Drawing on 17 years in the Arctic working as a criminal lawyer, Canadian author Malcolm Kempt has set his debut novel in the region. A Gift Before Dying follows Sergeant Elderick Cole, a disgraced cop exiled to the rugged landscape of Cape Dorset, Nunavut. This remote community of 1,300 people is a place of extreme cold, punishing winds and long stretches of darkness, where the end of the streetlights marks the start of a thousand miles of nothingness. Despite its small size, the area has one of the highest violent crime rates per capita in North America.
Cole’s assignment to Cape Dorset followed a botched high-profile investigation into the drowning of a young boy, Danny Carter – an error that triggered a civil lawsuit and the collapse of his marriage. Cole is estranged from his daughter, Chloe, who self-medicates with alcohol and only contacts him for money. Cole himself is a jaded and worn-out figure who struggles with insomnia and substance abuse. He initially viewed his posting as a form of penance, but it has turned into a bleak, depressing, isolated existence.
His melancholic and troubled state of mind intensifies after he finds the body of Pitseolala – a troubled Inuit girl he swore to protect – hanging from the kitchen ceiling of an empty home. Pitseolala’s life was marked by tragedy. Her parents died in a tent fire when she was a child and she was later abused by her controlling ex-boyfriend, Silas. At the time of her death, she was pregnant.
While the official ruling ia suicide, Cole notices signs of forced entry and the absence of the cross Pitseolala always wore. Cole’s partner, Constable Veronica Aningmiuq, a tall Inuit woman who rarely laughs, believes the case is closed. However, his’s obsession with redemption drives him to investigate further – it’s a chance to atone for the Danny Carter situation.
As the investigation progresses, the pair encounter various figures and potential suspects, including teacher Curtis Reynolds, counsellor Felix Bauer and Pierre Jardin, a bootlegger selling illegal alcohol to the townspeople.
Cole also finds an unlikely ally in Pitseolala’s ten-year-old brother, Maliktu. The boy is disfigured from the fire that killed their parents and suffers from psychosis, having recently stopped taking his medication. Maliktu claims to hear his sister’s spirit telling him to help Cole find the person who hurt her.
As they struggle with potential hallucinations brought on by grief, guilt and self-medication, the lines are blurred between a traditional police procedural and a supernatural thriller. Inuit folklore, such as the shadow people and the Qallupilluit – scaly creatures living beneath the ice who kidnap children – adds to the already ominous tone.
Kempt uses the Arctic winter as a character in its own right, depicting a world of endless darkness and extreme cold. His descriptions are visceral, and the world he creates is grim and dreary. If you thought Nordic noir was dark, Kempt proves that he can go even further and more atmospheric with his own brand of Arctic noir. However, some may find the dreariness a little too pervasive and an occasional tendency to over-explain hinders the storytelling.
A Gift Before Dying gives an unflinching look at the social issues facing isolated communities, including poverty, the erosion of Inuit traditions, a lack of government resources and the endless cycle of violence. Most noticeable are the children roaming freely during the day and night, committing housebreaks, theft and vandalism. But for some of them it’s safer on the street than being at home with alcoholic parents.
Kempt’s debut is a haunting read permeated by hopelessness and despair. Here, the murder is not the primary tragedy; the collapse of a community is. Ultimately, it is a chilling, essential addition to the crime fiction genre.
Also see the Edie Kiglatuk books by MJ McGrath, or Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.
Baskerville
Print/Kindle/iBook
£6.99
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
