-
Access Our
Best Book Club
Books of 2025!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Novel
by Giles Blunt
Book Reviewed by:Detective John Cardinal is on the hunt for an ingenious killer even as he mourns his own wife’s tragic death in this thriller of heart-stopping suspense. Published in the UK as The Fields of Grief.
Autumn has arrived in Algonquin Bay, and with it an unusual spate of suicides. The most shocking victim yet is Detective John Cardinal’s wife, who has finally succumbed to her battle with manic depression. As Cardinal takes time to grieve, his partner, Lise Delorme, handles an unsavory assignment: a young girl appears in a series of unspeakable photos being traded online, and background elements indicate she lives in Algonquin Bay. Delorme is desperate to find the girl before she suffers more abuse.
When Cardinal receives a string of hateful anonymous notes about his wife’s death, he begins to suspect homicide. His colleagues believe he is too distraught to think clearly, and he’s forced to investigate alone. In doing so, he comes up against a brand of killer neither he—nor the reader—has ever seen before.
In his most masterful and thrilling novel yet, Giles Blunt confirms his reputation as a rising international star in crime fiction, and positions Detective John Cardinal among the finest characters in the genre.
Published in the UK as The Fields of Grief.
.png)
BookBrowse Awards
2008
With its themes of mental illness, physical abuse and dealing with loss By The Time You Read This could be a deeply depressing story, but in fact it's an absolutely riveting character-driven mystery, a thinking-person's novel that tackles big issues sensitively, while reaching the pulse-pounding heights of the best thrillers. If you have yet to discover Giles Blunt, start now!..continued
Full Review
(810 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Giles Blunt was born in 1952 in
Windsor, Ontario, and grew up in
North Bay, Ontario. He describes
his parents as being "so English
that the space on their
passports for citizenship could
only be filled in" British
Beyond Belief". He spent most of
his education at a Catholic
boys' school called Scollard
Hall, moving to a "regular
school", Algonquin Composite,
for his last two years.
His career started with poetry
which was published in various
publications including Grain
and Poetry ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked By the Time You Read This, try these:
by Louise Penny
Published 2017
Winner of the 2016 BookBrowse Fiction Award
Bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel.
by Louise Penny
Published 2014
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life in Three Pines, finding long buried secrets--and facing a few of his own ghosts.
.gif)
When all think alike, no one thinks very much
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
