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A Gift Before Dying book cover
A Gift Before Dying
2026
First Published
3.68
Average Rating
272
Number of Pages

“Hypnotically good—instantly immersive, intense, and ultimately inspiring.”—Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series In a hauntingly atmospheric novel set against the unforgiving landscape of the Arctic Circle, a disgraced police investigator discovers that his path to redemption is paved with ice—and blood. After a botched high-profile murder investigation, Corporal Elderick Cole is exiled to the remote, rugged landscape of Nunavut, a vast territory in the Arctic Circle known for its untamed beauty, frigid temperatures, and endless winter nights. With his family having severed all ties, Cole waits out the result of a civil lawsuit alone—the wrong verdict could end what’s left of his flailing career. His bleak existence takes a sinister turn when he discovers the hanging body of Pitseolala, a troubled Inuit girl whom he had sworn to protect. Her death dredges up demons he thought he’d buried along with the scars of a fractured marriage and the aching divide between him and his estranged daughter. As Cole’s life unravels—and with it, the fragile thread of his investigation, he turns to Pitseolala’s younger brother, Maliktu, a fellow outsider. It’s then that Cole uncovers what binds them—a singular mission to find her killer. Against fierce backlash, Cole’s overriding desire to redeem just one aspect of his otherwise failed life becomes an obsession—and he’s willing to break every rule in his unyielding pursuit of justice and the smallest shred of redemption.

Avg Rating
3.68
Number of Ratings
471
5 STARS
23%
4 STARS
37%
3 STARS
28%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
3%
goodreads

Author

Malcolm Kempt
Malcolm Kempt
Author · 2 books
Malcolm Kempt spent seventeen years working as a criminal lawyer in the remote Arctic before leaving to write full-time. He won the Percy Janes Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript in 2023. He now lives on the island of Newfoundland. A Gift Before Dying is his debut novel.
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