Book ~ "Disposable Souls" (2016) Phonse Jessome

From Goodreads ~ The body of Pastor Sandy Gardner, a TV preacher with a global following, turns up near a Halifax container pier. The mysterious case lands with Cam Neville, a city cop with a dead wife, PTSD and a haunting past. Can Neville, a former biker and war hero, solve the killing and find himself?

In search of the truth, Neville and his partner, a Mi’kmaw Mountie named Blair Christmas, enter a perilous world of strippers, kiddie porn and corruption that threatens to destroy them. Meanwhile, Neville is torn between loyalties to his two brothers, one still with the Satan’s Stallion bike club founded by their father, and another, a priest who wants to save everyone, including Cam.

Cam is a police officer working in Halifax, NS.  His father was the founder of the Stallions, a motorcycle club, which Cam used to be in and his brother, Gunner, is currently a VP.  Cam had gotten married (then widowed), went to war in Afghanistan and as a prisoner was tortured.  He had a hard time handling everything once he got home.  His brother, Greg, a priest, straightened him out and he joined the police force.  His former biker "brothers" hated him because he was now a cop and his new police "brothers" hate him because he is a former biker.  He is paired up with Blair, a Mi'kmaw Mountie, who everyone is prejudiced against.

A TV preacher is found murdered near where Cam and Blair are assigned.  As they dig deeper, they discover there may be ties back to the Stallions which puts Cam in a precarious position.  The Stallions, including Gunner, don't want to help him and the police don't trust him.

This is the first book I've read by Phonse Jessome and I liked it.  His name is familiar to me ... he is Nova Scotia journalist so that's probably why.  The story was interesting and was intense and heavy duty.  In addition to the story, there is a lot of information and I learned a lot about the relationship between the joint force of the police and Mounties in Halifax and motorcycle clubs.

The author doesn't hide the fact that the story takes place in Halifax and there are lots of references to locales (I've been so many of them).  I was born in Nova Scotia and lived my first ten years in the Halifax area.  In fact, my sister lives in Spryfield, where the "Litter Box Boys" reign and some of the action actually takes place about a five minute drive from her house.

I found the writing a bit dense at times, though ... there were a lot of long paragraphs that could have been broken up to make reading easier.  One page, for example, was made up of just three paragraphs.  As a head's up, there is swearing (lots of F-bombs) and violence.

I liked the characters.  The friendship between Cam and Blair was obvious as was Cam's torment between his two worlds.  Despite the differences between the three brothers (one is a cop, one is a bike and another is a priest) and their messed-up childhoods,  they did care about each other.

I look forward to reading other books by this other.  I understand there is supposed to be a sequel to this book coming out in the fall and I'll keep an eye out for it.