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The Quincunx Cycle #4
The Hidden Keys
A slick and sophisticated mystery from the Giller Prize-winning author of Fifteen Dogs.
'This gorgeously written, funny adventure tale will keep readers up finishing it while also quietly breaking their hearts with Alexis's keen observations of people, kindness, and cruelty' -
Publishers Weekly, starred review
In the depths of the ill-reputed Green Dolphin bar in Toronto, Tancred Palmieri, a talented thief with extravagant tastes, encounters Willow Azarian, an aging heroin addict. She reveals to Tancred that her very wealthy father has recently passed away, leaving each of his five children a mysterious object that provides a clue to the whereabouts of a large inheritance. Willow enlists Tancred to steal these objects from her siblings and solve the puzzle. A Japanese screen, a painting that plays music, an aquavit bottle, a framed poem, and a model of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater ... Are these really clues, or has Tancred fallen victim to the delusions of a junkie? Inspired by a reading of Treasure Island, The Hidden Keys questions what it means to be honourable and faithful in the face of desire.
'This gorgeously written, funny adventure tale will keep readers up finishing it while also quietly breaking their hearts with Alexis's keen observations of people, kindness, and cruelty' -
Publishers Weekly, starred review
In the depths of the ill-reputed Green Dolphin bar in Toronto, Tancred Palmieri, a talented thief with extravagant tastes, encounters Willow Azarian, an aging heroin addict. She reveals to Tancred that her very wealthy father has recently passed away, leaving each of his five children a mysterious object that provides a clue to the whereabouts of a large inheritance. Willow enlists Tancred to steal these objects from her siblings and solve the puzzle. A Japanese screen, a painting that plays music, an aquavit bottle, a framed poem, and a model of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater ... Are these really clues, or has Tancred fallen victim to the delusions of a junkie? Inspired by a reading of Treasure Island, The Hidden Keys questions what it means to be honourable and faithful in the face of desire.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 27, 2016
About the author
André Alexis
20 books647 followersAndré Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His most recent novel, Fifteen Dogs, won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral (nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize), Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Lambton, Kent and Other Vistas: A Play.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 214 reviews
June 11, 2016
There are probably other readers out there like me who, a little ways into The Hidden Keys will be thinking OMG IS THIS A PUZZLE BOOK???? Because we never recovered from The Westing Game, the greatest experience of our young reading lives, and puzzle books are so rare that you never expect to encounter one.
So if you're like me, I'll tell you: Yes, it is a puzzle book. There's a smack-addicted heiress, a perfect thief, and a Black albino drug dealer. No character in this book is "normal." Their lives all intertwine as they search for the clues left by a dead billionaire in a set of strange gifts for his five children that seem to have some secret meaning.
I liked a lot of this book, but I just wanted more. More intrigue, more of the slapstick violence that was sometimes hilarious and sometimes horrifying, more of everything, really. In the end, the book is slim and vastly intriguing but not quite hefty enough to be fully satisfying.
But still! Puzzle book! (If you are looking for others, they are HARD to find, but I'd cite Popco by Scarlett Thomas as one of my favorites.)
So if you're like me, I'll tell you: Yes, it is a puzzle book. There's a smack-addicted heiress, a perfect thief, and a Black albino drug dealer. No character in this book is "normal." Their lives all intertwine as they search for the clues left by a dead billionaire in a set of strange gifts for his five children that seem to have some secret meaning.
I liked a lot of this book, but I just wanted more. More intrigue, more of the slapstick violence that was sometimes hilarious and sometimes horrifying, more of everything, really. In the end, the book is slim and vastly intriguing but not quite hefty enough to be fully satisfying.
But still! Puzzle book! (If you are looking for others, they are HARD to find, but I'd cite Popco by Scarlett Thomas as one of my favorites.)
September 21, 2026
A billionaire dies leaving five mysterious objects to his five children, suggesting a treasure hunt to a hidden fortune. His favourite, and most troubled, child, Willow, enlists the help of career thief Tancred Palmieri to steal the objects from her siblings to puzzle out the clues altogether and find her father’s final gift. But others soon twig that there’s a pile of cash to be had and Tan finds his quest increasingly hampered as he becomes a target himself.
Andre Alexis published a series of five novels from 2014 to 2021 called The Quincunx Cycle, of which The Hidden Keys is chronologically the third book, although it is labelled by the author as the fourth in the sequence. I’ve not read any of the others, but The Hidden Keys reads perfectly well as its own standalone novel. Will I read the others? Maybe, but that’s because The Hidden Keys was just meh and I’m not desperate to immediately read more from Alexis.
I loved Tintin as a kid. He was always getting himself into treasure hunt-style stories that unwittingly fell into his lap, then found himself being pursued by ne’er-do-wells, etc. That’s what The Hidden Keys reads like: an adult version of your average Tintin book. It’s a fun quest, well set-up, with intriguing side characters and some imaginative chapters - the Castle Rose episode for example.
Similarly to Tintin, Tan himself is a bit of a dull protagonist. He’s a thief with a heart of gold who never seems to be in any real trouble because he’s so capable and there’s never any question that he’ll do what he needs to, which leads to a less exciting narrative.
And while it is an interesting plot, boy is it slow moving! Alexis’ ponderous writing style consistently hampers the pacing. He’ll write a scene from one character’s perspective and then double back and write it again from another character’s perspective, without adding much, so the story progresses glacially.
Or he’ll instantly diffuse any excitement from a forthcoming scene by telling you the outcome first, and then walking you through it, instead of allowing the reader to experience it in the moment and finding out for themselves what the outcome is.
So, let’s say: Alexis tells us that Tancred wants to protect his nearest and dearest from harm so he decides to keep his enemies closer - then we see him doing just that. Instead of showing us that he decides to keep his enemies closer, and then at the end, if we need it, explaining that he’s doing it to protect his nearest and dearest. It adds an element of redundancy and staleness to the scene instead of an urgency if we’re experiencing it in the present, not knowing where the scene is going.
And while I get the impression Alexis is shooting for profundity with this storytelling approach, I never felt that he was imparting any unique insight (wealth is just stuff, man, money don’t mean nothing - yeah ok Tyler Durden). All it made me feel was frustration that he was ambling at points when he should at the very least be jogging, particularly as we neared the end.
This is one of those “journey over destination” stories. So we know that Tan will steal everything he needs to from everybody because that has to happen for this kind of story. But instead of skipping all of that obvious predictability to get to the point, the bulk of the story is how he steals the various pieces. And, like I said, the supporting characters and some of these episodes are fun to read - otherwise the novel would be a total dud - but it did make me feel impatient for things to get on and show me something I wasn’t expecting (which the narrative rarely did).
The ending itself is quite flat, not least as it confirms what we had been told was the solution very early on in the story. But I did also want to know how it would all shake out, so Alexis did enough to provide that motivation in the reader.
The Hidden Keys is intermittently compelling with a great premise that nevertheless struggles to find a higher gear due to an overly leisurely storytelling style leading to quite a sludgy reading speed despite its relative shortness in pages. I don’t love Alexis’ writing style but he’s got a good instinct for story and I was entertained in part with the book, even if it hasn’t convinced me to seek out the remaining four books in his Quincunx Cycle - yet. Worth a look if you’re after a thoughtful and unusual mystery story.
