Reviews

This is a well-researched and disturbing book that chronicles the history of Toronto's gay village and the horrific serial killings of queer men mostly of South Asian or Middle Eastern appearance. The author prefers the term 'queer' for people of the gay community and explains this is not a derogatory term. This is a powerful indictment of the police force and society's systematic marginalization of minorities: gay people, Indigenous women, black and brown people, sex workers, trans women, homeless, and drug addicts. The author, investigative reporter. Justin Ling was an appropriate person to write about the crimes of Bruce McArthur because he identifies with the gay community and is familiar with Toronto's Village. He writes with empathy and compassion for the victims and gives a searing account of the omissions and failures of the police force. He also praises individual officers for diligently carrying out their duties during a difficult, lengthy investigation. Foremost, was the difficulty and ignorance of the police department to take seriously the reports by devastated family and friends. They had difficulty convincing police that the men were actually missing. It was suggested that the person probably moved away and simply did not want to be found. Often the missing person's name was not even entered in a database. It was left up to friends to endlessly search and to post Missing Persons posters all over the Village. Ling remarks that the profiling of serial killers is not an accurate science because their number is so small. He describes the large number,( possibly 49), Indigenous women who became victims of pig farmer, Robert Picton, in BC. When they went missing police ignored worried friends and families until it was much too late. He also gives accounts of brutality by police against Blacks and other marginalized people in Canada and elsewhere. In 2019, Bruce McArthur was finally arrested and plead guilty to the murder of 8 men. He owned a landscape business and had dismembered the bodies and placed them in planters on a client's property. Ling believes some other people who disappeared may be among his victims but the case is now closed.