Book Review: Unwed (Dovetail Cove, 1976), by Jason McIntyre

Unwed (Dovetail Cove, 1976) by Jason McIntyre

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I think I’m getting quite addicted to Jason McIntyre’s Dovetail Cove series. I’ve read about 4 or 5 of them so far and always look forward to reading another. Reading a book from this series really feels like stepping into a different time and place. The sense of being in another era is palpable. The main characters in all of the stories I’ve read so far have a larger than life quality about them, and this Dovetail Cove community is the type of place that could easily exist. With each story in the series we’re introduced to a new character, or perhaps a character who’s appeared in another one of the stories as a more minor character. Although it’s a series, the books can be read in any order.

In “Unwed” we meet Bexy McLeod. I haven’t read any other stories where she’s appeared, so she was a new character for me. This story is intriguing, quite chilling, and full of surprises. There’s an eerie quality to the character Mary Smithson; she’s introduced as an innocent young woman who has been taken advantage of but there’s a creepy quality about her and her story.

I don’t want to give too much away but what I will say is that “Unwed” is not for the squeamish. There is a horror story interwoven with stories of the everyday lives of this small community. The descriptive quality of “Unwed” was such that I could see the events happening as they were being told and some of the story is quite disturbing. It’s not an easy read but is told in a very engaging way. You could really imagine this kind of thing happening, and all the players in the story seem like real people. The events in this book take place in the '70s and it makes you think about how things have changed over the years in regard to certain social issues.

Jason McIntyre has a talent for creating realistic characters that you either love or hate, and the stories he writes are always engaging. I’ve probably said this before in a review, but I’d love to see Dovetail Cove as a TV series.

I’m now looking forward to reading another one of this series. The great thing is that there are so many to choose from. I hope the writer continues to be inspired by the characters of Dovetail Cove for years to come so that we can have more excellent reading material.



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