Stupid Crimes

Andrew Thomson is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of
Guelph.

This gripping crime novel is not easily categorized as mystery or
detective fiction.

Bolen is a writer of great skill—and equal cynicism. During his 15
years as a parole officer, he was exposed to the harsher side of life.
In Stupid Crimes he paints a gritty, even seamy, portrait of a parole
officer’s life dealing with petty criminals and chronic losers in
Vancouver. His protagonist, Barry Delta, faces a stream of small-timers
and the scams and schemes they concoct in their quest for the quick buck
and the easy score.

While Bolen has drawn a powerful portrait of life on the street—of a
subsociety of despair, crime, and criminal insanity—the novel’s
strength is its sadly believable characters. (Against this backdrop even
Delta seems more antihero than role model.) There are no happy endings
to the lives of the characters here; crime continues, the system creaks
on.