November 16, 2015
In Kirby's third Luc Vanier mystery (after The Dead of Winter), Luc, an inspector detective with the Montreal police, leads the investigation into the kidnapping of Sophia Luna, a Guatemalan journalist who was struggling to remain in Canada after her refugee claim was rejected. She was working on a story about human trafficking, and following that lead takes Luc and his fellow detectives Saint Jacques and Laurent into that very dark underworld. A parallel plot line throughout much of the book tells the story of Katya Babyak, a young woman from the Ukraine who agreed to be smuggled into Canada on the promise of a job as a nanny. Instead, when she arrived in Montreal, she was held hostage and forced to work as a prostitute. The two storylines come together in a tense thriller mixing ruthless criminals, corrupt politicians, and danger that threatens Luc's family and drives the veteran policeman to go beyond the limits of the law. Kirby's other career as a lawyer lends the book a gritty realism and informs some sharp political observations about the plight of migrant people.