but in odd circumstances. As is yet another woman. And the case leads Cardinal and Delorme down paths they couldn't imagine.
As their investigation progresses, so do the entries from The Blue Notebook - and we are slowly privy to more and more details.
Blunt has done it again - an absolutely original, intelligent, riveting plot that kept me reading.....Until The Night. (Sorry couldn't resist) But, seriously, I did use a Sunday off to devour it from first page to last. Yep, that good.
Why do I like this series so much? Protagonist John Cardinal is the big draw for me. In him, Blunt has created a believable, realistic character whose life has evolved over the course of six books. His personal life involving his wife and her difficulties have provided a storyline handled with thoughtfulness, realism and genuine emotion. His relationship with Delorme has him quite confused and is explored further in this book. We get to delve much deeper into Lise Delorme's life this time. Her own issues, insecurities and demons lead her to a dark place, putting herself and her career at risk. I have become quite invested in both of these characters.
The plotting was fantastic - the link between The Blue Notebook and Cardinal's case was slowly, inexorably revealed. The setting of Algonquin Bay has become quite familiar and I can almost feel the cold seeping into my fingers as I hold the book. Blunt grew up in North Bay, Ontario, so he knows what he writes of! Blunt also takes us to other Ontario locales with the seamier underside of Toronto and Ottawa woven into this latest mystery.
I think this latest book just might be my favourite Cardinal book yet. If you haven't discovered this Canadian author and series yet, I encourage you to.
CTV has announced plans for a TV series based on the John Cardinal novels, with Blunt himself doing much of the adaptation.
December 5, 2012
Giles Blunt is one the great unsung mystery writers this country has produced...sure he gets attention but he should be lionized. His John Cardinal Series is marvelous...portrays a part of Canada not often found in genre fiction and characters who are human, complicated and somewhat endearing. This outing..Until the Night...brings out some intriguing aspects of all the main characters...intimations of masochism,major bouts of self doubt and long buried feelings as well as sheer nasty office politics all the while a series of brutal murders centered around freezing women to death is demanding to be solved. There is the north, mad scientists and some quite brilliant writing just to make you really feel at home. Read this in the winter, in front of a fire while watching it snow and feel safe...or in the summer at the beach and feel cool.
January 25, 2016
I don't know if this is my favourite John Cardinal police mystery but it is still an excellent, tense, well-written mystery/ thriller. It is often very gritty and has excellent tension. I've liked the development of John Cardinal, a Canadian police detective from Algonquin (read North Bay) Bay, Ontario and of his partner Lise Delorme. Their relationship develops further in this story, with many ups and downs. The story is somewhat convoluted, alternating between two ongoing cases and with the thread of a story from the past, that seems unrelated to everything taking place in Algonquin Bay, but ultimately, these diverse threads intertwine very nicely and satisfyingly. Giles Blunt has proven himself to be an excellent mystery/ thriller writer. I highly recommend.
May 3, 2020
Best book in the series. There are two story lines. The first -From the Blue Notebook - concerns a group of research scientists in the Arctic. The second - two murders with very similar circumstances. Written with chapters alternating between the two, I found the information about the Arctic research station to be fascinating. I could feel the cold! And, I always love a good police procedural. Cardinal and Delorme again march to their own drummer - no matter where the powers that be want them to go. Delorme strikes out on her own pursuing a different investigation, while Cardinal keeps searching until he finds the clue that ties the two murders together plus doing what he can to prevent a third. Great weaving of the two stories together. Again, best book in the series.
October 28, 2021
I am sad this is the last of the Cardinal series. I have enjoyed them all. Blunt's stories may otherwise befor everyone. They can be dark and violent. But he tells an interesting story with complex and intriguing characters and I enjoyed them all. I still have several seasons of the TV shows to watch. I recommend these books to mystery and suspense lovers.
August 10, 2012
Absolutely riveting, his best yet - see my full review here - http://livinginthekitchenwithpuppies....
October 12, 2015
Wow!
Gasping for breath as I galloped to the finish...a thrilling read, dark and twisted and based in interesting research.
Wonderful tale with a merging of past wrongs and present ones, woven into each other with an overwhelming feeling of cold. The locations are Arctic and Northern Ontario, but even considering that, Blunt managed to make me feel cold even on a bright fall day. He invests every page with a chill, psychological or physical. I love it when a writer can put me so in situ that I actually feel the weather.
Blunt writes dark mysteries. There hasn't been a one that I've read hat hasn't made me check the door locks when I go to bed at night. That said, some reviewers below seem surprised about the sex in this novel, the depravities, etc.
