WHITE HEAT (Edie Kiglatuk #1)
M. J. McGrath
Viking Adult
August 2011
I was looking around hoopla for something to download and listen to while working on an extended project; a project requiring little or no actual thought. White Heat popped up and since it was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Kate Reading, I thought I would give it a try. Little did I know that White Heat would be one of those books that remind me just why I love to read. Books offer me the opportunity to immerse myself in the culture of a place that I will never visit. White Heat is set in the Canadian High Arctic region among the Inuit People. Edie Kiglatuk is a half-Inuit, half-Caucasian part time teacher and hunting guide. She is divorced, a recovering alcoholic and an accomplished hunter who is not not quite accepted in the community. Not accepted, even though she has lived there all her life. White Heat opens with Edie leading a hunting trip for two men from the US, men that she doesn't much like. The trip goes as bad as it can get when one of the men is shot and a blizzard sets in. Shortly afterward Edie loses someone to suicide who is very dear to her; she is convinced that the two events are related but community leaders are anxious to shove it all under the rug.
I have to admit to almost total ignorance of the Inuit culture and the people who live in such a cold, dark, alien and deadly place. McGrath has the power to paint a vivid picture through her words of both landscape and people. Like most indigenous people in places where the white man rules, the Inuit have more than their fair share of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse and despair; all of which play a part in the story of Edie's quest for the truth. Edie is a pint-sized, resourceful dynamo who is as stubborn as they come. She does get some help from her friend, policeman Derek Palliser, but precious little from anyone else, especially her no-good ex-husband.
There are so many things that I enjoyed about White Heat; the descriptions of place and culture, the full-bodied secondary characters and of course Edie herself. I did feel that the mystery at the heart of Edie's quest for the truth was overly convoluted. McGrath gets bogged down at times with minute accounts of Edie's every action and thought. Edie is extremely competent but reckless and seems to get out of tight spots with sheer luck on several occasions. Those are the only quibbles I have but keep me from giving a full 5 Star rating. I would recommend White Heat to mystery fans, especially those looking for something a little different.
RATING- 4 Stars
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