What I appreciated about The Suicide Magnet is that it speaks about how infrastructure and policy can be affected by the mental health struggles of the common person. The work is about the infamous history of the Bloor Viaduct in Toronto, and how, even with all of the issues surrounding this piece of property, there was still a significant amount of red tape that needed to cut through to ensure the bridge was safe from those trying to jump off of it. The prose is very easy to digest, in that it is linear and simply written; the work is extremely organized and empathetic to the entirety of the situation (even though it took years for the bridge to become safer). Sometimes infuriating and always compelling, I would recommend this work to those interested in psychology and architecture.

The Sucide Magnet was one I picked up, knowing this was going to be an iffy read for me. I’m not one who often reads non-fiction, and most that I like to read are true crime. The only book non-fiction book that I can think of that I like is IRRESISTIBLE by Adam Alter, which I highly suggest to anyone who uses anything that would be considered social media. However, this is about the Bloor Viaduct -the second most popular suicide magnet in North America- and two citizens who led the fight to have a suicide barrier put in. So I was intrigued.

Right off the bat, McLaughlin has this amazing way to the political fight with the concern of people jumping from this bridge and statistics surrounding mental health. I am not a political person, and I have have the same desire to read about a political fight as I do about bridge structure - that is, zero. Due to the skill of seamlessly interweaving all three things, I never found myself bored or zoning out. In fact, I was completely invested almost from the start, and had to resist the urge to look up everything until after I was done reading. McLaughlin also touches on a few other quite big situations that happened to involve people related to this fight. If you haven’t heard of the Maple Leaf Gardens scandal, you’re apparently not the only one, and after reading this book and researching it, I’m amazed it seems to not be as known. Basically, this book touched on more than just a political fight to change a bridge.

Non-fiction isn’t for everyone, and I can relate to that, but if you have any interest in reading about strangers coming together, about the struggles people have with mental illness, about resources severely lacking for those who need help, and how those who felt so alone in the end had so many fighting for them, then I would highly suggest picking this book up. McLaughlin obviously put in a lot of research and handled all aspects of this subject with great skill and care.

This book was very interesting in parts but other parts got a bit tedious. It’s obvious getting the suicidal barrier took a long time and meant dealing with maddening bureaucracy, but I had to skim some of sections detailing the bureaucracy dealings as it felt repetitive and tedious. Overall, it was definitely interesting, especially the parts about the barrier design, and those who weren’t saved because the barrier took so long to be approved.

This was so incredibly well done and informative. I’ve heard of the Bloor Viaduct and its history with suicides before, but never to this extent. It was fascinating reading about how everything came to be, and the stories of those surrounding the deaths there. This is an important piece of Toronto history. Very engaging, well told, balanced, and respectful.

Much more than the story of a bridge, this book is about suicide. About the responsibility held by the organizations who do news coverage of suicides. About the frankly disgusting politics surrounding decisions that could undeniably save lives but give a win to a politician of another party. About how far people will go to protect money instead of other humans. It’s about young people being abused, about adults not having access to the mental health ressources they need. The Suicide Magnet is a portrait of a society that has failed its people so many times. It’s the story of two people’s fight to try and change things for the better.

Although this book was tough to read at times, either because it made me so angry or because the subject covered was absolutely heartbreaking, I really enjoyed it.

I learned a lot about the process of regular people having an idea for a change in their community to it potentially becoming reality. I also learned about suicide, about the conventions and regulations that should govern how news organizations and journalists talk about those deaths, about the impact of vocabulary and images. I learned about infrastructure and subways and crisis phones and the history of Toronto. I learned about other events and places that have been linked with increases in suicides (such as the Empire State Building and the show 13 Reasons Why), and how we as a society have a role to play in preventing their repetition.

A very good, important book.


Thank you NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fascinating and oftentimes difficult book to read. The battle to get this suicide barrier installed was amazing and those people that the author talks about who kept this battle alive are remarkable. The politics of the city plus the amount of money spent overall is priceless to those people it has saved from taking their own lives.