In The Lynching of Louie Sam, screenwriter Elizabeth Stewart tackles the daunting subject of the only recorded lynching to take place on Canadian soil.

This is an engaging book that combines a strong mystery arc with thought-provoking issues. The novel is related in the clear, believable voice of George Gillies, a teenaged tagalong to the angry mob of Americans that trails 14-year-old Louie Sam over the border from the U.S. (where he has been falsely accused of murder), kidnaps him after he is apprehended in Canada, and hangs him. Following Sam’s death, the pace and action hit a stride that Stewart maintains to the end.

Young readers will identify with George’s longing to be taken seriously and treated as an adult even while feeling confused about justice and responsibility. The ambivalence of George’s parents toward the bloodthirstiness of their fellow townspeople, and George’s resulting embarrassment and uncertainty, adds tension to the narrative.

Stewart places the white settlers’ hateful rhetoric in the context of their fear and misunderstanding of the native peoples who vastly outnumber them. The author adds depth to several secondary characters, in particular Pete, another teen participant in the lynching and George’s best friend.

Motivations for violence in the town run the gamut from racism to greed to fervent belief in the mythology of the early American settler-hero, creating subtlety and interest in a powerful story of good versus evil. Some readers may find themselves thirsting for more resolution than they receive, but the ambiguity signals Stewart’s commitment to encouraging discussion rather than maintaining convention.

Stewart’s prose is relatively unadorned, keeping the book’s excitement level high. The few rhetorical flourishes she includes are deft, as when she closes a chapter featuring the mob’s pursuit of Louie Sam with an observation of George’s horse walking in the dark: “All he needed to do was follow the pack.” A clear nod to the diseased morality of the lynch mob, the comment exemplifies the book’s thematic heart.