Book Review: Ocean Drive Masters Pace, Tension and Mood

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Ocean Drive

Sam Wiebe | Port publications

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$24.95 | 314 pages

Just a year after the gritty, bleak and surprising Sunset and Jericho, Sam Wiebe’s fourth Wakeland novel, the New Westminster author returns with another propulsive dive into criminality that captivates from its first page.

Despite this prodigious production, Wiebe is going from strength to strength, with stellar characters, memorable settings and a mechanical plot. And Wiebe’s style, extremely simple, direct and forceful, remains as attractive as ever. Like a worldview where nihilism, despair and hope mix with the volatility of a Molotov.

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As Dave Wakeland’s next arduous case unfolds, Wiebe moves from Vancouver to White Rock to a standalone story in a retirement paradise known for summer family fun and expansive views of the Pacific.

In Wiebe’s hands, the city loses that benign drowsiness. Among the well-meaning, lawful, and tolerant citizens, Wiebe spies on the opportunists, the jaded, and the power-hungry. Secrets abound, as do deals with the devil and political corruption.

Wiebe alternates his chapters between two locals whose paths violently collide.

Features RCMP Sgt. Meghan Quick as something of a success story who left her hometown to pursue a career in geographic positions in Ontario and Manitoba. Back in his hometown, feeling hungover and still smarting from his wife’s divorce, Quick’s morning reverie is interrupted by a call about a house fire. Very soon a body is discovered. Then others come.

As the case escalates and dangers come his way, Quick’s values ​​change and his comforts disappear.

Cameron Shaw, a couple of decades Quick’s junior, has taken a completely different path. As he walks away from Kent Institution, a maximum-security federal penitentiary in Agassiz, he holds a brown paper bag with belongings and documents. He is aware that legal release means strict rules and routine check-ins with his probation officer must be followed. He sees that he is not free: “This is just a slightly longer leash.”

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Shaw is also aware of an anonymous note left by an anonymous woman for a worthwhile meeting. An hour later, Shaw, a man with restricted options, confronts the woman, Zoe, across a restaurant table.

Representative of a law firm, promises money in exchange for information. All Shaw has to do is associate with certain people: members of the League of Nations, a street gang known for their Thrive or Die tattoos and their loyalty to the Heaven’s Exiles Motorcycle Club. In Zoe’s opinion, these people will probably be shocked by Shaw’s conviction for manslaughter seven years ago, when he was 22.

Although Shaw promises to keep his nose clean, he’ll soon be doing Zoe’s bidding. He slowly learns that he doesn’t dislike moral gray areas. Or to a variety of crimes and misdemeanors, for which he has a natural talent.

Wiebe’s mastery of plot details is a marvel to behold. He is economical in his words and careful in sprinkling the breadcrumbs. The plot unfolds with a breathless labor of breath that attests to Wiebe’s absolute mastery of pacing, tension and mood.

And while both Shaw and Quick live and breathe the case, albeit from opposite sides, readers can’t help but succumb to the urge to turn the page.

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From illicit border crossings and an out-of-wedlock pregnancy to arson, a casino project, gang rivalries, reckless associations and many executions, Ocean Drive offers a tantalizing case whose pieces of the puzzle any armchair detective will applaud.

The fact that Ocean Drive is so well written, with so much artistry and assurance, makes it a much tastier literary treat.

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