Michael Van Rooy (1968–2011)

No reader would blame Monty for retaliation, and part of the many delights of An Ordinary Decent Criminal is Monty's ingenious manner of getting even. Monty may come across as a kind and accepting person, but hidden deep within his soul are immense reservoirs of cruelty and slyness that would make Mickey Spillane blush. His American publisher hypes Monty as akin to the Jack Reacher novels of Lee Child, of which I am not familiar. For me, Monty is part MacGyver and part Burke, the one-name show more hero of Andrew Vachss' series of crime thrillers. But where Burke is grim, humourless, and skirting parody at all times (a line Vachss frequently crossed as the series grew more and more ludicrous, albeit entertainingly so), Monty has a way of finding the lighter side of things, even when he's being beaten into unconsciousness. Van Rooy's novel would not work half as well if Monty didn't have real charisma to help make some of the things he does more palatable to the reader. Because when Monty gets serious, he gets mean, and Van Rooy's balancing act of the two sides of Haaviko is a remarkable feat of writing, particularly when Monty gets very, very angry.

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I was very pleasantly surprised by the writing in this book. Michael Van Rooy is to be commended for an excellent first book. He has another in this series out now and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Sam Parker (aka Monty Haaviko) is trying to go straight after a life of crime. He, his wife Claire, son Fred and dog Renfield have just moved into a house in Winnipeg's north end when 3 young toughs break in. Sam kills all three of them. That is the start of his involvement with the Winnipeg show more police, especially Sergeant Enzio Walsh. Walsh wants to pin murder charges on Sam and he brings in two heavies to beat a confession out of him. Sam is hardened by his life of crime and also pretty smart so he just takes the beating and then uses the police brutality to get the charges dropped. Walsh is furious and vows to run Sam out of Winnipeg. Meanwhile the cousin of one of the people Sam killed, Robillard, is also after Sam for revenge. Life looks pretty bad for Sam and at times he is a heartbeat away from returning to his life of crime. In fact, he does commit a number of criminal acts (the most outrageous being stealing a change machine from a suburban mall) but they are just a means to the end of freeing himself from the threats and harassment of Walsh and Robillard.

I must say that Van Rooy gets the criminal mindset perfectly. Whether Sam/Monty can continue to walk that fine line between risky but essentially law-abiding behaviour and actual law-breaking remains to be seen. I really enjoyed the continual references to Winnipeg streets, areas, parks, stores etc. It was fun to mentally follow along with Sam as he traversed the city. show less

This book is aptly named in that it's the last Monty Haaviko book written by Michael Van Rooy so we only have this book and the two previous to remember Monty by. There was a fourth book planned by the author but he died suddenly of an apparent heart attack while touring to publicize this book in January 2011. I held off reading this book because it was the last but since it worked its way up to the top of the TBR pile now was the time to finish it.

Monty is mainly staying out of trouble show more babysitting a few children plus his own son, Fred but he will always be a criminal in his mind. So when he, his wife, his son and some family friends are out at the Winnipeg Ex and he realizes some hooligans are planning to torch the tent that holds the butterflies he doesn't go looking for a cop or other person in authority; he just handles the situation himself and no-one is the wiser. Later that same evening he does garner some attention when he uses his excellent hand-eye coordination to dunk cops into the tank with every ball he throws. A passing journalist recognizes him and does a short interview in which Monty mentions four wrongful convictions by the Winnipeg police. That brings a lot of attention to him, some of it negative, but also from people who think he would be a good candidate to head up the newly created police commission. He decides to go for the post especially since he is offered lots of money to throw the election to the ex-cop who is running. Of course, Monty would never really throw the election but he does have lots of fun pretending he will. What is not so much fun is when his wife is targeted by a vicious serial killer. She convinces him to keep campaigning while she stays at home surrounded by undercover cops who are hoping to flush the killer out.

The action in non-stop and Monty can deal out his own brand of justice which may not be strictly legal. As a Winnipegger I do love how Van Rooy name drops streets and businesses and locations in the city. I'll miss you Monty and Michael. If fictional characters have an afterlife I sure hope you two are together causing chaos. show less

Monty Haaviko has killed, stolen, sold drugs and spent quite a bit of time in prison. But, at 32, he’s changed his name (though almost no one calls him by the new one), has recently married a woman he loves, is the proud father of 10 month-old Fred and has just moved to Winnipeg determined to go straight. However when his house is broken into by three men one night and all of them end up dead at Monty’s hands few people, especially not the Winnipeg police, believe that he was sincere in show more giving up his life of crime. Monty, ably assisted by his wife Claire, have to prove his innocence and come up with creative ways to stop to the campaign to run them out of town.

I can’t remember who or what prompted me to get hold of this book (other than its Canadian-ness) but I’m very glad I did as it is a refreshingly unpredictable tale. Monty borders on being a little bit too clever at MacGyvering his way out of problem situations to be 100% credible but Van Rooy has used enough gentle humour and self-deprecation in his protagonist to make me want to believe in the character and I ended up willing him on to success at defeating his enemies with only length of rope and a drill bit. I also like the fact that his definition of ‘going straight’ is different from what mine would be (no killing but petty theft and the odd small con job seem to be OK) because that is more believable than someone managing to make a switch in one fell swoop. Perhaps the most likable characteristic about him for me though is that he never once downplays his violent, criminal past or tries to brush it off as someone else’s fault. He just wants people to accept that he’s done all the prison time he was sentenced too and is now a changed, or at least changing, man.

The plot unfolds well, almost in two parts as first Monty deals with extricating himself from the immediate legal problem of having killed intruders in his house and then moves on to sorting out the bigger problem of the campaign against him. There are lots of really terrific scenes in which Monty spots potential set-ups and manages to wriggle out of them before they do much damage (during which I learned many helpful hints for turning to a life of crime should the urge ever arise) and it’s fun to watch him turn the tables on his tormentors. My one quibble is that I never quite swallowed the motivation behind the tormenting but that’s a small thing really as I could well believe it was happening regardless of the reason.

I really had no expectations of this book by the time I plucked it from the TBR pile so was chuffed to find characters and a storyline that were unusual and engaging. It was one of those books I took every opportunity to read (e.g. gobbled up some pages while standing precariously on the bus) because I really became quite desperate to find out what would happen next. It does require a higher-than-usual suspension of disbelief but it’s worth it for the large dose of fun and the opportunity to question one’s ingrained stereotypes about good guys and bad guys.

My rating 3.5/5 show less