For me, they were secondary, but added a depth to Delorme's character - a background that is based on more than her affection for Cardinal. I am intrigued, a bit repelled, and eagerly awaiting developments. Cardinal has the shadow of his wife; she needs shadows for balance and as a woman in my 50's, I know that there are parts of my personality that I am only identifying now as I pick away at the stories I've told myself for years. Some aren't that great. I have some apologizing to do. So it doesn't seem a stretch for me that Delorme finds things in herself that she didn't recognize before. It makes her more interesting as a character.
I am a bit tired of the dropped in big mouth incompetent cop meme - it's everywhere as no doubt they truly are. Bureaucracies. But it's getting tired and I'd like to see a more creative twist.
Non-mainstream sexuality figures in the novel, so if this bothers you, you may wish to avoid. For me, I was too tied up in the story to really notice it.
Gasping for breath as I galloped to the finish...a thrilling read, dark and twisted and based in interesting research.
Wonderful tale with a merging of past wrongs and present ones, woven into each other with an overwhelming feeling of cold. The locations are Arctic and Northern Ontario, but even considering that, Blunt managed to make me feel cold even on a bright fall day. He invests every page with a chill, psychological or physical. I love it when a writer can put me so in situ that I actually feel the weather.
Blunt writes dark mysteries. There hasn't been a one that I've read hat hasn't made me check the door locks when I go to bed at night. That said, some reviewers below seem surprised about the sex in this novel, the depravities, etc.
For me, they were secondary, but added a depth to Delorme's character - a background that is based on more than her affection for Cardinal. I am intrigued, a bit repelled, and eagerly awaiting developments. Cardinal has the shadow of his wife; she needs shadows for balance and as a woman in my 50's, I know that there are parts of my personality that I am only identifying now as I pick away at the stories I've told myself for years. Some aren't that great. I have some apologizing to do. So it doesn't seem a stretch for me that Delorme finds things in herself that she didn't recognize before. It makes her more interesting as a character.
I am a bit tired of the dropped in big mouth incompetent cop meme - it's everywhere as no doubt they truly are. Bureaucracies. But it's getting tired and I'd like to see a more creative twist.
Non-mainstream sexuality figures in the novel, so if this bothers you, you may wish to avoid. For me, I was too tied up in the story to really notice it.
January 12, 2016
Normally I avoid Canadian procedurals because they are too close to home. Part of the allure of this type of series for me is the foreignness of the environment the police work in. However, I count Giles Blunt's Cardinal/Delorme series among my favourites, even though it mentions places and landmarks that are more than familiar to me. The writing in this book is excellent, with none of the small complaints that mar other writers' work for me. The only difficulty I had with this story is the language and behaviour of some characters and the explicit sexuality. The structure of the mystery is interesting, with "flashbacks" from a journal telling another story that we sense might have something to do with the present, but we don't know why or how. Delorme's character goes through some personal development, and there are changes in the easy, friendly relationship between Delorme and Cardinal. All in all a good story.
September 25, 2014
Until the Night is the latest entry in Giles Blunt's exceptional series featuring North Bay police officers, John Cardinal and Lisa Delorme. The story moves back and forth between an Arctic research station and a case which begins with the discovery of a woman's body in an abandoned building in the woods. The woman had been dressed for the cold weather, then chained to prevent escape. Blunt slowly reveals how the two stories are related, building the tension to a perfect pitch.
This book is a 4.5 star for me. I gave it a small deduction for several editing mistakes, but mostly I'm puzzled by the complications introduced in Cardinal and Delorme's relationship. This seems like a misstep in Blunt's finely crafted storyline, but maybe he has a surprise in store for us with the next book.
This book is a 4.5 star for me. I gave it a small deduction for several editing mistakes, but mostly I'm puzzled by the complications introduced in Cardinal and Delorme's relationship. This seems like a misstep in Blunt's finely crafted storyline, but maybe he has a surprise in store for us with the next book.
July 26, 2013
First let me say that this is one of those books for which I wish half ratings existed. 5 stars maybe a bit high, however 4 stars feels too low.
What a great entry in to the Cardinal series this book is. It just maybe my second favourite. Others have identified the main plot points so I won't do that, however this is the book where the relationship of the two main characters starts to change, while at the same time the reader is treated to a great mystery. What happens when good people do bad things, and what happens when a killer feels his actions are justified? These are just some of the things you will think about as your read this. Even if this is your first book in the series, it is a great place to start, however I do recommend going back and reading the others.
Author Giles Blunt, for my money, is well on his way to being Canada's top mystery writer.
