Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the French (Canada) by Donald Winkler

Boundary, a picturesque summer idyll for families from the nearby US as well as from Quebec, is haunted by the legend of a trapper named Pete Landry, whose obsession with a local woman ended in tragedy. When, in 1967, two young women are brutally murdered the rumour of his ghost haunting the lakes and forest spreads quickly.

The Chief Inspector called in to investigate is not looking for ghosts though, seeking to find the murderer before another killing takes place.

Rather than being a murder mystery though, this is about the effect the murders have on the close-knit community. Narrated by 14 year old Andrée, it is something of a coming of age story as well, something Michaud has used as a theme previously. Andrée has the eagerness one would expect about becoming an adult, but also a trepidation, heightened by the deaths of the girls.

Rather than the murders being centre stage, here Michaud uses the situation to explore the very nature of being alive, delving into aspects of guilt, loss, grief, desire, infatuation and maturation.
She creates an atmosphere which is the strength of the novel, one in which the setting of the forest and lakes plays a crucial role, and the inhabitants of the community that have come to live in fear within it.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5