Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson

by Lois Simmie

John Wilson came to Canada from Scotland in 1912, leaving his wife and family with the promise to return in a year. In 1914 he joined the Mounties, and while stationed in Saskatchewan village, he caught TB and fell hopelessly in love with the young woman who took care of him. He would do anything for her, anything at all.

Winner of the 1995 Arthur Ellis Award for Non-Fiction, The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson is played out against a backdrop of catastrophic events — World War I, economic depression, the TB and Spanish Flu epidemics. It is the riveting account of a mounted policeman and the women who loved him.

Genres: Nonfiction, Canada, Read For School, Biography, True Crime, Historical, School

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1996

Reviews

[Grace Kiefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good soup. Johnny boi sucks. He says Wee Jesse way too much. He is the OG slim shady. Polly was also OG stuff. Great story, highly recommended.

[Eva M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed learning about early Saskatchewan (especially since I recently moved to the province) and on top of that, a murder and a very intertwined love story that actually happened over a hundred years ago.

The first part had me on the edge of my seat, and while reading, I had a lot of "wtf moments".... Like did this jackass of a man really just do that??? The lead up to the climax of the story was very clear and easy to follow. The middle to the end of the book wasn't quite the same. The second part concluded all the horrible shit John Wilson did and explained thoroughly how he was brought to justice.

BUT..

It felt dragged out and I preferred the story narrative aspect of the first half. The second half read more as a report (or essay?) than a story, there were a LOT of names mentioned and it was hard to keep track of everyone and what their job was.

Overall, it was still interesting and it makes me want to visit Blaine Lake and some of the other places mentioned in the book.

[Brett Tourscher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in high school and fell in love with it! It’s been a while so thought I would pick it up again for a reading challenge I’m doing!

It’s an older novel, published before my birth year (1999) and it’s a masterpiece! Each page is a new adventure with lots of plot twists! I was gasping at the edge of my seat!

I forgot how it ended — and I was still shocked! It truly is a one of a kind book that everyone should read at least once!

[Julie Golding Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book a higher rating, as it's an interesting story, Canadian, local to my current province of residence (Saskatchewan), and required reading for some high school students. However, I cannot say I ever actually liked the book as I read it, and thus I am compelled to give it a low rating. However, those who enjoy reading true crime books would likely find this book to be a very good one.

For me, reading this book was a depressing experience, as it's the story of a Mountie gone bad - so bad, in fact, that he murders his pregnant wife and buries her in a culvert, then marries someone else right away. It's set in the WWI era, so Saskatchewan itself feels very gritty, a Wild West, rough-and-tumble sort of place. While that may be true for the era, it lends the story an overall dark or hopeless atmosphere from the outset. This feeling is hard to shake, and as I read the book I felt as if I were watching the Titanic go down - I knew what was coming, and I knew it wasn't good. I don't like that sort of story, where there is no real hope at the end, so I did not enjoy the book, despite the many check marks in its favour.

[Adisson Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read it for an English class. And let me tell you, I have never hated a man more. I think he’s the main reason I don’t like the book. Actually, the only reason. I would give it a higher rating, but I just couldn’t stand this man and it made me want to quit. I felt so bad for Polly and Jessie and all the people close to them. (Especially Polly, I wish her fate was not what it was.) I only slightly felt for Jessie because she was young and naïve and in love, but seriously girl. That naïve? And even in the end, you still resented Polly. Thank god I was done the book when that cropped up. Seriously though, never hated a man/book character more than him.

[bubblegumpopper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had first read this book probably about 15 years ago and it has always stuck with me. I couldn't remember many of the details, but when I happened to look for it on Google Play and found that it was available in an ebook, I promptly purchased it. I'm so glad I did! I really like how this is presented almost as a narrative rather than just a clinical breakdown of facts. Yes, I know there's some conjecture here, but it makes the tale more compelling to read. I have since begun going around recommending this to anyone that will listen!

[Nate Lawliet · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novel about a pathological liar and murderer who has two wives and kills the first one to move away and live a life with the second. The story is very interesting and well-written until it gets boring and reads more like a report in the second half. Fell off quite a bit and since I had to read it for school I only ended up getting like a 95 on the test for the novel which made me hate it more since that was my lowest mark of the year.

[Tara Klink · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son read this in school and encouraged me to read it. It was interesting, especially living in the city that it took place in. It's just a little piece of true crime history and a nice quick read!

[Jacquie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a slog but super interesting Canadian history, yay!

[Ebz]

Read this in highschool. He would have gotten away with it if he just picked up her suitcases

[Morag Riddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating true story. It started out slowly but when I got into it then it was hard to put down. Makes me want to visit some of the places mentioned in my own province.

[Mello · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually like non-fiction, but this is great. Fuck John Wilson. Polly deserved better.