What a great entry in to the Cardinal series this book is. It just maybe my second favourite. Others have identified the main plot points so I won't do that, however this is the book where the relationship of the two main characters starts to change, while at the same time the reader is treated to a great mystery. What happens when good people do bad things, and what happens when a killer feels his actions are justified? These are just some of the things you will think about as your read this. Even if this is your first book in the series, it is a great place to start, however I do recommend going back and reading the others.
Author Giles Blunt, for my money, is well on his way to being Canada's top mystery writer.
December 2, 2019
This started out as one of my favourite series ever. I even presented the first in the series at an event as a Must Read.
However, this being the last book in the series written in 2012, I wish there was another one so that I don't have to end the series on such a sour note. One of my favourite characters, Delorme, totally changes her character and that was disturbing to me. The parallel story in this book, gives us such limited information and provides no depth to those characters. Those chapters were just an annoying interruption to the story for me.
I find it hard to understand how the Giles Blunt could have written so differently about the characters he created in this otherwise exciting series. If someone told me that another author wrote this for him, I would believe it in an instant.
I wish I had left this final book in the series unread. Left a bad taste in my mouth.
However, this being the last book in the series written in 2012, I wish there was another one so that I don't have to end the series on such a sour note. One of my favourite characters, Delorme, totally changes her character and that was disturbing to me. The parallel story in this book, gives us such limited information and provides no depth to those characters. Those chapters were just an annoying interruption to the story for me.
I find it hard to understand how the Giles Blunt could have written so differently about the characters he created in this otherwise exciting series. If someone told me that another author wrote this for him, I would believe it in an instant.
I wish I had left this final book in the series unread. Left a bad taste in my mouth.
September 24, 2014
The murder mystery part of this novel was exceptional, especially the way it was juxtaposed with entries from an Arctic scientist's journal. But the ending seemed rushed and clumsy. I was glad to see Cardinal and Delorme begin to admit their feelings for each other, but was disappointed with the way the author brought them back together so easily, especially since there are some complications that needed to be dealt with, like John's feelings for his deceased wife and Lise's forays into the "dark side."
Hopefully the next novel will give their relationship the attention and development it deserves.
Hopefully the next novel will give their relationship the attention and development it deserves.
February 16, 2015
This is a very good series, although the police force represented is a bit confusing. You can't tell me Algonquin Bay has its own force. They'd have used the OPP, surely? As was pointed out, it's not Toronto. This Loach character is going to disappear, thank goodness, because we don't need another yelling character.
The story itself, with the episodes from the "blue notebook" to run that parallel plot is fascinating, although I wonder about Mr. Priest and I'm very glad to have that settled. There are a number of uncomfortable elements and while I wonder what all did happen to Lise in that club I'm just as glad not to know.
The story itself, with the episodes from the "blue notebook" to run that parallel plot is fascinating, although I wonder about Mr. Priest and I'm very glad to have that settled. There are a number of uncomfortable elements and while I wonder what all did happen to Lise in that club I'm just as glad not to know.
February 9, 2016
"Until the Night" wraps up Blunt's Cardinal series thus far. I devoured these novels one after the other, each time thinking I would go on to another author, but unable to do so. They have proven to be the perfect winter read - engaging, clever - and I have wanted nothing so much as to curl up beneath a blanket and just read read read. This author does a wonderful job of bringing both characters and setting to life, and he also creates a compelling mystery. Not to mention, in "Until the Night", finally, a bit of romance for our hero. But no spoilers from me! Simply put - this novel is as wonderful as those preceding it. Hurry and read it!
August 13, 2013
I read all of Blunt's Cardinal mysteries earlier this year. I liked most of them and was looking forward to this one which is his latest one. But I must say that this was my least favourite so far. The interwoven Blue Notebook chapters were a bit tedious and ultimately their link to the mystery was a bit too far fetched and tenuous. Also I didn't really like where Blunt went with the character of Lise Laflamme. Having said that, I have read enough mystery series to know that every now and then I am disappointed and still look forward to picking up the next one in the series...
December 27, 2013
Liking the evolution of the main characters, though this was the first I'd read where Cardinal didn't strike me as being overly clever. Still, worth reading if you've become attached to the main characters.
December 16, 2015
An excellent Cardinal/Delorme mytery or should I say mysteries as they are working on several, including an old, already solved case. Blunt is one of the better writers around and when he writes of the cold artic, you feel the cold. Do yourself a favor and get acquainted with this series.
December 19, 2022
There were the makings of a good mystery here - 2 dead bodies and a link to a decades old case. The story really never comes together though. The plotting is slow and most of the characters unlikable.
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