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Canadian author and arts journalist Bob MacKenzie has been writing prose fiction, poetry, arts criticism, and songs since 1965. Reflection, his first book of poetry, was published in 1965.
Bob has published poetry in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, journals and anthologies in Canada, The United States, and worldwide; has, with noted Canadian printmaker G. Brender a Brandis, published five prints of his poems as signed and numbered limited edition prints and The Little Song, a signed and numbered limited edition book; has published/broadcast arts commentary in local, regional, and national Canadian media; and has, with the performance group Poem de Terre, had seven releases of spoken word and songs, including War & Love (2006).
Bob is the only Canadian poet (one of only two in North America) for whom an art gallery has devoted an entire visual-arts exhibition to his work and possibly the only poet to have artist-versions of his poetry in Canada Council's National Art Bank and has won numerous awards for poetry, prose, and scripts, including a prestigious Ontario Arts Council Grant.
Bob's most recent novel is "Ghost Shadow: Unfinished Sins", a Payge Turner Thriller, available at amazon.com and other fine book sellers
Reviewed by Anne Boling for Readers' Favorite
Bob MacKenzie offers readers a short but very well-written mystery that sent chills down my spine. MacKenzie deftly sets the scene. He begins by describing the eat-in kitchen of a low rent apartment. I could see the sparsely furnished room, the pages of a letter scattered on the floor and the flame-scorched table. To the authorities the letter made little sense. As the reader approaches the end of the tale, their imagination takes over and they begin to envision how the table was scarred and why the pages of the letter are scattered across the floor.
MacKenzie’s style reminds me a bit of the Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock stories, which I grew up on. I loved those magnificent mysteries. The writing is low-keyed allowing the story to reveal itself. There is never a need for theatrics or sensationalism. This book is very short, but the writing is perfect, sounding almost poetic. This tale is plot driven and the characters are secondary. MacKenzie leaves the readers with a sense of uncertainty, fear of the unknown, and questioning their own reasoning. Not all writers are capable of leaving a reader disturbed by just mere words. This story tells the readers just enough to allow their imagination to take over.
I was not familiar with Bob MacKenzie or his writings. This is the first book of his I have read, and I am sure it won’t be the last.
