The Courtenay Library invites the public to attend a reading and book signing by Sointula author Bruce Burrows.
Bruce will read from his recently published mystery novel The River Killers.
The River Killers is the story of Danny Swanson, Department of Fisheries and Oceans employee and ex-fisherman, who isn’t exactly upset when he’s reassigned from a desk job in Ottawa to an at-sea job on the West Coast. His superiors think they’re punishing him for his indiscretions, but Danny is pleased to be back on the Pacific, reconnecting with his old fishing buddies.
Revisiting his past life, though, is trolling up some old memories, including a troubling incident from 10 years ago when Danny and his crew pulled up a deformed fish. It was young Billy who decided to bring the odd creature to the DFO in Vancouver for examination. Billy and the fish were never seen again.
With the help of RCMP sergeant Louise Karavchuk, Danny starts hauling old histories to the surface and delving into what he starts to believe may be a massive conspiracy.
Who can Danny trust in his search for the truth? The organized, well-dressed officials of the DFO? Or his somewhat rowdy and rough-around-the-edges fishing buddies from the past?
The book has already garnered excellent reviews, with local and national papers.
The Globe and Mail said, “Bruce Burrows, ex-fisherman and commercial diver, knows his oceanography, and that gives this debut novel considerable credibility. Add a terrific Vancouver location and a plot with a solid ecological-disaster scare, and you have a very good first book.”
There was also a stellar review for The River Killers in the July issue of the Library Journal. “Conspiracy is alive and well in Burrows’s winning debut. There is plenty of technical detail for readers who love adventures like Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm or David Masiel’s 2182 kHz. Burrows’s prose can be dense, but his ability to bring a mixed cast into the tale is stellar.”
With years spent working as a fisherman, commercial diver, and most recently, an at-sea-observer, Burrows is a true man of the sea. During his time as a fisherman, he wrote a weekly column called “Channel 78, Eh” about fishing on the West Coast.
This is a free author reading and all are welcome to attend this Saturday at 2 p.m. at Courtenay Library at 300 Sixth St. in Courtenay. For more information, call Mary Donlan at 250-334-3369.
— Courtenay Library
