Detective Sergeant Judith Allison is already on her fifth investigation with this new detective novel which undoubtedly allows the heroine to stand out in the landscape of Quebec thrillers. Because Godmann’s children has everything to please fans of the genre: a plot inspired by real events that navigates between past and present, a link with current events coupled with an incursion into the social reality of the region, as well as a heroine whose complexities of personal life only make it even more endearing.
Posted yesterday at 6:30 p.m.
Recently transferred to the Outaouais Regional Police Service, Judith Allison must deal with her ex who is trying to reconnect with their son and her new lover who is waiting for her to decide to come live with him. When a suspicious death is reported at Hull Hospital, Detective Sergeant and her team set out to figure out who could be angry enough with a seemingly uneventful former psychiatrist to kill him. The investigation leads Judith Allison to Alberta, where we discover a dark part of history through these “special schools” of the 1960s.
We dive into the heart of the social problems caused by institutionalization and the systemic crisis linked to the lack of staff in hospitals; but we are also in the middle of winter 2020, and the first cases of COVID-19 are beginning to emerge in Quebec. Between her worries as a mother and her desire to do justice to those left behind, Judith Allison must make heartbreaking decisions to solve this case that keeps us in suspense until the very last pages.
Godmann’s children
Maureen Martineau
VLB Editor
416 pages