shopping cart cartcreate accountsign-in
ecw press logobooks linkauthors linkreviews linknews linkevents linkabout link
reviewsreviews
What they're saying about our books

Praise for McFetridge's Toronto series from Winston-Salem Journal

"For anyone with an appetite for realistic crime fiction, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is a literary three-course meal. For the crime-fiction addicts among us, it's a fix. Raw, seedy and complex...will keep you guessing all the way to the final page"

For anyone with an appetite for realistic crime fiction, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is a literary three-course meal. For the crime-fiction addicts among us, it's a fix. Raw, seedy and complex, this second novel by John McFetridge has much in common with his first. Namely, it is set in Toronto, it deals with cops, schemers and organized crime -- and there are no holds barred when McFetridge places us inside the thoughts they think and the things they do.

This novel's most unusual feature is that it is the situation, more than any single character, playing the role of protagonist. With more than 140 characters, 46 of whom were introduced in the first 50 pages, McFetridge had me scrambling to identify whom the story was about. The answer? It's about the condition of Western society and the forces that shape it. In his July interview with January Magazine, McFetridge says:

"Writing crime fiction is also a good way to deal with the huge amounts of hypocrisy I see every day. I write a scene in which a bunch of bikers talk about how they'd be out of business if marijuana was legalized and I feel like I've done some social commentary and maybe been a little entertaining at the same time."