The Sleeping Boy

Marie T. Gillis is a member of the Angus L. Macdonald Library staff at
St. Francis Xavier University.

The Sleeping Boy is Barbara J. Stewart’s first novel, and it is far
from a typical detective story. Stewart demands from her readers a high
degree of suspension of disbelief, but in return she offers a
compelling, thought-provoking, and disturbing examination of personal
and corporate ethics.

Prominent psychiatrist Leah Mallick and her husband, Tim, are found
dead in their bedroom; their eight-year-old son lies unconscious in his
own room. Police realize it was a murder/suicide, but who are the
victims and who is the perpetrator? Lieutenant Anne Shannon, director of
communications for the Lockport police department, is drawn deeply into
the case because of her own personal history. Susan Shaw, a state
bureaucrat (and former lover of the governor), has her own reasons for
investigating. Leah Mallick had been tapped to lead a commission on
managed health care, and her sudden and violent death could affect the
governor’s chances for a second term and ultimate run for the White
House, which in turn would damage Susan’s political reputation.

At first adversaries, Anne and Susan eventually pool their resources
and find themselves confronting business interests whose influence
pervades the entire community. They also debate the questions: Who was
Leah Mallick? Why did she and her husband withdraw so suddenly and
completely from Lockport society? How did her life lead to her death?

The author takes on the issue of managed health care, particularly as
it pertains to quality of life and the right to die, and paints an
appalling picture. Equally daunting are the questions she poses about
personal responsibility in the face of overwhelming temptation. Even the
strongest of us, she seems to say, will abandon our principles if the
price is right.

In wonderful, absorbing prose, Stewart creates living, breathing,
wounded characters who come to be as familiar as friends, and places
them in circumstances that, while a trifle unrealistic, catapult
them—and us—to an ending that is both shocking and completely
believable. This is a marvellous debut.