Last Stop Sunnyside by Pat Capponi

Dana Leoni once had it all. She was a smart, pretty girl who grew up in the Annex, with a bright future ahead of her. However, that all changed when she was attacked one night, only a few steps from her front door. The University of Toronto graduate student in philosophy took months to recover from the ferocious attack. She never thought she would be attacked in a safe, quiet neighbourhood like the Annex. This incident caused her to rethink her life. After much thought, Dana dropped out of university, left her parents’ Annex townhome, and moved into the old, run-down Delta Court apartment in Parkdale. Here, she met a variety of new friends, including a psychiatric survivor, a poverty-stricken widow, and a barely reformed, streetwise boy.

In the novel Last Stop Sunnyside by Pat Capponi, one of Dana’s closest friends, Maryanne, goes missing, and was last seen being escorted from the apartment building by two bulky, tough-looking men. After Maryanne turns up dead on the shore of Lake Ontario, the police close the case as a drowning suicide. Dana and her friends, refusing to believe Maryanne’s death was a suicide, start their own investigation to find her real murderer. As they uncover more information, the stakes get higher, and they get closer to unprecedented danger.

Two things that worked well in this novel were the author’s description of Parkdale, and structuring chapters to increase suspense. Throughout the novel, Capponi describes the battered, crumbling streets of Parkdale. Her language lets the reader imagine what the area is like. She describes the crumbling, condemned buildings, the homeless people cluttering the streets, the numerous drug deals that occur in back alleys, the various low-grade restaurants and shops, and much more. The following excerpt, found on page 77, is an example of Capponi’s descriptive writing. “There were days when I simply went back to my room and cried, overwhelmed by the misery I had witnessed. Vivid replays over and over again of a large, distressed woman on the corner of Brock and Queen slowly pulling her sweater over her head, naked underneath. A tall, terribly skinny man trying to make off with a banana from a fruit stand in front of a tumble-down grocery store. Two women with a tribe of squabbling children paying more attention to the case of 24 they’re dragging than to their kids…” This quote describes the chaos and misery seen by Dana one day at the Queen and Brock intersection. It is evident that Parkdale is home to a variety of miserable, impoverished people. Capponi does an excellent job of exposing readers to the horrors we do not often encounter.

The second thing Capponi does well in her novel is structuring chapters in a certain fashion to maintain suspense and keep the reader wanting to move on. Throughout the novel, Capponi will build up suspense in a chapter as events unfold that affect the characters involved, or the plot. She then ends the chapter at the climax of the event. She will also end the chapter with a suspenseful phrase. The following quote on page 284 is an example of how the author ends a chapter. “I hope I’m projecting the confidence I wish I had. We break, and enter the side street leading to Mallick’s hell house. I’m kept in the middle of Gerry and Diamond, just in case Mallick is looking out his window. It’s time to forget I’m Dana, time to become Charlotte.” In this passage, Dana is about to enter the murder suspect, Stephen Mallick’s home. She is disguised as Charlotte, a sixteen-year-old homeless girl that is in love with him (although according to Dana he is the most revolting man she’s ever seen). Dana and her friends believe that he is the killer, and in order to see what he’s hiding, decide to send her inside. This makes the reader want to find out what happens to Dana, and what Mallick is hiding inside his house.

Although there were some things that worked well in the novel, there were two things that could have been improved. There was only one murder suspect throughout the whole novel, and Dana was too perfect. In order for a crime fiction novel to keep the reader guessing as to whom the murderer is, there has to be a variety of suspects. Throughout this novel, there was only a single suspect. This gives the reader no chance to ponder about who might have killed Maryanne. Also, there was no circumstantial evidence at the beginning of the novel suggesting Mallick was the killer. Dana just followed her hunch throughout the whole novel, and never made a single mistake. This is very impractical, as almost all detectives run into a dead end at some point. This also took some of the interest out of the book, as it was a smooth ride from the beginning to the end of the novel. Although some things worked well for the author in this novel, there was room for improvement.

One passage that appealed to me is found on page 216, where Dana describes her trip on the Queen Street streetcar. “I love the Queen streetcar. I know people who spend all day riding back and forth, if they can cadge a ticket… It’s a way of connecting, feeling a part of the world, and there’s so much to see, briefly framed through the wide windows: bums panhandling, giggling children and their harried mothers, posturing teenagers, bemused tourists, all caught up in their own moments, their fleeting concerns. And it’s the same inside the car, where a variety of languages, colours and classes are thrown together, at least of the length of the ride, in wary, watchful tolerance.” This quote appeals to me because I, like many Torontonians, frequently ride on the TTC. In this passage, Dana explains how all sorts of people come together on the TTC, despite their language, race or class. This shows how great of a country we live in, where all people have the same rights, and get along with each other. I enjoy riding the TTC, just like Dana, and find it a relaxing way to travel.

Another excerpt from the novel that appealed to me is found on pages 150-151, where Dana’s friend, Michael, is found beaten up near their home. Dana describes the situation: “I have my hand on the doorknob when I hear a strangled cry… Hesitating for just a moment, I creep back down the stairs, heading toward the sound that continues to emanate from the likely wounded animal. I’m equal measures of caution and fear, moving slowly till I make out a human form lying on the sidewalk, trying to crawl toward me… He fights me for a moment, arms flailing, and as I try to calm him, I catch a glimpse of his face, stunned to see it’s Michael… There are tears in my eyes, he looks so broken.” In this quote, Michael is found beaten up and left to die in front of Delta Court. They later find out he was beaten up by Mallick’s goons after snooping around his house. This quotation appeals to me because it reminds me of an event that occurred when I was five years old. I was at my cottage, and my whole family was going to the beach. I decided to ride my little red bicycle to the beach, and went ahead of everybody else. Underestimating the danger of the gravel roads, I picked up lots of speed. As I rode down a steep hill, I lost control and hit the ground, blacking out. I felt like Michael from the novel in this situation. We were both beaten up, and it took us both some time to recover.

If I could write a letter to Pat Capponi, I would ask her three questions. The first one would be why she only included one murder suspect in the novel. Having only one suspect took away the reader’s ability to think about possible suspects and guess the murderer, making the novel less enjoyable to read. The second question would be why she included the sub-plot regarding Dana’s friend’s play production? The novel spent a lot of time describing Dana’s friend, Charlene’s play, even though it had nothing to do with the plot. I found it rather boring, and would have liked it eliminated. Finally, I would ask Pat Capponi if she would write more books in this series. She has already written a sequel, entitled The Corpse Will Keep, but I am curious to see how far she will take the Dana Leoni series.

Last Stop Sunnyside is a sub-par crime fiction novel. It only has one suspect, and is a smooth ride from start to finish. There is no guessing game for the reader, and it gets very tedious as the author includes a lot of unnecessary information. I give Last Stop Sunnyside two out of five stars.