The Poacher's Son Book

At this time and age, to be a father is not a joke.

I have been a father since 17 years ago. My only child, a daughter, made me one. True, fathers used to be the sole breadwinner in their family. Somehow, a working spouse means that the father must relegate or share some of his decision-making powers. That, for me, changed the patriarchal setup that our own fathers used to have. But for most families around the world, a wife's share to the family coffers is now a necessity. Times, indeed, have changed.

I thought I had to mention this because Jack's father in this debut novel of Paul Doiron has all the vices that a man could have: booze, cigarettes, drugs, women and poaching on illegal games. In my opinion, the father's character is too one-dimensional. He is all too evil while his son is the angel. I remember George Orwell using a drunkard as an example of a person who drinks because his life is a mess but the more he drinks the more he gets into a mess. I know for a fact that there are fathers who have psychological defects and they could be really evil but those come far and between. I still believe that no father thinks of doing harm to his wife and children or anybody for that matter. All fathers celebrated with joy and probably tears when they first held their new firstborns. They dreamed of good things for their kids. They only meant to be good providers. Good husbands. Good dads.

But somewhere along the way, their ships did not sail through. They probably lacked good education. They were in the wrong places. Their lucky charms did not work. Their prospects did not materialize. So, they became depressed. They became hopeless. They turned into vices. They hit their wives. They became evil dads.

The Poacher's Son is a whodunit thriller but I read so many like this so I concentrated on the relationship between the father and his son, the narrator. The prologue was full of promise and I thought and hoped that Doiron would use it as a preview to what the novel was all about. To my dismay, though. The concentration camp with the mysterious fugitive was just a tale to introduce the character flaws of the father. I thought it would have been more exciting if the father was that fugitive. The character of the son was more multi-dimensional and could elicit sympathy from readers since he was the only one who believed that his father was innocent. However, there was no convincing reason why he behaved that way considering that his father was all evil.

Other than these, if you are into fast-faced, plot-driven whodunit thrillers, go for this book. Doiron also has this ability to describe his milieu quite well that you'll feel his setting while you're reading especially the scenes in the forest while the son and his friend are trying to find the evil father. The ending also surprised me and you'dnever be able to identify who the real killer was. This novel was Doiron's first and it got nominated in the Edgar Award which was not surprising. I also saw that he has just released a follow-up novel Trespasser. Neither did it surprise me too.