Hearts of Stone

Canadian crime fiction tends to drag and this is no exception. The premise is stereotypical as can be, as a small time crooks decide to follow through on a kidnapping plot of the owner of a small farm who they think is rich and famous out of her perceived cash because they have the typical drug dealing and gambling problems and owe their suppliers. Things go unavoidably wrong and things spiral out of control. There is no mystery. The perpetrators are known so it is just a question of how and if they will be brought to justice. Typical two one dimensional cardboard cut outs characters with no personality. The story was neither life affirming nor inspiring; it didn’t inform, nor did it entertain.