Dave is going through the motions at Wakeland & Chen. It’s good that the security side of the business has clients, as the private investigation cases are few and the compensation paltry.

A call from the mayor’s office brings some movement. Her brother Jeremy Fell is missing and the mayor wants him found with little fuss thinking that Wakeland has less restrictions than the police with whom she has filed a missing persons report.

Wakeland walks out of the meeting with the mayor’s chief of staff and a police inspector, “Right, they’re not ready for us. Let’s go.” They won’t give him the details he needs to be effective, so he won’t give them any of his time.

Another case comes Wakeland’s way. A transit officer is blinded and her gun is stolen. She wants it back before it’s used in a crime. This undertaking will not likely bring a good result but he’ll do his best for her.

The Fell missing person case weighs on him, for like a Jack Russell Terrier, he can’t sluff things off, can’t let things go. It’s the good and the bad about Wakeland.

He struggles with his girlfriend leaving him to work in another city and his internal, ever present, enmity. He’s a decent man living in a city he loves but fails to understand the progression of. He’s greatly offended by the changes and the rich who can afford them. It all colours his life in ash.

“Over ten years now in the PI business, and what had I learned? That my body was more fragile, my existence more precarious than I’d previously believed.”

A fan of Sam Wiebe’s writing, I reviewed his book Hell and Gone in 2022. Sunset and Jericho brings us deeper into Wakeland’s world, and while it’s not necessarily a comfortable place to be, it’s a place where you want him to be less troubled. Strong writing, character development, structure and pace. Well recommended reading.