Andre Alexis published a series of five novels from 2014 to 2021 called The Quincunx Cycle, of which The Hidden Keys is chronologically the third book, although it is labelled by the author as the fourth in the sequence. I’ve not read any of the others, but The Hidden Keys reads perfectly well as its own standalone novel. Will I read the others? Maybe, but that’s because The Hidden Keys was just meh and I’m not desperate to immediately read more from Alexis.
I loved Tintin as a kid. He was always getting himself into treasure hunt-style stories that unwittingly fell into his lap, then found himself being pursued by ne’er-do-wells, etc. That’s what The Hidden Keys reads like: an adult version of your average Tintin book. It’s a fun quest, well set-up, with intriguing side characters and some imaginative chapters - the Castle Rose episode for example.
Similarly to Tintin, Tan himself is a bit of a dull protagonist. He’s a thief with a heart of gold who never seems to be in any real trouble because he’s so capable and there’s never any question that he’ll do what he needs to, which leads to a less exciting narrative.
And while it is an interesting plot, boy is it slow moving! Alexis’ ponderous writing style consistently hampers the pacing. He’ll write a scene from one character’s perspective and then double back and write it again from another character’s perspective, without adding much, so the story progresses glacially.
Or he’ll instantly diffuse any excitement from a forthcoming scene by telling you the outcome first, and then walking you through it, instead of allowing the reader to experience it in the moment and finding out for themselves what the outcome is.
So, let’s say: Alexis tells us that Tancred wants to protect his nearest and dearest from harm so he decides to keep his enemies closer - then we see him doing just that. Instead of showing us that he decides to keep his enemies closer, and then at the end, if we need it, explaining that he’s doing it to protect his nearest and dearest. It adds an element of redundancy and staleness to the scene instead of an urgency if we’re experiencing it in the present, not knowing where the scene is going.
And while I get the impression Alexis is shooting for profundity with this storytelling approach, I never felt that he was imparting any unique insight (wealth is just stuff, man, money don’t mean nothing - yeah ok Tyler Durden). All it made me feel was frustration that he was ambling at points when he should at the very least be jogging, particularly as we neared the end.
This is one of those “journey over destination” stories. So we know that Tan will steal everything he needs to from everybody because that has to happen for this kind of story. But instead of skipping all of that obvious predictability to get to the point, the bulk of the story is how he steals the various pieces. And, like I said, the supporting characters and some of these episodes are fun to read - otherwise the novel would be a total dud - but it did make me feel impatient for things to get on and show me something I wasn’t expecting (which the narrative rarely did).
The ending itself is quite flat, not least as it confirms what we had been told was the solution very early on in the story. But I did also want to know how it would all shake out, so Alexis did enough to provide that motivation in the reader.
The Hidden Keys is intermittently compelling with a great premise that nevertheless struggles to find a higher gear due to an overly leisurely storytelling style leading to quite a sludgy reading speed despite its relative shortness in pages. I don’t love Alexis’ writing style but he’s got a good instinct for story and I was entertained in part with the book, even if it hasn’t convinced me to seek out the remaining four books in his Quincunx Cycle - yet. Worth a look if you’re after a thoughtful and unusual mystery story.
February 5, 2017
Tancred was a tall and physically imposing black man, but he was also approachable. He could not sit anywhere for long without someone starting a conversation. This was, his friends liked to say, because his blue eyes were startling and his voice deep and avuncular. So, when he wanted to be alone without necessarily being alone, Tancred answered in French – his maternal tongue – when spoken to by strangers. Few who came into the Dolphin knew the language. But Willow Azarian did, and she took the fact that Tancred spoke it as a portent. They would be friends. She knew it and, touching his arm, she blithely began to tell him about her family.
Reading the past two books by André Alexis (Pastoral and Fifteen Dogs), it was obvious that the author has been experimenting with old-fashioned forms of storytelling. But it wasn't until I finished The Hidden Keys and started to read the newspaper reviews of it that I finally learned that Alexis is presently in the middle of a larger, linked project – which he refers to as a “quincunx” – and this project is so central to the understanding of any one of the books that I'm going to put his own explanation of it here, as written in Quill and Quire :
For years, I tried unsuccessfully to rewrite (or re-imagine) a work by Pier Paolo Pasolini called Teorema. In Teorema, a god comes to earth and interacts with the members of a well-to-do family. This interaction leads to madness, despair, grace, and the miraculous. It’s a truly great story and I wanted to retell it, to own it as one does with some stories. I couldn’t, though. I ended up writing inept versions of Pasolini.
Or I did until I finally stripped the story down to its essence – divine visitation – and thought about the ways in which that essential story could be told. Five approaches came to me at once. I wanted to tell it as a pastoral (that is, a tale set in an idealized rural world), as an apologue (a moral tale involving animals), as a quest narrative (with Treasure Island in mind), as a ghost story (like Ugetsu Monogatari), and as a kind of Harlequin romance. The novels were suggested not by personal experience, not by grief or exile or post-traumatic stress, but by the art of storytelling itself.
The Hidden Keys, therefore, is the third volume of the quincunx – the quest narrative à la Treasure Island – and is meant to revisit the same themes as the two previous volumes. Huh. Here's what happens: Willow Azarian – a middle-aged super-rich heroin addict – approaches professional thief Tancred Palmieri in a seedy Toronto bar, and after convincing him that she is, indeed, one of the heirs to a billionaire's fortune, Willow begins to talk of a hidden treasure. Apparently, upon her father's death, each of his children had been given a unique memento – a painting, a poem, a Japanese screen, an architectural model, a bottle of aquavit – but only Willow believes them to be clues for a treasure hunt. As her siblings refuse to allow her to examine their objects on her own, Willow enlists Tancred to “borrow” them for her.
The Hidden Keys reads like a crime caper as Tancred attempts to burglarise fortress-like homes; like a puzzle book as the objects are examined for hidden meanings; like a detective novel as one of Tancred's closest friends is a police officer investigating the thefts; like a morality tale as various seedy characters' behaviours can be traced back to their upbringing; and as a character study of the city of Toronto. It's not a rip-roaring adventure tale like Treasure Island, but in the endnotes Alexis acknowledges that a dozen other obscure works are also alluded to in this book. And what to make of it all?
On its own, The Hidden Keys has many nice moments of character and dialogue, with interesting philosophical and sociological musings. But I felt a bit let down plot-wise: the puzzle of the five objects wasn't very difficult, yet wasn't presented to the reader in a way that would have allowed me to make guesses ahead of the characters (and isn't that the point of a good mystery?) At this point, I can't really see how these first three volumes in the quincunx relate to each other (besides a surprise appearance by some characters from Fifteen Dogs to be seen here), and by itself, I don't know if The Hidden Keys is all that interesting or important. Yet, now that I know this is all one big project, I'm even more intrigued about what Alexis has coming up next.
