Torment

TORMENT is a mystery novel set in the small fictional town of Marcville, Ontario, a model bedroom town. Westland High is its model school. But both are susceptible to cracks in the harmony of the social milieu, and silent tears in the misery of individual lives. When Kyra Whitehead, a vivacious cheerleader, is raped at a celebratory team party, no one anticipates what follows this single, horrific act. Amongst hundreds of staff and students, finding witnesses is not a problem, but defining motives and eliminating inconsequential evidence becomes a nightmare for Detective Michael Stewart and his crew of fellow police officers. Identifying suspects can only be achieved by realizing who the intended victims were, and then, who would want to harm them. The words and actions of a string of proposed suspects are interpreted in unexpected and startling ways. The story leads us through the trauma of lives brutalized by bullying, and into worlds where drug and gambling addictions redefine the bully and the victim.