REDWOOD

In Bois’ novel, a man’s employment in an Ontario lumber mill takes him down a dark path.

Scott Douglas lives in Espanola, a small town with a depressed economy. He’s somewhat depressed, himself; he has a poor body image, drinks too much, and battles constantly with his wife, Pam. His life brightens when Scribbly Press offers him a four-novel contract and he also gets a job at Redwood Sawmill as a security guard. But when Pam and their young son, Jake, die in a car accident, Scott is left with nothing but his work life. At the sawmill, his main task is cleaning and making hourly checks on the furnace room, also known as the Konus. His co-workers include April Deville, who spends a night in Scott’s bed after a drunken night out, and Jean-Claude, who resembles an old rat and is the senior security guard. Jean-Claude is hated and feared for his write-ups, which often get employees fired. The bickering of millwright Bob Kovalchuk and apprentice Marty Burns initially seems comical but quickly turns sour. One day, Scott’s job takes an unexpected turn when he’s knocked unconscious and framed for a murder he didn’t commit, leading to a lengthy revenge plot. Bois develops the sawmill as an intriguing setting over the course of this novel. The narrative has several distractingly repetitive moments, however, as when Pam mulls over home expenses and then reiterates those same expenses in a letter. Banal dialogue often goes on for multiple pages without appreciably furthering the plot, and characters’ motivations are often unclear; for example, April very abruptly loses interest in Scott, and Jean-Claude comes off as either pure evil or as someone who merely wants extra shifts. Overall, Scott’s downward spiral might have been more compelling if his few good qualities, such as his love of writing and his relationship with his son, were better developed.

A novel with an offbeat setting, hampered by thinly written characters.