A suspenseful and moving novel which has at its centre one of Richards’ most memorable and haunting characters. It is the fall of 1989 in a small Miramichi mill town. Jerry Bines is acquitted of murder and returns home to his estranged wife and young son, with hopes for a new beginning. But when he learns that Gary Percy Rils has escaped from prison, he has good reason to fear for his own safety and that of others. In his attempts to protect his family from Rils by taking him under his wing, Bines sets in motion a series of events that ultimately leads to tragedy. The story of what happens unfolds piece by piece, as related by police reports, interviews, and by a man to a boy. Vivid in its sense of place, this penetrating chronicle of lives is both dark and redemptive, devastating and comic. This novel was made into a Gemini Award-winning film of the same name.

デイヴィッド・アダムズ・リチャーズは、荒々しいミラミチを舞台に魂の救済を巡る人間模様を描きます。主人公の造形を通じ、正義と悪の境界が曖昧な世界で愛する者を守るべく足掻く人間の衝動を浮き彫りにします。証言が織りなす多層的な構成は、運命の過酷さと絶望に灯る微かな救済を読者の心に深く刻み込みます。 映像版が「狩る者と狩られる者」の緊張感を視覚化する一方、原作はテキスト特有の沈黙すら雄弁な心理描写に真骨頂があります。映像が放つ動的な迫力と、書籍で味わう内面への深い沈潜。両者を併せて享受することで、この悲劇が持つ普遍的な重みはより鮮烈に、かつ立体的な深みを持って読み手の魂を震わせるはずです。