August 25, 2021
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I'm not sure how to tell you about this book. Let me tell you about honorable-thief Tancred:
This, I believe, explains Author Alexis's project nicely. He makes a mythic figure, of prodigious endowments of soul and talent, and sets him down at a nexus of Toronto's many worlds. He then seems to stand back and let 'er rip. It feels to me as though Author Alexis more or less "took dictation" when writing this story, and its immediate predecessor Fifteen Dogs (which I read almost a decade ago). The less-than-propulsive pace and the slightly meandering sense of place are, in my observation, best explained by this reality of the creative process. A more plot-driven project, one that was constructed not discovered, wouldn't keep this:
But, in this structure of discovery, Tancred's observation goes a long way towards making it plain that we are on a quest that surpasses its material goals. Part of the manifestation of this is the quite long time frame of the story...there is time, between Tancred meeting the woman on whose behalf he goes on this quest for and the time he actually begins the quest, for him to suffer an acutely painful personal tragedy...and its, politely said, abrupt ending.
It's a sad, death-haunted quest. It's a life-affirming choice for Tancred to take it on. It's amazing how much fun it is to watch a character decide to give up a past of anti-social thievery and remain a thief, only pro-social now. It's a book with a lot of good aperçus, and a few moments where one wonders what the heck Author Alexis was thinking. Tancred isn't a traditional series-mystery sleuth. The two books featuring him I've read aren't really properly series mysteries. They're no less delightful for that. The puzzle set by, and for, Tancred's client is resolved neatly at the end. Permaybehaps a bit too neatly...the source of the missing star.
But the reason it's got four of 'em is down to moments like this:
Heady stuff, philosophically in my wheelhouse, and not the only example I could've chosen. Spoiled for choice gets a book a good rating.
My Review: I'm not sure how to tell you about this book. Let me tell you about honorable-thief Tancred:
Tancred was a tall and physically imposing black man, but he was also approachable. He could not sit anywhere for long without someone starting a conversation. This was, his friends liked to say, because his blue eyes were startling and his voice deep and avuncular. So, when he wanted to be alone without necessarily being alone, Tancred answered in French—his maternal tongue—when spoken to by strangers. Few who came into the Dolphin knew the language.
This, I believe, explains Author Alexis's project nicely. He makes a mythic figure, of prodigious endowments of soul and talent, and sets him down at a nexus of Toronto's many worlds. He then seems to stand back and let 'er rip. It feels to me as though Author Alexis more or less "took dictation" when writing this story, and its immediate predecessor Fifteen Dogs (which I read almost a decade ago). The less-than-propulsive pace and the slightly meandering sense of place are, in my observation, best explained by this reality of the creative process. A more plot-driven project, one that was constructed not discovered, wouldn't keep this:
The city had been built by people from innumerable elsewheres. It was a chaos of cultures ordered only by its long streets. It belonged to no one and never would, or maybe it was a million cities in one, unique to each of its inhabitants, belonging to whoever walked its streets.
But, in this structure of discovery, Tancred's observation goes a long way towards making it plain that we are on a quest that surpasses its material goals. Part of the manifestation of this is the quite long time frame of the story...there is time, between Tancred meeting the woman on whose behalf he goes on this quest for and the time he actually begins the quest, for him to suffer an acutely painful personal tragedy...and its, politely said, abrupt ending.
It's a sad, death-haunted quest. It's a life-affirming choice for Tancred to take it on. It's amazing how much fun it is to watch a character decide to give up a past of anti-social thievery and remain a thief, only pro-social now. It's a book with a lot of good aperçus, and a few moments where one wonders what the heck Author Alexis was thinking. Tancred isn't a traditional series-mystery sleuth. The two books featuring him I've read aren't really properly series mysteries. They're no less delightful for that. The puzzle set by, and for, Tancred's client is resolved neatly at the end. Permaybehaps a bit too neatly...the source of the missing star.
But the reason it's got four of 'em is down to moments like this:
“I believe God is an impediment to good. All those people acting in his name don’t bother to think their actions through. They’re incapable of good...No, that’s not right...There are any number of them who accidentally do good. ... What I mean is it’s more difficult to do good with God in the equation.”
Heady stuff, philosophically in my wheelhouse, and not the only example I could've chosen. Spoiled for choice gets a book a good rating.
January 26, 2022
Spurred on by Jael Richardson's segment on Q, I was prompted to return to my shelves and pull off a novel I'd left languishing for years. Richardson claimed that Alexis' third (fourth?) novel in his Quincunx series was the perfect way to start of the year: exciting, adventurous, and well-written. Indeed, The Hidden Keys is all of those things, but it is also a love letter to Toronto, a meditation on the building and maintenance of power, and filled with beautifully realized character moments.
Compared with Pastoral and Fifteen Dogs, The Hidden Keys seems at first glance the most traditional of the Quincunx novels to date. Honourable thief Tancred Palmieri becomes wrapped up in a treasure hunt out of a perceived sense of duty to the recently deceased Willow Azarian, heroin addict and member of a well-known wealthy family. Tancred's path crosses with various unsavoury and interested parties who are also on the trail hoping treasure lies at its end.
The characters Alexis introduces throughout the slim novel are memorable and seem pulled from real life on to the page. Though each character is distinctive and given their own POV, it is Tancred's wrestling with a transition from thievery to a more virtuous life that drew me in. Though there's adventure aplenty in this novel, what made it special were the philosophical and thematic musings. Alexis' does an excellent job of spinning ideas I've heard before in an entirely new light.
I'm sure very few pick up books for their physical form, but it bears mentioning that these Coach House editions are beautiful. The recycled paper stock is of astonishing quality and lends to the book a feeling of immense quality, the paperback binding holds it shape despite mild use, and the cover is quite stunning.
Put simply, Alexis' The Hidden Keys is perhaps my favourite mystery novel and almost definitely vaults Alexis towards being my favourite Canadian author. The book is slim, entertaining and will do anyone right who's looking for a quick lift out of the reading doldrums. Look forward to reviews of Days by Moonlight and Ring in the coming weeks and months: there'll be no prolonged wait on the last two!
Compared with Pastoral and Fifteen Dogs, The Hidden Keys seems at first glance the most traditional of the Quincunx novels to date. Honourable thief Tancred Palmieri becomes wrapped up in a treasure hunt out of a perceived sense of duty to the recently deceased Willow Azarian, heroin addict and member of a well-known wealthy family. Tancred's path crosses with various unsavoury and interested parties who are also on the trail hoping treasure lies at its end.
The characters Alexis introduces throughout the slim novel are memorable and seem pulled from real life on to the page. Though each character is distinctive and given their own POV, it is Tancred's wrestling with a transition from thievery to a more virtuous life that drew me in. Though there's adventure aplenty in this novel, what made it special were the philosophical and thematic musings. Alexis' does an excellent job of spinning ideas I've heard before in an entirely new light.
I'm sure very few pick up books for their physical form, but it bears mentioning that these Coach House editions are beautiful. The recycled paper stock is of astonishing quality and lends to the book a feeling of immense quality, the paperback binding holds it shape despite mild use, and the cover is quite stunning.
Put simply, Alexis' The Hidden Keys is perhaps my favourite mystery novel and almost definitely vaults Alexis towards being my favourite Canadian author. The book is slim, entertaining and will do anyone right who's looking for a quick lift out of the reading doldrums. Look forward to reviews of Days by Moonlight and Ring in the coming weeks and months: there'll be no prolonged wait on the last two!
