Vancouver Nightmare

J.G. Reade was Librarian of the Dalhousie Ocean Studies Programme, Dalhousie University, Halifax.

A paperback version of a title in a proven popular series, with a proven popular hero, the boy detective, Tom Austen.

In Vancouver Nightmare, Tom, itching again for adventure, is recruited into the city’s drug sub-culture, after posing as a runaway. Ever vigilant to avoid being unmasked, Tom uses his new friendship with Spider, a drug pusher, to obtain information about smuggling routes and operations. He is able, finally, to track down the person responsible for supplying drugs to young people in the Skid Road area.

This is not a sophisticated teenage novel, and I would consider that the book makes no claims to be such. It is deliberately written to be easily digested and enjoyed, from the first gripping moments in the Wax Museum, as a figure of Dracula rises from his coffin, to the climax, during which Tom dangles from the Lion’s Gate bridge.

Sentences are short and the action is fast and continuous. There are no surprises here — doors clang, footsteps crunch, keys grind, nerves tingle. With few pauses, the story moves to a successful climax and denouement.

This paperback version of Vancouver Nightmare is likely to create more fans of Tom Austen.