Here’s the magazine version of the review as a downloadable .pdf

Warden’s Words Fall 2015

Dyed In the Green – Book Review by Gerry Lister

I received a “sponsored ad” on my Facebook for a book titled Dyed In The Green which was published in early 2015. It is a novel written by a retired Canadian National Park Warden who worked in national parks all over Canada. The information provided said that the book would be the first in a series of books inspired by the men and women of Canada’s national parks. The synopsis for the book states: “National Park Warden Ben Matthews expected challenges with his new posting at Cape Breton Highlands. But he got more than he bargained for. Facing a notorious poacher with a reputation for letting nothing get in his way, and the local communities who viewed poaching as part of their way of life, Ben and the park wardens are drawn into an intricate game of cat and mouse that takes a turn no one could have imagined.

Set along the world-famous Cabot Trail, Dyed In The Green is a powerful story of egos, greed and corruption, pulling readers along on an emotional rollercoaster that weaves bitter rivalries into a gripping story about protecting one of Canada’s iconic, special places.”

Well I was sold. If the book measured up to this synopsis, it should be a decent read. I was particularly intrigued with the fact that it was a novel about park wardens set in my home country. My fear was that it would just be a Canadianized version of the Nevada Barr novels, which, for the most part, are just murder mysteries with the US National Parks as the backdrop. I don’t mind a good murder mystery, but because I prefer to read “warden books”, I always hope that the next novel I read doesn’t veer too far that way. I contacted George and obtained a copy for review.

The first chapter of Dyed In The Green didn’t let on where this book would go, but as the chapters began to unfold, it was clear that this was primarily a book about some of the hurdles faced by parks wardens of a decade or more ago. Although no specific time period is ever stated, one can assume that the author is drawing upon his own experiences in the Cape Breton Highlands, and the story is taking place in the 1980’s or 1990’s. That is further borne out by the author’s very good depiction of the working conditions of the wardens, and the fact that the wardens are generalists, and go about their duties without the benefit of cellphones or sidearms. Anyone with any knowledge of the current Warden Service knows that they are now a small, armed and strictly law enforcement focused agency. That was not the case for nearly 100 years, and the challenges of not only being unarmed, but of not being autonomous from the individual park’s Superintendent, and of having only semi-functional equipment are key elements of this story.

Author George Mercer has created his own unique, but historically accurate genre with Dyed In The Green. While drugs, murder and other crimes are prevalent in this book, they are not the main substance of the story. We are all aware that many hardcore poachers also have a propensity for other crimes, so it is not a stretch to have the two worlds overlap as they do in this novel. The way that the author then takes certain elements of the criminal world and the wildlife poaching world, and drapes them with the fabric of the Cape Breton culture to create his storyline, is really quite creative and imaginative, yet completely plausible and believable.

I really enjoyed Dyed In The Green. It was full of interesting regional characters, outsiders trying to fit in but do their job, suspense, action, drama and sorrow. I was drawn into the story and found it very compelling and captivating. Not only was it a book that I found hard to put down, but it was one that left me wanting more when it was done. I have to say that the official synopsis for this book was pretty accurate in all respects.

I’m happy to know that more novels are planned in this series, and I am definitely looking forward to the next one, Wood Buffalo, for which there is a teaser at the end of this book.

Dyed In The Green (ISBN 978-0-9879754-0-9) is 350 pages (not including the Wood Buffalo teaser) and is available in both a soft-cover trade paperback, and also in eBook format. The book is for sale at close to 80 bookstores across Canada with a suggested retail price of $19.99. It can also be ordered directly from George by following this link – https://georgemercer.com/purchasing/. The shipping process quoted there is only for shipping within Canada, but you can contact him directly at [email protected] for “international” shipping rates. If you are eBook inclined, electronic versions of the book can be purchased online from Amazon.com ($7.89 USD, $9.99 CDN) and Kobobooks.com ($9.99 USD).

A recent piece on why I wrote Dyed In The Green in Saskatoon’s Star Phoenix and the Regina Leader Post.

I’ve had a few things to say about the proposed Never Forgotten Memorial in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. I’ve even gone so far as to sign a letter to the Minister protesting the notion of building the memorial at Green Cove in the park. In my opinion it’s just not appropriate to cut away another piece of a national park for a memorial that could literally be built anywhere.

But I got called out about the letter and have to eat a little crow. I was asked (politely) to “man up”, and I will.

The letter focuses on the notion of building the Never Forgotten Memorial in an area zoned as Wilderness and also challenges the public consultation process.

But the proposed building site is not zoned as Wilderness, and despite its intent, much of the letter misses the mark.

As a signatory to the letter, I apologize for the error. I was wrong.

It’s important to check the facts.

As for the other aspect of the letter, the consultation process, one could argue until you’re blue in the face that there either was or wasn’t enough consultation.

That is less of an issue for me.

But I was wrong about saying the area is zoned as Wilderness.

It isn’t and never will be in our lifetimes, especially if we continue to develop our parks with structures such as “Mother Canada”.

You see, I still vehemently oppose building this memorial anywhere in Cape Breton Highlands National Park or in any national park for that matter and my reasoning is simply this.

It doesn’t belong there.

I could go on and on about this but my main argument is that our national parks already get millions of visitors every year. They are not ecological reserves and weren’t intended as such. But every day they are looking distinctly more different than the surrounding landscapes and the difference will become increasingly apparent as we continue to develop every inch of ground outside our of our national parks.

That makes decisions about what happens inside our parks even more important.

As we incrementally eat away at our parks with a new development here and another one there, we lose more of the qualities that were the reason why the parks were established in the first place. Adding something like this new memorial doesn’t help.

We worked our way across Canada with national parks and now live on the other side of the country. The last national park I worked in was Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. Like Cape Breton, it’s a beautiful place. Unlike Cape Breton, it was sliced and diced by one development after the other before the park was established.

Thirty years ago, people here resisted even having a park established. Now they wish they’d done it sooner to prevent some of the development mistakes that were made in those same thirty years.

They are now trying to restore some of the pieces that were previously developed. But getting it back after it’s gone is a huge challenge for any national park. Not to mention incredibly expensive.

Even though Green Point was “blasted to make way for the Cabot Trail” as was pointed out to me, it doesn’t justify altering it any further. Each development cumulatively eats away not only at the physical park, but at the intent and spirit of what our national parks are meant to represent. It’s the age-old adage of “death by a thousand cuts” and if you look at national parks across the country, you will see it holds true.

It’s not rocket science.

As we add development and increase visitation, we lose some of the qualities that our national parks were established to protect – species of plants and animals, vistas, etc.

Globally, we are losing them on a regular basis.

And that’s a fact.

The proposed memorial is better suited to somewhere other than in a national park.

It can be built, pretty much anywhere.

A national park can’t be.