February 15, 2017
I read this aloud on two road trips, hence the long hiatus. It turned out to suit that purpose very well. It's a very visual book; Alexis' descriptions bring to life the worlds of the very rich and very poor in Toronto, each world with its own type of hustler. It's a treasure hunt/mystery story that addresses some of the same themes as Alexis' previous novel, Fifteen Dogs--love, fidelity, family, honour. (In fact, there is a very quick and unexpected reference to Fifteen Dogs in the middle of The Hidden Keys.) I liked the main character, Tancred the gentleman thief, very much; he is an unrepentant thief but when he makes a promise to help a woman who seems to be a poor heroin addict, he keeps his promise despite the fact that it brings him much deeper into a strange world than he intends to go. Like Tancred, Alexis has a deft, elegant touch, and I am looking forward to his next book.
September 18, 2016
Andre Alexis is quickly becoming on of my favourite authors.
I loved the creativity and beautiful writing in "Fifteen Dogs" and "The Hidden Keys" did not disappoint.
It was a thrilling, can't put it down treasure hunt. Every character --especially the thief was a strong moral compass Tancred -- was unique, interesting, and multilayered. Toronto (slightly fictionalized, but also very real) played an important role, which was a really nice bonus for Torontonians (like myself).
I also loved his subtle recall of "Fifteen Dogs" with the brief return of Nina and her "dog" Majoun.
It is a fun read, but it also has a lot of depth on themes such as relationships, rich vs. poor, what is the home, money, good vs. evil, etc.
A highly recommended read.
I loved the creativity and beautiful writing in "Fifteen Dogs" and "The Hidden Keys" did not disappoint.
It was a thrilling, can't put it down treasure hunt. Every character --especially the thief was a strong moral compass Tancred -- was unique, interesting, and multilayered. Toronto (slightly fictionalized, but also very real) played an important role, which was a really nice bonus for Torontonians (like myself).
I also loved his subtle recall of "Fifteen Dogs" with the brief return of Nina and her "dog" Majoun.
It is a fun read, but it also has a lot of depth on themes such as relationships, rich vs. poor, what is the home, money, good vs. evil, etc.
A highly recommended read.
April 5, 2022
What a cast of characters in this puzzler-mystery of a story set in Toronto.
Tancred Palmiere is a 25-year-old honorable high-end thief who speaks French when spoken to by strangers in public in order to be left alone. His two best friends since kindergarten are Daniel Mandelshtam, now a police detective, and Olivier Mallay, a go0d-natured good-humored loyal nihilist since the age of nine.
Willow Azarian is one of five siblings who are heirs to their father's multi-billion fortune; her two brothers Alton and Michael, her two sisters Gretchen and Simone. Upon their father Robert's death, he left a specially crafted personal memento for each child (along with $200,000,000), and Willow is convinced her father intended the mementos as clues to lead them to further fortune, much like the treasure hunts the family had always engaged in. Willow, however, is a heroin addict.
Willow's dealer is Errol "N-----" Colby and his muscle is Sigismund "Freud" Luxemberg. Both men are a few years younger than Tancred and grew up in his same neighborhood.
There is an artist of sorts named Alexander von Wurfel, who specializes in preserving one's pet in a forever-lifelike suspended state. There is a gangster boss wannabe named John Armberg. There is a retired honorary colonel Ran Morrissey who has a titanium leg. There is a cemetery watchman Delmer McDougal. There are generations of Weidmans buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Who is telling the truth and who is lying? Who is in cahoots with whom? Is the treasure hunt a crazy fantasy of an addicted dying mind or a serious endeavor transforming all its participants? There are parts of the novel that had me rolling in the floor laughing and an equal number of parts that had me squinting & squirming at the brutality. But I was along for the ride all the way.
This book is number 4 in Alexis' "Quincunx Cycle" but was published 3rd. It is a mystery / puzzle genre novel.
Tancred Palmiere is a 25-year-old honorable high-end thief who speaks French when spoken to by strangers in public in order to be left alone. His two best friends since kindergarten are Daniel Mandelshtam, now a police detective, and Olivier Mallay, a go0d-natured good-humored loyal nihilist since the age of nine.
Willow Azarian is one of five siblings who are heirs to their father's multi-billion fortune; her two brothers Alton and Michael, her two sisters Gretchen and Simone. Upon their father Robert's death, he left a specially crafted personal memento for each child (along with $200,000,000), and Willow is convinced her father intended the mementos as clues to lead them to further fortune, much like the treasure hunts the family had always engaged in. Willow, however, is a heroin addict.
Willow's dealer is Errol "N-----" Colby and his muscle is Sigismund "Freud" Luxemberg. Both men are a few years younger than Tancred and grew up in his same neighborhood.
There is an artist of sorts named Alexander von Wurfel, who specializes in preserving one's pet in a forever-lifelike suspended state. There is a gangster boss wannabe named John Armberg. There is a retired honorary colonel Ran Morrissey who has a titanium leg. There is a cemetery watchman Delmer McDougal. There are generations of Weidmans buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Who is telling the truth and who is lying? Who is in cahoots with whom? Is the treasure hunt a crazy fantasy of an addicted dying mind or a serious endeavor transforming all its participants? There are parts of the novel that had me rolling in the floor laughing and an equal number of parts that had me squinting & squirming at the brutality. But I was along for the ride all the way.
This book is number 4 in Alexis' "Quincunx Cycle" but was published 3rd. It is a mystery / puzzle genre novel.
February 23, 2017
After I read “Fifteen Dogs” several years ago Andre Alexis became on author on my “need to read more by him” list. If you saw my TBR you would understand why that hasn’t happened until now. When I read about the release of this book in 2016 I knew I wanted to pick it up. It took me this long to get to it. Shame on me!
THE HIDDEN KEYS by Andre Alexis
Tancred Palmieri is an enigma – an honourable thief who also happens to have a detective as a best friend. He lives in and mixes with the people in a shadier area of Toronto, not somewhere you would expect to meet Willow Azarian, a billion dollar heiress with a not so secret heroin addiction. Tancred knew nothing about Willow but she knew him by reputation. A chance(?) meeting sitting on the barstools in a dive bar prompts them to start a conversation. Tancred took Willow to be what she appeared, a slightly eccentric addict with possibly delusions of grandeur – until she shows him her “mad money” bank book containing a 6 figure balance. After saving her from some thugs Willow tells Tancred a fantastic story about a treasure hunt her father arranged for her before he died. Each of the five Azarian siblings received an unusual gift bequest in their father’s will. Each gift individually was simply a memento but combined they were an intricate series of clues. Willow is convinced there is a pot of gold at the end of the hunt but her siblings believe otherwise. Willow wants Tancred to steal each of their mementos and help her solve the puzzle. He gives his word and Tancred is nothing if not a man of his word even when it means completing the task without Willow’s help. He quickly finds out that others are also on the same quest but is he on the mother of all treasure hunts or the wildest goose chase of his life?
