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Contemporary Fiction Views: Not your typical reindeer games at Niagra Falls [1]
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Date: 2022-10-11
Niagra Falls
A young woman mourns the surprising demise of her husband while carrying on with a dead-end job at a Toronto call center and caring for her extremely emotional mother in a debut novel that packs a lot of punch in a small volume.
Citizens of Light chronicles the journey of Colleen after her husband dies. But it's not just her life since that sad event. The past is also very present. There's a reason why her mother sometimes hides herself in the bathtub or doesn't answer the phone. Colleen ran away from home when a teen and ended up in a cult. She has lived with her mother ever since the police raided the cult's compound and tries as best she can to be a calming presence for her flightly mum.
Things drastically change when Colleen recognizes someone in the background of a newspaper photo about an arrest in a Niagra Falls casino scam. It's a man who showed up at her husband's funeral and said he worked with her Leonard at his factory. But no one there knows him. He's wearing gear from a casino. Wait. What?
A pushy fellow call center worker gets involved and soon Colleen and Patti are on a quest, even if Patti charges Colleen for rides home and doesn't know the true nature of the quest.
For much of their haphazard investigation, Colleen and Patti would be at home in Twin Peaks as they track down and follow the elusive man who appeared at Leonard's funeral, and other people who get in their way. Author Sam Shelstad performs the balancing act between madcap and heartfelt emotion well. This is true whether they are navigating casino security, crummy hotel rooms, far too many Cinnabons, Colleen's mother not answering the phone or Patti's abusive husband trying to get her back.
The story has added depth from learning more about Colleen's time in the cult and more about Leonard and their marriage. One way that Colleen remains connected to her husband is through playing an online game as his avatar. In Reindeer Games, the avatar roams around and sometimes encounters a magnificent reindeer who tries to warn her away. Which, of course, only makes her more curious and determined to solve the mystery.
In the end, the game serves both a plot purpose and a symbolic purpose. Coming back to the game at the story's end is a benediction after the plot takes a dire turn.
Shelstad has published a short story collection but this is his first novel. One of this book's most compelling aspects is that it's not often a man can write in a convincing woman's voice, but Shelstad has done this.
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