Caught

October 7, 2013
Set in the late 1970s, Moore’s (February) latest is a smartly crafted novel about David Slaney and his two goals: first, to break out of prison and not get caught; and second, to move millions of dollars’ worth of marijuana from Colombia to Canada and not get caught. It will be his second attempt, and he’s sure that he’s going to be successful this time. After escaping from prison in Nova Scotia, Slaney must travel to Montreal and reach his close friend and partner in crime, Hearn, to finalize their plan. The book’s title, of course, brashly reveals the ending, yet Moore lets the plot unfold little by little, and it’s gripping. And Moore’s prose is as engaging as her skillful plotting. Dialogue is at once crystal clear and elliptical, and descriptive passages pulse with life, as in this sentence about mosquitoes: “They settled on his skin and put their fine things into him and they were lulled and bloated and thought themselves sexy and near death.”

November 1, 2013
An escaped prisoner, locked up for a drug deal gone bad, hopes for a few lucky breaks across Canada and South America. The hero of the latest novel from Moore (February, 2009, etc.) is David Slaney, who has a quintessential case of warring instincts. As he breaks out of a Nova Scotian prison (how isn't quite clear), he wants to build a stable, upstanding life for himself, but to do it, he needs to cross Canada and catch up with his former (only lightly punished) partner and arrange one more drug deal. As he hitchhikes and hustles his way west, Moore deploys clipped yet lyrical prose to depict Slaney's past failures, both in terms of romance and in marijuana smuggling, and introduces Patterson, the undercover detective tasked with tracking him down. Given Patterson's ease in staying two steps behind his prey (not to mention the novel's title), Slaney's fate is never really in doubt. If this book lacks the suspense of a traditional thriller, though, at moments, it smartly captures the sense of alienation that comes with life on the lam. And the book picks up some energy as Slaney journeys to Colombia for a drug run with a drunk captain, his impossibly pretty girlfriend in tow. Moore's skill at describing Slaney in isolation tends to falter when he interacts with others; the dialogue is generally flat or, in the case of the woman David left behind, overly dramatic. Moore is an established literary novelist taking a stab at a more plot-driven tale, and it's not a mistake in itself that this doesn't hew to convention. But the book never quite reconciles Moore's efforts to complicate Slaney's character with the stock feel of the surrounding characters and plot lines. An interesting but often ungainly attempt to blend mood piece and page-turner.

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December 1, 2013
Time spent in prison has done nothing to quell David Slaney's desire to deal drugs. So when he breaks out of the slammer, the 25-year-old's number-one goal is not to revel in his newfound freedom but rather to track down his old business partner, Hearn, and get back in the marijuana game. It's not as easy as he had thought. His manic journey across Canada forces him to adopt numerous guises to avoid getting caught. Alas, there is at least one person he wishes he could catch: his ex-lover Jennifer, who knew his shady history better than anyone else and loved him all the same. The dream of a thriving pot business sends Slaney sailing to Mexico and Colombia, where there's no shortage of rough seas. Will his ambition and hubris bring him riches or bring him down? Moore (February, 2010) steadily amps up the suspense in a cat-and-mouse chase between Slaney and Hearn and a vigilant detective; her breathless plot loses a little momentum at the end, but this is still an entertaining thriller with an engaging cast.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2013

Author of February, a New Yorker Best Book of the Year, and Commonwealth Fiction Prize winner Alligator, Moore depicts the wild journey of charming, audacious young David Slaney as he breaks out of jail and crisscrosses Canada, then heads down to Mexico and Colombia to make one last, big drug deal and win back his lady love.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2014

Childhood friends David Slaney and Brian Hearn grow up in 1970s Newfoundland to become college slackers, potheads, and drug runners--unsuccessful drug runners, that is. On their first big score, they're nabbed and arrested on their return from Colombia. While Slaney gets jail time, Hearn manages to skip out on bail, flee across the country, and change his identity. Four years later, Hearn concocts a bold new scheme. He arranges Slaney's escape from jail and pulls together a team of old friends and new investors for one more big operation. One of the "investors" is undercover detective Patterson, an overweight and underappreciated Toronto cop who hopes that, with the assistance of brand-new satellite surveillance, this case will be his big career break. VERDICT Moore, recent winner of Canada Reads and author of February, a New Yorker Best Book of the Year, provides a rollicking ride to an outcome that is never really in doubt. With pitch-perfect dialog and endearingly human characters, this finalist for Canada's prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize is a fantastic read. [See Prepub Alert, 8/12/13.]--Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014

Childhood friends David Slaney and Brian Hearn grow up in 1970s Newfoundland to become college slackers, potheads, and drug runners--unsuccessful drug runners, that is. On their first big score, they're nabbed and arrested on their return from Colombia. While Slaney gets jail time, Hearn manages to skip out on bail, flee across the country, and change his identity. Four years later, Hearn concocts a bold new scheme. He arranges Slaney's escape from jail and pulls together a team of old friends and new investors for one more big operation. One of the "investors" is undercover detective Patterson, an overweight and underappreciated Toronto cop who hopes that, with the assistance of brand-new satellite surveillance, this case will be his big career break. VERDICT Moore, recent winner of Canada Reads and author of February, a New Yorker Best Book of the Year, provides a rollicking ride to an outcome that is never really in doubt. With pitch-perfect dialog and endearingly human characters, this finalist for Canada's prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize is a fantastic read. [See Prepub Alert, 8/12/13.]--Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.