3 out of 4 stars
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The Making of Jake McTavish by D.M. McGowan is the story of a cattle rancher and fur trapper who is dealing with the aftermath of his wife’s brutal murder on their homestead. The story is set in the late 1800s, in the Canadian Wild West, where the police force is rarely present and even more rarely helpful. Following the incident with his wife, Jake spends several years isolating himself in the wilderness, but a violent encounter forces him to face the demons that have been haunting him since his wife’s death. He begins to dig into the details and clues from the scene of the crime, working closely with his wife’s sister to uncover the truth. However, this truth is more than he bargained for, and as he continues to investigate he discovers an entire web of deceit and violence that has plagued his family members for years.
This story is delivered in a rugged and straight-to-business tone. There are few extraneous details, which allows the plot to move along briskly, and keeps the reader’s focus on important points. Though this contributes well to the efficient pace of the story, it allows little opportunity to get to know the side characters as well as we get to know Jake. At the start of the story there are very few side characters, so knowing little about them is not much of a problem. However, toward the end, as the number of players grows it becomes difficult to remember who is who, since each name is only given a brief introduction.
Nonetheless, it is not a complicated book, and despite some confusion about the side characters it was easy to follow the main threads of the plot. The dialects and scene descriptions came across as well-researched and authentic to the time and place, though at times the intimate interactions between Jake and his sister-in-law seemed overly modern… I would have expected more reserved behaviors between members of the opposite sex in that era.
This is a quick and engrossing read, especially for those who are interested in Canadian history, or enjoy works set in that time-period. The murder mystery is not the deepest or most complex, yet this almost becomes secondary to the skillful setting descriptions and the general mood conveyed by the author. I would have preferred a bit more focus on Jake’s inner transformation, since the title of the story implies that this is a key point in the book. Rather, it felt as if the author was telling us that Jake had transformed, but not explaining how this had occurred.
With a bit of editing to fix a handful of grammatical and spelling errors, and perhaps some additional details to flesh out the character development, this story would reach its full potential as a solid example of a murder mystery/adventure set more than a century ago. Fans of old Westerns, readers interested in historical fiction, and folks who enjoy stories of the rugged outdoors are likely to find several points of interest in this book. I rate this novel 3 out of 4 stars; though far from perfect, it was an engaging (and at times, educational) story. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Jake living off the land, using only basic tools to create shelter and survive while traveling through the country.
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The Making of Jake McTavish
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