As he did in “Fifteen Dogs” Mr. Alexis gives his reader an extremely entertaining story. This one is filled with eccentric characters from all parts of the economic spectrum, he gives us moments of almost slapstick humour and at other times nail biting suspense, all combining to ask the reader to question what the true meaning of family, friendship and promises might be. Amazingly enough he does this in an unobtrusive way. Never obviously preaching the subtle undertones, it wasn’t until I read the last page and closed the cover that it occurred to me how meaningful this entertaining story really was.
If I was pressed to find fault with the book I would have to admit that in one or two instances it dragged a little, more than likely because I was impatient to find out if there was a treasure. It was fun to read a book set in Toronto, a city I know well so it’s still five stars for this one. Mr. Alexis hit another one out of the park.
THE HIDDEN KEYS by Andre Alexis
Tancred Palmieri is an enigma – an honourable thief who also happens to have a detective as a best friend. He lives in and mixes with the people in a shadier area of Toronto, not somewhere you would expect to meet Willow Azarian, a billion dollar heiress with a not so secret heroin addiction. Tancred knew nothing about Willow but she knew him by reputation. A chance(?) meeting sitting on the barstools in a dive bar prompts them to start a conversation. Tancred took Willow to be what she appeared, a slightly eccentric addict with possibly delusions of grandeur – until she shows him her “mad money” bank book containing a 6 figure balance. After saving her from some thugs Willow tells Tancred a fantastic story about a treasure hunt her father arranged for her before he died. Each of the five Azarian siblings received an unusual gift bequest in their father’s will. Each gift individually was simply a memento but combined they were an intricate series of clues. Willow is convinced there is a pot of gold at the end of the hunt but her siblings believe otherwise. Willow wants Tancred to steal each of their mementos and help her solve the puzzle. He gives his word and Tancred is nothing if not a man of his word even when it means completing the task without Willow’s help. He quickly finds out that others are also on the same quest but is he on the mother of all treasure hunts or the wildest goose chase of his life?
As he did in “Fifteen Dogs” Mr. Alexis gives his reader an extremely entertaining story. This one is filled with eccentric characters from all parts of the economic spectrum, he gives us moments of almost slapstick humour and at other times nail biting suspense, all combining to ask the reader to question what the true meaning of family, friendship and promises might be. Amazingly enough he does this in an unobtrusive way. Never obviously preaching the subtle undertones, it wasn’t until I read the last page and closed the cover that it occurred to me how meaningful this entertaining story really was.
If I was pressed to find fault with the book I would have to admit that in one or two instances it dragged a little, more than likely because I was impatient to find out if there was a treasure. It was fun to read a book set in Toronto, a city I know well so it’s still five stars for this one. Mr. Alexis hit another one out of the park.
July 12, 2020
"Tancred and Ollie were his brothers. No book of laws and statues, no rules and ordinances, could change what was in his heart."
"The man was human and fallible, and Daniel was moved by this fallibility, by the fate they all shared, by the thought that there was so much they could not know."
"The man was human and fallible, and Daniel was moved by this fallibility, by the fate they all shared, by the thought that there was so much they could not know."
July 23, 2026
This book is one of the five in the Quincunx series; the books have connections but they can be read in any order or as stand-alones. (FYI, a quincunx is the side of a die (as in dice) with 5 dots.) I've only read one other so far, Pastoral, but it was so superb (my review) that I knew I’d read them all. If you know and love Toronto, you'll want to read this - it often felt like a street-by-street tour of the city and its landmarks.
I'm not a crime/mystery fan, so this book began with one small strike against it, but that problem disappeared when I realized that the characters were the heart of the book for me, rather than the crime or mystery. (YMMV if you are a fan of that genre.) Which is not to say that I found the crime and mystery to be weak or uninteresting - the crime/caper does spool out in intriguing ways and I was especially fascinated by the heist in a new luxury apartment complex that really put the complex in complex ;)
I'm only two books into this series so it's too soon to see many connections, but I am seeing similarities between Pastoral's Father Pennant and Hidden Key's Tancred. You wouldn't think a minister and a thief had much in common, but both are deeply concerned about being a good person, and strive to behave ethically and humanely. Father Pennant frames this in religious/spiritual terms, doubting his fitness for the ministry. (This is not a pious book, it’s charming and funny, honest!) Tancred’s ethical struggles are, of course, more thorny, and his frame of reference is social justice, thanks to the father figure in his life, Baruch Mandelshtam, an old-school anarchist and anti-capitalist.
Tancred is a fascinating character. He didn't become a thief out of greed or even a Robin Hood desire to redistribute wealth - it was simply something he discovered he was really good at and his only means to provide for his sick mother. The concept of goodness that motivates Tancred is being loyal to friends and keeping promises, no matter how difficult. He's also a person that other people instinctively trust and confide in, although he has no idea why and he finds it embarrassing. The complicated 'theft' in this novel is one that doesn't challenge Tancred's problematic relationship to goodness and ethics - it's more like borrowing than burglarizing (and he has to do the act twice!) and is doing it to fulfill a promise to a person who has died.... although he does stand to reap a very large reward. I would like to spend more time with Tancred and watch him wrestle with his moral contradictions, but since Alexis is not a series writer, I can only hope that he plays a significant part in the other books in the Quincunx series.
I read in an interview that an important theme in the whole series is the role of divine intervention in the human world. In Fifteen Dogs (which I haven't read yet) it's the central premise of the plot; in Pastoral it's an incredibly charming ruse, but I'm not sure where it lands in The Hidden Keys. Maybe in the chance encounter between Willow and Tancred that gets the story rolling? There are some significant scenes in a graveyard? Although thinking about the divine in terms of faith and commitment might work better, or at least it brings Father Pennant and Tancred closer... for the first man, it's faith in God and for the second, faith in friendship or love.
I'm not a crime/mystery fan, so this book began with one small strike against it, but that problem disappeared when I realized that the characters were the heart of the book for me, rather than the crime or mystery. (YMMV if you are a fan of that genre.) Which is not to say that I found the crime and mystery to be weak or uninteresting - the crime/caper does spool out in intriguing ways and I was especially fascinated by the heist in a new luxury apartment complex that really put the complex in complex ;)
I'm only two books into this series so it's too soon to see many connections, but I am seeing similarities between Pastoral's Father Pennant and Hidden Key's Tancred. You wouldn't think a minister and a thief had much in common, but both are deeply concerned about being a good person, and strive to behave ethically and humanely. Father Pennant frames this in religious/spiritual terms, doubting his fitness for the ministry. (This is not a pious book, it’s charming and funny, honest!) Tancred’s ethical struggles are, of course, more thorny, and his frame of reference is social justice, thanks to the father figure in his life, Baruch Mandelshtam, an old-school anarchist and anti-capitalist.
Tancred is a fascinating character. He didn't become a thief out of greed or even a Robin Hood desire to redistribute wealth - it was simply something he discovered he was really good at and his only means to provide for his sick mother. The concept of goodness that motivates Tancred is being loyal to friends and keeping promises, no matter how difficult. He's also a person that other people instinctively trust and confide in, although he has no idea why and he finds it embarrassing. The complicated 'theft' in this novel is one that doesn't challenge Tancred's problematic relationship to goodness and ethics - it's more like borrowing than burglarizing (and he has to do the act twice!) and is doing it to fulfill a promise to a person who has died.... although he does stand to reap a very large reward. I would like to spend more time with Tancred and watch him wrestle with his moral contradictions, but since Alexis is not a series writer, I can only hope that he plays a significant part in the other books in the Quincunx series.
