by Steven GilbertI read the first Journal of the Main Street Secret Lodge about three years ago, and enjoyed it, so was happy to pick up Steven Gilbert's return to this title when I saw it at TCAF this year. Like the first book, it depicts the town of Newmarket Ontario at the end of the nineteenth century, and involves a group of American robbers looking to take advantage of the small town.
They have heard that there is no real police presence in the town, and a lot of money, but they are not aware of the fact that the retired Captain Woodrow looks after things. Once they arrive, and burn down the town's main hotel, the Captain goes after them, Rambo style.
Gilbert is a gifted artist, who takes a languorous amount of time getting to his actual story. Along the way, we get a highly repetitive newspaper column on the methods employed by pickpockets, we see some kid take a voyage on a boat along the Mississippi, and learn about how the land that became Newmarket was taken by force from some Haudenosaunee. None of these things are essential to the story, but I guess they provide atmosphere, as do the pages and pages of establishing shots that show up throughout the book.
Now, I like those establishing shots a lot, as I feel that Gilbert is at his strongest when depicting such scenes.
This is a good book, but a very unfocused one. I would still return to the Main Street Secret Lodge (whatever that might actually be) for a third volume some day.
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