Philip Boudreau was a troubled man, living in rural Nova Scotia until he is killed by fellow fishermen in 2013. The other fishermen had been tormented and threatened by Boudreau for years, until they had finally had enough. The author examines the lack of police and governmental intervention, and how it contributed greatly to the accused murderers' actions. Who really is guilty?

This is a well written book about an unusual situation. Lobstermen tolerated the illegal actions, mainly theft, continuously perpetrated by one among them. Then they took action. They took care of the problem and virtually no one said they were in the wrong.

My thanks to Steerforth Press, Donald Cameron and Netgalley.
Mr. Cameron has done an excellent bit of research here.
Truth is that I'm citizen of the United States who would quite happily spend a winter in this part of the world!
Far as I'm concerned? Some people are so damned toxic that they deserve to be killed. Yeah, it's a harsh judgement, but there's no excuse for him. The fact that the Mounties let so many infractions pass? Well, that's on them.
Fisherman, Lobsterman, can't afford those loses.
What's amazing to me is how obvious the killing was. They were bound to get caught. You know what they say about a secret!

This is an in-depth look at a Canadian true crime story about a thief, Phillip Boudreau, who had been tormenting people on Cape Breton Island for decades. When he wasn’t in jail, he liked to steal lobster, lobster traps, or just cut the lines to the traps if he felt like someone had been talking to authorities about him. He also liked to threaten to burn their homes down frequently, and steal anything he could find in and around their homes. Strangely enough, he was also known for his acts of generosity to people in need, and there were many who liked him as well. It all came to a head when he was caught stealing lobsters and cutting trap lines, but stayed ahead of the fishing boat they belonged to and taunted them, laughing. A good non-fiction book about culture and crime on the island. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Silver Donald Cameron, and the publisher.

Phillip Boudreau was an incorrigible criminal with, according to some prison psychiatrists, the moral development of a five-year-old. Living on the small Canadian Maritimes island of Isle Madame, Phillip brazenly steals, vandalizes, threatens, and—as we find out late in the book—worse. This is a fishing community, and Phillip commonly not only steals lobsters from neighbors’ traps, he sells the lobsters on the town wharf, and he cuts their trap lines and vandalizes their traps.

Though Phillip has been committing crimes for years, and been arrested and jailed many times, much of the time the Mounties and the Fisheries officials are unsuccessful catching him. And, as some townspeople say, Phillip’s threats are worse than the crimes, because you can’t feel safe, and law enforcement don’t do anything about them.

The years of fear, anger and frustration come to a head one sunny day in June, as lobstermen James Landry, his son-in-law, and their hired man see Phillip stealing their lobsters and taunting them as he cuts the lines. The lobstermen come back to port, but Phillip never does. His speedboat is found drifting, missing its motor.

Cameron vividly depicts life on Isle Madame, a place where everybody knows everybody else, and people don’t tend to lock their houses or vehicles (even with Phillip around). He describes the court case in detail, the prosecution’s version of the case, defense counsels’ versions, the court’s instructions, the verdicts, sentencing, and the aftermath for the community.

Cameron asks the question: what do you do in a small community with someone like Phillip Boudreau, when the legal system has failed? What is the effect of violence on the community? This is a striking story not just of crime, but of a unique way of life, informed by Acadian, native tribal, and Anglo traditions.