Forty Words for Sorrow

By: Giles Blunt

Narrated by: James Daniels

When the badly decomposed body of 13-year-old Katie Pine is found in an abandoned mine shaft, John Cardinal is vindicated. It was Cardinal who'd kept the Pine case open - insisting she was no mere runaway - and Cardinal had been demoted to the burglary squad for his excessive zeal. But Katie Pine isn't the only youngster to have gone missing in the rural town of Algonquin Bay, and Cardinal is now given the go-ahead to reopen the files on three other lost kids. When another youth is reported missing, he begins to see a pattern that screams "serial killer."

Meanwhile, the brass have partnered him with Lisa Delorme, newly shifted to homicide from the Office of Special Investigations, and Cardinal can't help but wonder if she's been sent to keep tabs on him. A guilty conscience makes him think so.

Superbly paced, with fully-fleshed characters and utterly convincing police detail, Forty Words for Sorrow is also a novel of place that transcends the genre. Blunt puts us in a small Canadian town in the dead of winter and makes us feel the cold, then turns the cold into a metaphor for the destruction of young lives.

©2004 Giles Blunt (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Blunt has done for Canada's north what James Lee Burke did for Cajun Louisiana." ( Margaret Cannon, Toronto Globe and Mail)

Good book, bad accent.

A well written crime novel by Giles Blunt. His intricacies into Canadian culture really submerge you into the scene. The narrator was a good voice actor, with cool effects like radios and what not. My only gripe was the bad Canadian accent, stretched words that weren't necessary.

Canadian Cop a Winner

This was my first experience with this author and the novel is toward the end of the series. However, this didn't diminish my overall enjoyment of the plot, the characters and the pictures the author paints of a demented pair of killers in a cold and desolate landscape. A child is found buried in a slab of ice and from there, a grisly tale of madness and obsession unfolds. I'd be happy if Audible carried more of this series.

An excellent book

The story line was really good,, if a little gruesome. The matter was appalling at first, but didn't bother me at all as the. book continued. The writing was very engaging.. I loved listening him, I would love to hear some other words by this author, but there were no more on audible. Read this book.

characters were interesting.

It is a sad but interesting mystery and it kept me interested until the very end.

Very engaging

I came to Forty Words for Sorrow after having watched the Cardinal TV series, and I found the story quite engaging and well written and the narration excellent. Daniels does an excellent job with conversation, much better than most I've listened to. Very natural, and he did a good job with the Canadian accent as well ("how aboat that? I've bean wondering"). I finished listening tonight and went to download the next Cardinal novel, and..... there aren't any. What the what? Audible! How can you leave us hanging like that?! Please please bring us the rest of the series!

Forty Words for Sorrow
The Delicate Storm
Black Fly Season
The Fields of Grief
Crime Machine
Until the Night

could not put it down

it was a very good read. An enjoyable easy read. Looking forward to reading more by this author

Fantastic listen!

I loved the Cardinal series on Hulu, so this book was a must! Great voice portrayal and fantastic mystery!

Material outweighs average narration

The accents used were atrocious and not even close to the average speaking voice in the real North Bay.

Great story, great characters!

Really enjoyed this story. The characters have layers and are believable. Absolutely recommend, have listened to it over and over.

even better than the TV show

it felt a little slow in the beginning, but once you feel the tone and understand that it is setting a specific tension it goes swimmingly from there. can put it down. heading straight on to number two. The narrator is fantastic.