Sundowner Ubuntu: A Russell Quant Mystery

by Anthony Bidulka

Book Overview

A mother's pain. A million dollars. A missing son. Desperate to right old wrongs, a new client hires Russell Quant to locate her son, Matthew, lost to her for twenty years. But can money relieve... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1897178433
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Idiomatic
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.7" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Sundowner Shines!

What a great writer Bidulka is! And I don't mean the story, which is indeed engrossing, but what beautiful sentences he crafts. Articulate, clever, often leading to an unexpected reveal - Bidulka's prose is always artful and he wields it with the skill of a master surgeon. That was the first thing I noticed about Sundowner Ubuntu - how strong the writing was. Then, I lost track of it, as I became engrossed in his characters and their globe-trotting adventures. As a hopelessly stay-at-home person myself, I depend on books like Sundowner to take me to the places I wish I had the spirit - and means - to visit. But thanks to Bidulka, I get to experience new lands without ever leaving my favorite reading chair. How cool is that? There's also a great mystery here, and wonderful, colorful people you'll love getting to know. This was my first adventure with Russell Quant, but it won't be my last. Scott Sherman, author, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery

Read it in one day

I'm a reader who follows the lead of book reviewers in publications I trust. Over the years I've come to know a few, including the reviews in GLR Wroldwide magazine. The most recent issue just hit the stands and I read about an author heretofore unknown to me, Anthony Bidulka. I love discovering a new author who has a body of work for me to digest, and this one had five books in a series. I picked up the said review subject, Sundowner Ubuntu. Well, I began reading in the morning and by late evening I was still at it, so thoroughly was I enjoying the experience. Why? As the reviewer, Raymond-Jean Frontain, points out, one of the most engaging parts of this series is that our hero has a real life - while he is on his case, he still has to deal with family and friends and all those other details of life you and I deal with. It makes the book's main character, Russell Quant, real, loveable and ultimately, someone you want to spend time with. Life is varied, it is not always funny or sad or dramatic - its a fabric blended with all of this and I love a writer who recognizes this. There are a few caricatures in the book I must say, but I somehow felt entertained by them rather than manipulated. I immediately wanted more, and am heartened to know there are 4 earlier books within which I can lose myself over the next months awaiting more.

Ravishing

Sundowner Ubuntu by Anthony Bidulka is a ravishing tale of lost sons, wrathful revenge, rollicking adventure, stunning landscapes, and romantic entanglement. Yet, all is not as it seems - actually, very little is - right from the first pages. Russell Quant's newest adventure is a crowd pleaser, containing all the bits that long time Bidulka fans love and new readers will delight to. From the ultimate Sereena scene where she enters a restaurant like a queen bee deciding which drone to kill, to likable, quirky Saskatoon locals, whiffs of new romance, a breath taking voyage into the most foreign of worlds- Africa, a heart stopping climax, and a most bittersweet ending. Bidulka is firing on all pistons.

Bravo Bidulka

Beautifully written, intricately plotted, a story lovingly told. Bidulka's everyday man Russell Quant makes me believe even I could have the same adventures as him. Somehow it seems quite possible that a gay detective from Canada could be dining in a South African township, be chased by bad men at Victoria Falls, be abandoned at a Botswana airport, and be set adrift on the Zambezi River. Even upon return to his hometown of Saskatchewan, the story only gets bigger, not smaller. Twists and turns aplenty but not overdone. The story kept me on my toes, the characters kept me involved. The last chapters had me tense, angry, suspicious, wretchedly sad, and ultimately overjoyed. With great anticipation I await the next adventure of the very human, humorous,handsome Russell Quant.

Best Russell Quant yet!

In Sundowner Ubuntu, author Anthony Bidulka takes the next big step, nay, a giant leap, in his progression as master storyteller. Everything begins so innocently (as great adventures often do). A woman appears in Russell's office looking for her son. Twenty years ago she and her husband disowned their child after he fell into truancy and trouble with the law. Now, the father is dead, and the mother is remorseful. She wants a second chance. It's a good solid case for our Saskatchewan private eye. But the case seems to be over almost before it begins. The son has hidden himself somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of the African continent. And thats where the excitement begins in what is the most far-reaching, adventurous, action-packed, emotion-laden Quant book to date. Not only are we treated to the author's first hand knowledge (check out Bidulka's website) of travel through the sometimes beautiful, sometimes trecherous, sometimes gut-wrenching landscape that is modern-day Africa, but we get to accompany Russell on a case that is unexpectedly thought-provoking. One horrible, childhood mistake has repercussions that spans multiple decades and countries and lives. The thread of ubuntu that gently weaves its way through the book is typical of Bidulka who is king of marrying contrasts and contradictions with real everyday life. This is a winner.