I read in an interview that an important theme in the whole series is the role of divine intervention in the human world. In Fifteen Dogs (which I haven't read yet) it's the central premise of the plot; in Pastoral it's an incredibly charming ruse, but I'm not sure where it lands in The Hidden Keys. Maybe in the chance encounter between Willow and Tancred that gets the story rolling? There are some significant scenes in a graveyard? Although thinking about the divine in terms of faith and commitment might work better, or at least it brings Father Pennant and Tancred closer... for the first man, it's faith in God and for the second, faith in friendship or love.
April 25, 2019
3.5 stars
I definitely didn’t enjoy this book anywhere near as much as I enjoyed the other books in Alexis’s Quincunx series. It wasn’t as interesting, I didn’t love the characters, and I found myself uninterested in the overall story.
I also found myself wondering where in the Quincunx this would fit, as I didn’t see any obvious themes (I do realize it’s likely the family aspects though).
Overall I’m glad I read it as I do want to read all 5 books, but it’s my least favourite of the 3 I’ve read so far.
I definitely didn’t enjoy this book anywhere near as much as I enjoyed the other books in Alexis’s Quincunx series. It wasn’t as interesting, I didn’t love the characters, and I found myself uninterested in the overall story.
I also found myself wondering where in the Quincunx this would fit, as I didn’t see any obvious themes (I do realize it’s likely the family aspects though).
Overall I’m glad I read it as I do want to read all 5 books, but it’s my least favourite of the 3 I’ve read so far.
June 15, 2020
3.5 ⭐️
April 6, 2019
THE HIDDEN KEYS is a call back to quest / adventure stories, like Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, and others like it. We follow a large cast of interesting characters through the neighborhoods of Toronto, learn family secrets, and there's some treasure hunting too. Alexis writes with a philosophical bent, very much focused on the inner lives of his characters.
While the books in the series can be read in any order, there are some fun little Easter eggs along the way for those that read in sequence; readers of Fifteen Dogs will recognize a quick appearance by Majnoun the poodle in this novel.
While the books in the series can be read in any order, there are some fun little Easter eggs along the way for those that read in sequence; readers of Fifteen Dogs will recognize a quick appearance by Majnoun the poodle in this novel.
August 8, 2019
3.5
Between the title of the book and its description as a "puzzle book," I was expecting to be overwhelmed with clues, many of which would escape me. However, rather than a detailed treasure hunt, this was more of a character study of the thief at its center, Tancred Palmieri.
Tancred considers himself to be a good person, despite his profession. Out of sympathy, he agrees to help the sexagenarian drug-addicted Willow Azarian in her search for the remainder of her deceased father's fortune. After her death, Tancred continues the search out of loyalty and to uphold his promise to her.
The thieving comes into play because Willow's father has left a clue in the form of a meaningful object with each of Willow's siblings, but they believe the hunt is only a game devised by their father to distract Willow from her addiction. Therefore, Willow needs Tancred to steal the clues to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately, Willow has also told her drug dealer about the money, so Tancred must contend with the unscrupulous dealer and his psychopathic sidekick as he pieces together the puzzle. This disastrous duo provides some of the book's more humorous moments, as well as moments of reckoning for Tancred.
An interesting element of the book was the importance of the neighborhood, Parkdale, Toronto. Tancred, the drug dealer, and also Tancred's best friend (and police officer) Daniel Mandelshtam are products of the neighborhood, and it seems almost inevitable that they find themselves embroiled in the Willow's treasure hunt. The trope of childhood friends who, as adults, are on different sides of the law, is in effect here as Daniel's investigation into the Azarian robberies may or may not point to his old friend Tancred. This story line didn't provide as much tension as I thought it might have.
In the end, Tancred finds himself at odds, questioning his belief that he is a good person. He decides that in order to find his true self, he must return to the old neighborhood, among the people and places that formed him. This was interesting to me because in many books, characters feel they can only fully develop once they escape from the expectations placed on them by the old haunts and acquaintances.
I thought that this was a more "cerebral" mystery in that the point was not only to find the inheritance, but also to explore the concept of self-identity. In addition, the book included a bibliography and many literary references. It was challenging, in a good way, and a satisfactory read.
Between the title of the book and its description as a "puzzle book," I was expecting to be overwhelmed with clues, many of which would escape me. However, rather than a detailed treasure hunt, this was more of a character study of the thief at its center, Tancred Palmieri.
Tancred considers himself to be a good person, despite his profession. Out of sympathy, he agrees to help the sexagenarian drug-addicted Willow Azarian in her search for the remainder of her deceased father's fortune. After her death, Tancred continues the search out of loyalty and to uphold his promise to her.
The thieving comes into play because Willow's father has left a clue in the form of a meaningful object with each of Willow's siblings, but they believe the hunt is only a game devised by their father to distract Willow from her addiction. Therefore, Willow needs Tancred to steal the clues to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately, Willow has also told her drug dealer about the money, so Tancred must contend with the unscrupulous dealer and his psychopathic sidekick as he pieces together the puzzle. This disastrous duo provides some of the book's more humorous moments, as well as moments of reckoning for Tancred.
An interesting element of the book was the importance of the neighborhood, Parkdale, Toronto. Tancred, the drug dealer, and also Tancred's best friend (and police officer) Daniel Mandelshtam are products of the neighborhood, and it seems almost inevitable that they find themselves embroiled in the Willow's treasure hunt. The trope of childhood friends who, as adults, are on different sides of the law, is in effect here as Daniel's investigation into the Azarian robberies may or may not point to his old friend Tancred. This story line didn't provide as much tension as I thought it might have.
In the end, Tancred finds himself at odds, questioning his belief that he is a good person. He decides that in order to find his true self, he must return to the old neighborhood, among the people and places that formed him. This was interesting to me because in many books, characters feel they can only fully develop once they escape from the expectations placed on them by the old haunts and acquaintances.
I thought that this was a more "cerebral" mystery in that the point was not only to find the inheritance, but also to explore the concept of self-identity. In addition, the book included a bibliography and many literary references. It was challenging, in a good way, and a satisfactory read.
March 30, 2021
*vague spoiler (depending on your definition of a spoiler), but no specifics*
An enjoyable mystery with an interesting cast of characters. So much of Toronto and present-day (ish) was recognizable, but with a shade even more miseries and indulgences of wealth. I'm not sure how I wanted it to end, but I was...unfulfilled. It didn't quite have the intrigue the rest of the book share.
But the book comes to an ending quite quickly so the rest of the time reading I was thoroughly entertained.
I've only read Fifteen Dogs in this Quincunx, but I didn't recognize (without research) any common character references.
An enjoyable mystery with an interesting cast of characters. So much of Toronto and present-day (ish) was recognizable, but with a shade even more miseries and indulgences of wealth. I'm not sure how I wanted it to end, but I was...unfulfilled. It didn't quite have the intrigue the rest of the book share.
