Grizzly Dance

Cynthia Whissell is a psychology professor at Laurentian University.

Grizzly bears play an important role in both the unfolding and the
resolution of this mystery. Vengeance is a recurring theme in the novel,
and the bears are the avengers of injustice. This is reinforced when
Tasker, the protagonist, retells the folk tale of the dancing grizzlies
who drive an unworthy group of Natives out of their particular Eden.

In spite of the mystery that lies at the centre of the plot, this novel
is more about character and stereotypes than about solutions. The author
writes about the North in familiar terms, because she has spent several
years in the Yukon. Her language is clear and pointed, and her crisp
storytelling holds the reader to the very end—not an easy task in view
of the fact that the end of the story seems to have come at the
beginning.

Readers will enjoy this highly focused, tightly developed novel, and
will have little trouble in identifying with the protagonist and his
motivations. Their only problem will be deciding where they are at
different points in the narrative, because the author moves frequently
from one time and place to the other. Luckily, chapter headings provide
the necessary clues.