Book (and Book Launch) Review - ‘22 Murders’ by Paul Palango

I attended the launch event for Paul Palango’s book on the NS Mass Shooting, entitled ’22 Murders’. The launch was held at the Old Triangle in downtown Halifax, the pub to which the statue of Joseph Howe points from it’s perch at Province House. Any journalist would be proud to be associated with Mr. Howe, and Palango is just such a fearless journalist that would have fit Howe’s hopes for the future. There was a good crowd for the launch, including many people who were previously known to me more by their usernames. Jordan Bonaparte, from Nighttime Podcast was there, as was Andrew Douglas from Frank Magazine. Many from the Portapique and Onslow-Belmont areas were on hand as well. Palango did not read extensively from the book, instead choosing to highlight a certain passage and then invite the subject of the note to come up to speak. This was my first opportunity to meet Palango in person. I have had a few chances to talk with him on the phone, and before that had taken in several of his podcast appearances on The Nighttime Podcast with Jordan Bonaparte. I have also kept up on his journalism since the early days after Gabriel Wortman’s killing spree. His reporting has been invaluable for me as an analyst, being detailed and specific about what he has been able to discover, and being unafraid to venture into potentially sensitive material. Knowing that I was going to be attending the launch, I finished the book itself a few days ahead of time, so I would have a chance to digest and reflect on what it contained, and of course so as to be able to converse about it at the event. Palango’s writing style is very engaging, drawing you into the story from a first-person narrative perspective. It follows the author’s own discovery journey to the facts, and also the perspectives of those he has interviewed, all of which helps give the reader a sense of how difficult it is to get straight answers from the RCMP. In that sense, it is also a good guide for those interested in pursuing journalism as a potential career option.