But the book comes to an ending quite quickly so the rest of the time reading I was thoroughly entertained.
I've only read Fifteen Dogs in this Quincunx, but I didn't recognize (without research) any common character references.
February 2, 2018
Willow is an ageing heroin addict, the daughter of an extremely wealthy man who has recently died, leaving each of his five children very well off. However, each child is also left a mysterious object which Willow believes is a clue to an even greater fortune. Obviously to solve the puzzle, all five objects must be examined but the other family members are unwilling to part with their gifts. Willow therefore resorts to less conventional methods and recruits Tancred, a sophisticated but strangely ethical thief, to help her “borrow” the other four objects. It soon transpires that Willow is not the only person who has embarked on this “treasure hunt” and things begin to get complicated.
Very unusually for me I finished this book in 3 days (I am a very slow reader so this is very fast). It is short, but it is also unputdownable – if that isn’t a word already, then it should become one. I loved this book. It is a puzzle book, although the readers don’t have to solve the puzzle themselves. A great book, one that I would have loved to have written if I had the ability, the creativity and the imagination. Sadly I don’t have any of the above, which is why there are authors like Andre Alexis to do it for me. I think the only other book that I have felt this way about was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell which also has cryptic and complex enigmas as an integral part of the story.
Populated by eccentrics and oddballs, this book introduces a wonderfully eclectic mix of characters. The author creates a world of unconventionality, both in terms of the inhabitants of the world and the quest upon which they embark within it. It is a delicious and utterly captivating combination.
I don’t think I can find a single negative comment to make about this book – very rare for me so it must be good!!
Although I have never read any books by this author before I will certainly be looking out for others, especially if they are written in a similar vein. Good job Andre.
Very unusually for me I finished this book in 3 days (I am a very slow reader so this is very fast). It is short, but it is also unputdownable – if that isn’t a word already, then it should become one. I loved this book. It is a puzzle book, although the readers don’t have to solve the puzzle themselves. A great book, one that I would have loved to have written if I had the ability, the creativity and the imagination. Sadly I don’t have any of the above, which is why there are authors like Andre Alexis to do it for me. I think the only other book that I have felt this way about was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell which also has cryptic and complex enigmas as an integral part of the story.
Populated by eccentrics and oddballs, this book introduces a wonderfully eclectic mix of characters. The author creates a world of unconventionality, both in terms of the inhabitants of the world and the quest upon which they embark within it. It is a delicious and utterly captivating combination.
I don’t think I can find a single negative comment to make about this book – very rare for me so it must be good!!
Although I have never read any books by this author before I will certainly be looking out for others, especially if they are written in a similar vein. Good job Andre.
November 30, 2018
I could not stop reading this book – I finished it in one long day and did basically nothing else.
I kept marveling at how the characters were treated by the author. Being poor or growing up in the projects was not important and people were seen as simply people. At one point Tancred describes his relationship with Willow: “…the thought of what she might have been troubled him less and less as he strove to accept the woman she actually was.” (p.40) That is what the book does with all the characters – treats them as they actually are.
There is a definite current that runs through the book about what is honourable, what is good, what is faithfulness, and how can we know or recognize the difference, or is there a difference. At one point, von Wúrfel says: “I believe God is an impediment to good. All those people acting in his name don’t bother to think their actions through. They’re incapable of good…No, that’s not right…There are any number of them who accidentally do good. ..What I mean is it’s more difficult to do good with God in the equation.” (p167)
I liked the way the rich were described and not trusted. They were people, but their wealth had clouded their ability to see things. I liked that Willow chose to have friends that were real for her and not her family who clearly she loved, but who she realized could only demean her. I liked the difficult position that the book takes on what is honourable and what is right.
I loved the sense of place and wished I were more familiar with Toronto; at one point Tancred describes being in an upscale area as “walking through the rumour of Toronto.” (p. 110) And, as is evident from the last sentence, the writing is exquisite, but not so that it detracts from the story.
A true treasure.
I kept marveling at how the characters were treated by the author. Being poor or growing up in the projects was not important and people were seen as simply people. At one point Tancred describes his relationship with Willow: “…the thought of what she might have been troubled him less and less as he strove to accept the woman she actually was.” (p.40) That is what the book does with all the characters – treats them as they actually are.
There is a definite current that runs through the book about what is honourable, what is good, what is faithfulness, and how can we know or recognize the difference, or is there a difference. At one point, von Wúrfel says: “I believe God is an impediment to good. All those people acting in his name don’t bother to think their actions through. They’re incapable of good…No, that’s not right…There are any number of them who accidentally do good. ..What I mean is it’s more difficult to do good with God in the equation.” (p167)
I liked the way the rich were described and not trusted. They were people, but their wealth had clouded their ability to see things. I liked that Willow chose to have friends that were real for her and not her family who clearly she loved, but who she realized could only demean her. I liked the difficult position that the book takes on what is honourable and what is right.
I loved the sense of place and wished I were more familiar with Toronto; at one point Tancred describes being in an upscale area as “walking through the rumour of Toronto.” (p. 110) And, as is evident from the last sentence, the writing is exquisite, but not so that it detracts from the story.
A true treasure.
October 12, 2016
Andre Alexis is in the unenviable position of having to follow up a book that won a billion awards, and unfortunately, that can lead to inevitable comparisons between books, even when they have nothing to do with each other. In this case, I found myself frequently going, "I mean, it's good and all, but it's no Fifteen Dogs." That's unfortunate, really, because The Hidden Keys has plenty of charms of its own and it would be difficult to recapture the lightning in a bottle of "that dog book", so really I shouldn't expect him to.
I definitely enjoyed a lot of things about this book, particularly its sort of whimsical tone and the intrigue associated with the Azarian puzzle, but it didn't really stand out to me so much. Maybe it was the lack of attachment I felt to the characters, but I just didn't feel any pull to keep reading it. The fact that it took me a week to read a 225 page book with a very compelling premise is really surprising to me, given how invested in the puzzle I was when I first started reading. Sadly, that investment didn't really last, and I felt a bit let down by the ending . Anyway, certainly worth a read, but I'd recommend Fifteen Dogs as the greater example of what Alexis is really capable of.
I definitely enjoyed a lot of things about this book, particularly its sort of whimsical tone and the intrigue associated with the Azarian puzzle, but it didn't really stand out to me so much. Maybe it was the lack of attachment I felt to the characters, but I just didn't feel any pull to keep reading it. The fact that it took me a week to read a 225 page book with a very compelling premise is really surprising to me, given how invested in the puzzle I was when I first started reading. Sadly, that investment didn't really last, and I felt a bit let down by the ending . Anyway, certainly worth a read, but I'd recommend Fifteen Dogs as the greater example of what Alexis is really capable of.
May 25, 2018
This is a short book but you really have to concentrate on the threads of the puzzle and it is far from an easy read. A wide variety of characters all involved in finding a "hidden treasure". All are complex characters inhabiting a complex storyline. It was a good read but for me just became too abstract at times.
November 7, 2016
Whether it be humans or animals, I know of few authors that do SO well at character development as does Andre Alexis. This author speaks to me so much! It's like I'm thirsty and his words are water. Having lived in Parkdale during my late teens/early twenties, I could savour the descriptive neighbourhoods with ease. I think this man is one of my favourite authors.