[Aliyah Unruh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth the read if you enjoy this sort of true crime. Although John makes me so annoyed it took a bit longer than I thought to get through.

[Barb Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book.

[Tammy Cote · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched documentary of an absolutely despicable man.

[Carrie Slager · Rating 1 out of 5]

I initially picked up this book because it was semi-local. (When you’re in Saskatchewan, any fiction vaguely mentioning your province is ‘local’, no matter how far away the story plays out from where you actually are.) I like true crime books, even if I don’t necessarily always review them. But this one I had to review.

Now, the main problem with The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson is that it tries so hard to be both a novel and a nonfiction account of a cold-blooded murder. In the end, it works as neither. In some respects, this has to be a fictional novel because (despite the award for nonfiction!) Lois Simmie really does insert her own flair into it and speculates highly on what John Wilson was feeling at the time. This is without backing it up with evidence like testimony from his trial or something similar, mind you.

And that’s why, despite the award, I also don’t consider this to be nonfiction. This is more of that hybrid genre, creative nonfiction. Normally the genre of something wouldn’t matter to me at all except for the fact that this book works as neither fiction or nonfiction for me. As fiction, it’s boring and as nonfiction it’s not exactly strictly true to the facts the way you see with other true crime.

Enough of my griping about categorization, though. It’s not all that relevant when a short read like this (something like 200 pages) was threatening to put me to sleep. As I said, part of it was the fact that Lois Simmie included almost verbatim the letters of Polly Wilson’s relatives, who had sent them to so many different policeman it made my head spin. Frankly, the first part of the book leading up to the murder was boring as well. There was too much focus on mundane events whereas the murder itself barely had any page time at all.

It shouldn’t have been because it really had the potential to let us watch John Wilson’s slow descent into madness and murder, but it was because Lois Simmie has a very dry writing style. It’s like she’s writing a textbook for schoolchildren, not an actual book (be it nonfiction or fiction). Even nonfiction writers can insert their own flair as long as they’re not playing with the facts, just like Toby Wilkinson in his book The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. He was very factual and backed up his speculations with evidence, but he also added in his own commentary of events on occasion in very cynical one-liners. He also wrote in such a way that his audience was engaged whereas Simmie doesn’t seem to care whether anyone is interested in her book by the second half.

I had been interested in this murder case, having never heard of it before, which is why I picked up this book. However, had I known it was going to be such a dull affair as this, I never would have wasted my time with it. I can’t honestly recommend it.

I give this book 1/5 stars.

[Charity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing true story! I enjoyed reading most of it, however large portions of the book are very dry due to the fact they are letters written by the real people.

[Scott Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having never heard this tale and thinking it was going to relate to another great Canada Mountie story, this murderous husband tale surprised me. It is a little known but unique story about an early 20th century immigrant, the formation of the NWMP, romance, marriage and murder. It is somewhat surprising to see the speed with which police officials went after their own man in these early days of their history and ended up with their first member who was convicted and hung for his crime.

[Nicolette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for English class, but I actually really liked this book. And considering it's a true story and it happened where I live makes it even more cooler and creepy at the same time. John Wilson was definitely a crazy one and I felt so sorry for Polly and her family. It's a mystery novel and I really enjoyed it. And I definitely recommend this novel for any one who lives in Canada or who loves mysteries and true stories!

[Dallas Berlovan]

I have partly read this book before while I was in grade 12 at school. So roughly in 2008 or 2009 I can't remember which semester that I had Canadian English.
I loved the book so far that I went out and bought it for myself and will read it again and hopefully enjoy it more that I'm older and more mature.

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this account of a murder in early Saskatchewan. I wish the main characters could have been fleshed out a little more, but the author had limited sources of information, but used them well to bring the story to life.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the murder story was pitiful at best, I liked the taste of old time Saskatchewan (7 hours to drive from Saskatoon to Regina, at 20 miles per hour!).

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

[Ivy McPherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This guy is an ass, but it was pretty good.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

its interesting to read about things like this..

[Memphis · Rating 4 out of 5]

John is the OG slim shady. Dudes gotta chill. Should stop using the term “wee” all the time, we get it, your Scottish.

[Sofie Seitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read !

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very engaging narrative true crime novel about a man who was just a really terrible husband x 2, but more importantly about the strength of his dead wife's sister, who never rested until she found out what had happened and saw John brought to justice. Also just a really interesting study of Saskatchewan in the early 1900s, the development of the RCMP, Spanish Flu, tuberculosis... all of it. But honestly, John Wilson was just such a drip.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second my second reading of this book. The first time was for my Grade 12 English class. I live in Saskatoon myself so this is a hometown history for me.

[Natasha starchief]

I didn't mind the book but it was kind of boring especially when you first start reading it!