Title: Manistique
Year: 2021
Author: Craig Terlson
Country: Canada
Publisher: Ethelbert House
Craig Terlson grew up in Saskatchewan and would graduate from Alberta College of Art and design. His career in design would span 26 years, working for Self Magazine & The Boston Globe among others. Presently, when he's not crafting the great novel, he works as the Design Manager for CMU's Communication & Marketing Department. With an extensive track record, having written five novels, a novella, and a short story collection, Craig appears to be well on his way to becoming Canada's next great writer.
Craig's latest published work, Manistique, features the titular antihero Luke Fischer who, in Michigan, teams up with the local sheriff, Sam, a tough, determined woman with a hell of a spin kick. Together they try to solve how a modern-day Johnny Appleseed spread $400,000 across Upper Michigan before ending up on the bottom of the Manistique River.
Manistique is a perfect sequel to Surf City Acid Drop (2015); it is darker in tone, features more mature characters, and has Luke Fischer in more pulse pounding circumstances than his previous venture. At one point Luke asks if they're going in "Guns blazing like OK Corral", another character replies "No, more like The Wild Bunch." The film nerd in me shivered as I knew I would be in for one hell of a ride. Circumstances proved to unfold in more dire ways as I, on edge, read through each page.
While Surf City Acid Drop works well with surf n turf music (cue Jan & Dean), Manistique has a rougher edge. It feels like a Western inspired by a curious mix of Sam Pekinpah (The Wild Bunch) & John Ford (The Searchers). I had seen Anthony Mann's The Furies just a couple days ago & found it remarkable how similar the dialogue was in tone (albeit the 1950 western had less cussin'). Terlson is a very unique storyteller; with this book he manages to perfectly blend Westerns, thrillers and neo noir into a captivating story.
Impressively written, Craig Terlson's Manistique is a great work of fiction that, intentionally or not, pays great homage to other works of fiction. I am quite awestruck at the way he can craft an engaging, engulfing story that ought to get even better with a second reading. I need more of Luke Fischer's adventures; that character ought to be a household name.
"The perfect sequel to Surf City Acid Drop, Manistique is an impressively crafted work that is darker in tone, features more mature characters, and has our main character in more pulse pounding circumstances than his previous venture."
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