Hello beautiful people! Welcome to a new review! For this review I get into The Ghosts That Haunt Me: Memories of a Homicide Detective by Steve Ryan a true crime novel that focuses on six difficult and complex cases that Steve Ryan worked on as a homicide detective in busy Toronto. Being a Canadian myself I was happy to stumble across this book and get to check out these cases. I personally had never heard of any of them before, and while I am not from the same Province as Steve I just think it speaks to how unaware we are of the horror going on around us every day.
My Review
As I was saying before The Ghosts That Haunt Me by Steve Ryan being based in Canada was originally what pulled me to it a little. I of course love true crime, but I find a lot of the true crime I check out is based in other countries than where I am from. While Canadians are well known for being nice and polite, like any other place in the world we have had our fair share of terrible things going on here, so I was looking to check out some true crime that’s a bit more home-based. I think that crimes here just aren’t as sensationalized as some American crimes and cases can be. However, like America, we share similar issues when it comes to crime here. Statistically, crimes are committed at significantly higher rates to people in minority groups, women, and people of differing races. In Canada further, we have a major issue of crimes disproportionately being committed against Indigenous peoples, specifically Indigenous women. A justice system that locks up Indigenous people up at far higher rates as well, for crimes the wealthy white get away with. These things can easily be broken down to a system that doesn’t have affordable living, food, or attainable resources. A system that labels people, ultimately barring them from ever stepping outside said label once they have it, which removes opportunities and areas for growth. I really enjoyed Steve’s book because he really openly highlights these issues, all while acknowledging the downfalls in the system that failed victims that he has dealt with. I can appreciate anyone who can be critical of the line of work they dedicate their lives to, it’s that blinded lack of open-mindedness that leads to issues for people, especially when they work in positions that as a white person gives them significant power and privilege over others.
I can’t get too much into the details of The Ghosts that Haunt Me by Steve Ryan because while it is a true crime book, it holds the stories of many people lost. It’s just too hard to get into the details of each case in this book, but I can say that each one is interesting, and handled with respect and care. I landed on giving the book an 8.5/10 rating overall. While I do love a true crime book that just focuses on one case I appreciated getting to read about a few different cases. It of course is a true crime book in which Steve describes the different cases he worked on, it also describes his experience of being an officer and the different ways it took a toll on him. I felt like it was very raw and real for Steve to share how some of these cases affected him, or even pushed him to consider moving away from homicide. While I think none of us pretend that people in this line of work are fine all the time I think that it is often forgotten just how difficult it is to do it. I also can really appreciate that while acknowledging his own struggles he prioritizes acknowledging the struggles of those affected by the crimes that he worked on. Yes, he has seen some terrible things, but in any case, these were people’s children, parents, family members and friends. It didn’t compare to the pain these people experienced from losing someone they loved. I think both of these things have to be acknowledged.
Overall I really enjoyed The Ghosts That Haunt Me by Steve Ryan and while it isn’t a very long read, is definitely one to pick up if you like true crime. I enjoyed getting to read a true crime novel from the perspective of the detective. Since Steve is now a journalist after he left police work he can tell a good story while also keeping it professional and real. It made it so everything was coming from his perspective which is always interesting to read. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy true crime books written by journalists too, but they don’t experience or see things sometimes in the way the detective on the case would so I always like getting to check out a true crime book written from the detective’s perspective. Having there be multiple different cases kept the pace of the book a bit quicker so I honestly wouldn’t have minded a few more cases being tossed in there because by the time I reached the end, I was definitely wanting a bit more. This book also made me want to continue to check out some more Canadian-based true crime books because there’s always something about when it’s where you’re from that just hits a bit harder.
Have you checked out The Ghosts That Haunt Me: Memories of a Homicide Detective by Steve Ryan? What did you think?
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