The Last to Die

This is a book that I got sent to me by a publisher/distributor after they came across my blog quite some time ago. I felt bad because they sent me a free copy to review and then I stopped blogging for a while, but I eventually got to it and promptly did my review.

Anyway, The Last To Die is a recent release by Canadian journalist Robert J. Hoshowsky and it details the executions of Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas, the last two men to be successfully sentenced to death in Canada. It's a largely untold story and Hoshowsky pretty much raced against time to piece it together using first hand accounts and all the relevant minutiae and legal documents in the hope of preserving this episode in Canada's history before all the players involved died and their stories disappeared with them.

Ironically, Canada did away with the death penalty concurrently with the United States' decision to bring it back, which I think speaks volumes about the differences in these superficially similar nations. Howshowsky reconstructs the formative years in the lives of the two last men to be hung - Ronald Turpin, a cocky and weasel-like unfortunate who killed a cop after a burglary, and Arthur Lucas, a pimp and borderline-retard implicated in the brutal gang-related murders of a drug addict and his prostitute girlfriend. Howshowsky has a pleasant and unobstrusive writing style that brings an easy eloquence to what could have been either an incredibly dry text or an over-flowery tale of sensationalism. The events that sealed the fates of these two men are expertly reconstructed from various sources, as are their final days in gaol and the machinations of the courts that sentenced them. It's said that the devil is in the details, and never has it felt more true to me than here, and the author does a very good job at presenting a balanced account.

Having said all that though, I have to admit to being a little puzzled as to why I was sent the book in the first place. As an account of Canada's death penalty it is an incredibly valuable piece of work, but to an Australian reader it borders on being completely irrelevant. I found it incredibly hard to motivate myself to read it in the first place, and I can't think of a single reason to reccomend this to another Australian who isn't already a true crime buff. This isn't to say I didn't like the book, it's a tragic story told well and I found several things of interest in it, but I don't think I would have ever read it if it wasn't sent to me for reviewing. Not really a criticism, but I felt the context of my review was worth mentioning nonetheless. I also felt that more photos could have been included, but perhaps there weren't that many available or allowed for use. Anyway, if you like true crime or are interested in the death penalty in particular, you'll find this book an informative and easy read.