This plodding prequel to Aubert's Arthur Ellis Award–winning series (Free Reign, etc.) takes Ellis Portal back to his youth when he studied law at the University of Toronto, years before an unexplained scandal destroyed his career on the bench. Asked to accompany friend and fellow student Gleason Adams on a midnight mission to the city morgue, Portal finds himself immersed in the abrupt disappearance of a female corpse midway through an autopsy. Portal drags his feet in helping Adams solve this inexplicable although not very compelling conundrum, because of his desire to further his own law career by interning for a respected jurist. Against an awkwardly applied backdrop of such '60s events as civil rights marches, the New York World's Fair and Beatles concerts, we follow Ellis on his half-hearted search for Adams's mysterious connection to the victim. After a gloomy opening scene and a long winter of investigation, the happily-ever-after ending somehow doesn't seem to fit the grim events and setting of this disappointing tale. (Oct. 1)
Forecast:The unmade bed on the jacket is an odd choice, as there's little or no sex in the book, nor is sleeping a theme. The novel would've been better served by art that reflected 1960s social issues.