Could anything equal Fifteen Dogs though? This almost does...
Could anything equal Fifteen Dogs though? This almost does...
February 28, 2017
I was really excited to read this. A puzzle book, a mystery with exciting sounding characters, sounds perfect right? It has good reviews too! I was bored though, almost didn't bother to keep going bored. Tancred, the main character was likeable enough I guess. But I wasn't emotionally invested in any of the characters and I thought the puzzle was a disappointment. I don't know what to say, just mehh?
December 18, 2021
This might be one of my all time favourites and it's definitely my favourite AA title. And I was OBSESSED with Fifteen Dogs. Can I highly recommend the audiobook? It's read by the author, which is typically a terrible idea but I could probably listen to Andre Alexis read anything now. I will say, the only thing I didn't like was Colby's last name, but also it worked. But also it made me uncomfortable. I was torn. But it's still a fun read -- high end adventure tale is how I would describe it.
May 24, 2016
This was a good mystery/puzzle book that starts with a middle age heroine addict hiring a young thief to steal and return items to help her prove that her father did leave a treasure hunt for her and her siblings.
While I enjoyed the story what really kept me invested and enjoying the book were the very entertaining and unique characters.
While I enjoyed the story what really kept me invested and enjoying the book were the very entertaining and unique characters.
March 28, 2017
Simultaneously a fun heist story, philosophical examination of good and evil, and meditation on agency and fate.
Favourite quote from this book: "I believe we do good or evil indiscriminately because we haven't a vantage from which to judge our actions before we've committed to them."
Favourite quote from this book: "I believe we do good or evil indiscriminately because we haven't a vantage from which to judge our actions before we've committed to them."
July 19, 2017
I never realized how much I wanted a treasure hunt set in Toronto until I read about a treasure hunt set in Toronto. In the short-term, I'm on board for wherever Alexis wants to go
December 21, 2021
Again, an absolutely captivating story. Having finished Ring & Pastoral one must continue the adventure.
February 11, 2026
A thief holds a black diamond he has just stolen in a bar in Toronto. Suddenly, a mysterious heiress of the Azarian fortune with an addiction to heroine walks into the scene and shakes up his life. Her father has left her an inheritance in the form of clues he has passed down to his five children. Tancred, the thief, is intrigued by this hunt for clues and agrees to help her steal the 5 mementos the billionaire left to his children*. what unfolds is a literary-thriller that ponders philosophical questions of what it means to be good and what it means to do good, and I believe, fundamentally, is "doing good" and "being good" the same thing? The novel even opens with this really interesting epigraph from Ibn al-Nadîm: "O sage, my I question you? he said: Go ahead. I asked: What is the good? He answered: That which is good according to reason. I asked: What else? He answered: That which is good according to revelation. I asked: What else? He answered: That which is good in the eyes of all men. I asked: What else? He answered: There is nothing else." In this dialogue, Aristotle is speaking to caliph al-Ma'mun in a dream, in which a socratic dialogue ensues to pursue the criteria of what makes something "good." When reading this novel, you can track specific incidents where the actions of the characters are excused as "good" by all of these measures asserted by Aristotle in the epigraph, but the Alexis flips these criteria on their head when you remember that the entire novel's plot is revolving around thievery and stealing.
Other memorable but sketchy characters populate this novel. There's Enrol Colby, an albino drug pusher who goes by the nickname "N Word" Colby to assert his African heritage despite his albino appearance. He has a white companion who kind of acts as his fall guy and associate, nicknamed named Freud. Freud really represents the "id" of the story and is the manifestation of how people excuse horrible crimes like murder or find ways to frame those crimes as good.
Ultimately, the novel is not going to relentlessly sympathize with the characters' criminality, and a tinge of satire seems to undermine even the most heinous moments in a novel full of thievery, murder, trespassing, stalking and other law breaking. Tancred realizes that he he hopes "that he might be virtuous without the blindness of virtue, that he might discover the good but without the arrogance of those who assumed it was theirs to possess."
Alexis' writing is always full of philosophical nuggets, literary thoughtfulness, humour, and his characters go through profound changes and reflections without pretence or abstraction. André Alexis is a national treasure.
* note: The number 5 is also how the novel is structured; five chapters in five separate parts and this is book four in André Alexis's Quincunx of philosophically driven novels.
Other memorable but sketchy characters populate this novel. There's Enrol Colby, an albino drug pusher who goes by the nickname "N Word" Colby to assert his African heritage despite his albino appearance. He has a white companion who kind of acts as his fall guy and associate, nicknamed named Freud. Freud really represents the "id" of the story and is the manifestation of how people excuse horrible crimes like murder or find ways to frame those crimes as good.
Ultimately, the novel is not going to relentlessly sympathize with the characters' criminality, and a tinge of satire seems to undermine even the most heinous moments in a novel full of thievery, murder, trespassing, stalking and other law breaking. Tancred realizes that he he hopes "that he might be virtuous without the blindness of virtue, that he might discover the good but without the arrogance of those who assumed it was theirs to possess."
Alexis' writing is always full of philosophical nuggets, literary thoughtfulness, humour, and his characters go through profound changes and reflections without pretence or abstraction. André Alexis is a national treasure.
* note: The number 5 is also how the novel is structured; five chapters in five separate parts and this is book four in André Alexis's Quincunx of philosophically driven novels.
September 21, 2023
3.75 stars rounding up! Like everyone else, I love the Westing Game, I love scavenger hunts, and I love puzzles, especially book puzzles! I was nearly halfway through this book before I knew it! This is a lot like an adult Westing Game given the hunt for the inheritance of a billionaire, but the nature of it is very distinct from its comparison.
I was so excited to read this because it features Tancred (and Olivié!), who I came to know through André Alexis's Quincunx #3, Ring that I loved. We get to peer into a prequel of those events here, to see more through his eyes and to see more of the complex relationships that Alexis is so skilled at writing.
I was so excited to read this because it features Tancred (and Olivié!), who I came to know through André Alexis's Quincunx #3, Ring that I loved. We get to peer into a prequel of those events here, to see more through his eyes and to see more of the complex relationships that Alexis is so skilled at writing.
May 7, 2026
This book is one of five books in the Quincunx Cycle by André Alexis. The books don’t need to be read in order.
This book was well written and although only a paperback the paper used was thick and creamy so it was a real pleasure to read.
The novel is set in Toronto and tells the story of an eccentric artist and taxidermist, á young and clever thief, a young and wealthy addict and a treasure hunt that the addict’s father hopes will sufficiently distract his daughter that she might forget about drugs for a while.
The characters are well developed and the treasure hunt intellectually interesting for the clues are unusual.
This book was well written and although only a paperback the paper used was thick and creamy so it was a real pleasure to read.
The novel is set in Toronto and tells the story of an eccentric artist and taxidermist, á young and clever thief, a young and wealthy addict and a treasure hunt that the addict’s father hopes will sufficiently distract his daughter that she might forget about drugs for a while.
The characters are well developed and the treasure hunt intellectually interesting for the clues are unusual.
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