In her third novel about the intense and difficult life of seventeen-year-old Ryan Dooley, Norah McClintock doesn’t let up on the challenges and potential disasters faced by her complex protagonist.

At the heart of Victim Rights is Dooley’s girlfriend Beth, whose loving presence is a constant reminder to keep on the straight and narrow, away from the unsavoury life and shady characters that peopled Dooley’s past. But when rumours start to swirl about Beth’s possible unfaithfulness, Dooley’s world is pushed to the brink – and it’s up to him to unravel the increasingly complex truth, or be overwhelmed by the poisonous rumours swirling around him.

Norah McClintock’s Dooley series is tautly and richly told. The stories explore the often dangerous urban world of today’s teenagers. Far from being a role model, Ryan Dooley is much more – a character with layers of understanding of what’s going on around him, a character who struggles to fight off the temptations that encroach so easily on him, a young man who above all is learning about loyalty and trying to do the right thing.

Norah McClintock is a five-time winner of the prestigious Arthur Ellis Award for crime fiction. She lives in Toronto.