It will probably go down in history as the most infamous crime in Alberta history. On a summer night in 1959, Raymond Cook, along with his wife and five small children, were shot and bludgeoned to death in their Stettler, Alberta home and left in the grease pit of their garage. Robert Raymond Cook – Ray's only child from a previous marriage – was accused, charged and convicted of the crime, and became known as the last man hanged in Alberta.
In the Boy – the fourth book by Canadian writer, Betty Jane Hegerat – the writer blends fiction and nonfiction to create a picture of what it might have been like for Daisy May Cook nee Gasper, a school teacher and the stepmother of Robert Cook.
In the fiction thread we follow Louise, an insecure only child and school teacher, who marries a widowed man with a 12-year-old son. Shortly after the marriage, Louise and Jake Peters begin to create a family of their own. Louise's growing fear of the child that is not hers causes her to disengage from the potential stepmother/stepson relationship, if she was ever really engaged in the first place.
Louise doesn't see anything like the naïve immaturity Jake has described. There is a slyness to those green eyes, the way they dart away as soon as Louise makes contact with them, then flick back to check if she's given up or is still watching him. (Pg. 26)
After discovering old newspaper clippings and photos about Robert Cook, Louise begins to find similarities between her stepson Danny and the infamous Robert Cook. Louise believes her own judgmental, selfish thoughts are shared between her and Daisy Cook and that Danny's downward spiral into petty crime could only cause him to come unhinged and inevitably turn on his family.
The nonfiction thread is a picture of the agonies and concerns of the writer as she dug deeper into a murder so gruesome she hesitated to unearth.
A friend had just told me she had no intention of ever buying this book if I was lucky enough to get it published. My interest repulsed her. (Pg. 67)
Through dialogue between Betty Jane and Louise, we see the struggle the author endured and the pressure put on her by Louise to keep going. To dig deeper. To learn everything she could about Daisy and the relationship between her and her stepson.
Louise: Whoa! It's no wonder the baby's so still. He's afraid too! And what are those newspaper clippings doing in my story?
Betty Jane: I'm still amazed that I placed them there.
Louise: You mean you don't want to write the Cook story? I've been waiting for weeks for you to either get over it or admit that there might be a book of non-fiction in your future after all.
Betty Jane: Really? I thought you were nagging me to finish your story?
Louise: Of course. But now you're crossing wires. Are you dragging Daisy into my story, or me into Daisy's?
Betty Jane: Neither. Shall we rewrite this last chapter?
Louise: No, don't do that. Daisy deserves the attention. I'm willing to give her some space. (Pg. 74)
Louise is morbidly curious about the crimes because she wants justification for her nagging fears. But she's too scared to do the work herself.
Every time I stepped back to 1959, I wanted to open the door of that clapboard bungalow in Stettler, walk into the kitchen and imagine the evening of Thursday, June 25, when Bobby Cook came home from prison. I wanted to imagine Daisy, and what she was thinking, and what was said. (Pg. 75)
If you are thinking this is the book that is going to shed light on a 50-year-old crime, you will be disappointed. The Boy is not a new conclusion to a story that officially ended in the Fort Saskatchewan Gaol in 1960.
The Boy is a wonderful blend of fiction and truth, weaved together to bring alive an almost forgotten piece of the picture, searching for the answer to a question that has never been fully considered. If Robert Cook did, in fact, kill his family, then why did he do it? Did it have something to do with the newly blended family?
But, of course, in order to find those answers, the details of the story have to be reopened. So it only stands to reason that The Boy is also a reminder of the case and the impact it had on a community, province and country, and just how much it still haunts people today.
Sources:
- Published by Oolichan Books 2011
- For more information about Betty Jane Hegerat
Robin van Eck - Robin lives and writes in Calgary. Her book reviews and articles have been published in various publications including, FreeFall ...
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