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The title of this thirteenth entry in Gail Bowen's series starring Joanne Kilbourn might have several references. First and most obvious would be to her adopted daughter, Taylor, now just turning fifteen, who clearly is a talented artist. But Joanne and her husband Zack are also gifted, in the sense that they have a great deal of money, good hearts, and many loyal friends. They are also gifted with a social conscience, though finding ways to exercise it is sometimes difficult.
Readers of the series will remember that we last left Joanne and Zack in a borrowed condo in an area of Regina undergoing redevelopment. They'd had to move as their own home had been blown up, fortunately without harming any member of the family. Now they are in residence in a condo of their own in a developing district that is slowly being cleared of gang members and drug addicts to leave room for a mixed-income population in renovated housing. The neighbourhood improvements have some way to go, however, since Joanne and Zack's development is still surrounded by a fifteen-foot fence topped with razor wire and their friends prefer to visit them before the sun sets.
The couple is involved with a community centre, the Racette-Hunter, as is Riel, an ex-cocaine addict now living with Joanne's daughter Mieke and her two little girls. Riel is Métis and moves uneasily in Zack and Joanne's very affluent circle. To raise funds for the centre, an auction is arranged to which Taylor has donated two paintings, one a double portrait of herself and her dead artist mother, the other a male nude. The subject here is a nineteen-year-old young man who has insinuated himself into Taylor's life rather too closely for Joanne's comfort. He is also involved in a relationship with one of Joanne's circle, Lauren Treadgold, twenty-six years his senior. For reasons not altogether connected with their merit, Taylor's two paintings sell for $43,000, a sum that would make most artists three times her age extremely happy. Indeed, as a number of people remarked before the auction, Taylor's life will be changed forever by the event.
Readers who have followed Joanne Kilbourn over the years will have noticed that the murder mystery element of the books has been diminishing of late. In THE GIFTED, it is reduced to almost an afterthought. The murder does not take place until very late in the book and Joanne is hardly involved in solving the crime. What has increasingly interested Bowen is the internal and changing dynamics of the Kilbourn/Shreve family on the one hand, and their sometimes fruitless search to find a way of reconciling their considerable wealth and privilege with their sense of social responsibility.
In this case, Bowen's emphasis is on the changing relationship of the adolescent Taylor, newly aware of her sexuality and doubtful of her identity, with the family she loves but needs to separate herself from to a larger degree. It is a moment that most parents will recognize and empathize with. Bowen's description of the stresses and strains of that particular period in family life will unquestionably ring true to many parents of teenagers. How Joanne handles the situation may occasion some reflection on their part as well.
Readers new to the series should not begin with this book. Indeed, you would have to go all the way back to the second in the series, MURDER AT THE MENDEL (1991) to appreciate fully what is happening in THE GIFTED. But those who have been reading along with Joanne over the years will certainly want to immerse themselves once again in her continuing story. For those who would like to catch up, I'd suggest starting with THE LAST GOOD DAY (2004). Those who do so will be well rewarded; the Kilbourn series is very special - unabashedly Canadian, serious in intent, and unquestionably engaging.
§ Yvonne Klein is a writer, translator, and retired college English professor who lives in Montreal.
Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, August 2013
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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