Dark Ambition by Ann Brocklehurst (42)

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Viking (November 8, 2016)
• ISBN: 9780670070145

AMAZON

Tim Bosma was a happy young father with a promising future when he listed his pickup truck for sale online, went for a test drive with two strangers, and never returned. The story of the Hamilton man’s strange disappearance in May 2013 captured headlines across the country and took over social media, resonating with everyone who had ever taken a test drive or bought and sold goods online. 

When Dellen Millard and Mark Smich were eventually arrested and charged with Bosma’s murder, the mystery only deepened. Millard was the wealthy heir to an aviation business. Smich was his ne’er-do-well best friend from a middle-class family. There was no obvious reason why the pair had made it their deadly mission to steal a truck, murder its owner, and incinerate the body. Tim Bosma was their randomly chosen “thrill kill” target.

Veteran journalist and private investigator Ann Brocklehurst had a front-row seat at Millard’s and Smich’s 2016 trial, where many of the questions about their shocking crime were finally answered. Others still linger, waiting to be further explained at two more murder trials set for 2017. Both Millard and Smich have been charged with the first-degree murder of Laura Babcock, who disappeared in summer 2012. And Millard alone faces murder charges in the death of his father, which previously has been ruled a suicide.

Compelling and suspenseful, Dark Ambition chronicles an unfathomable crime and its chilling perpetrators.

Ann Brocklehurst is a veteran journalist and licensed private investigator who writes about crime, courts and business. Before working on the crime beat, she reported for the International Herald Tribune from Berlin and worked for Reuters in Hong Kong and Toronto, covering banking and finance.

Ann's PI work does not involve stake-outs or guns. She investigates for law firms, private clients, and some of the word's largest security companies.

She lives in Toronto.

REVIEW:

Being from Hamilton, and still living here today, I was one of the many that followed this horrific story as it happened. When my co-worker offered to let me read her copy, I jumped at the chance.

I'm so glad I did too.

You think you know a story, especially when it plays out in your hometown and local news. Then you read a thrilling journalistic approach to what happened and you realize how little you actually knew.

Man, these two are sick. Smitch probably more so than Millard. Still, they got life and they deserved it.

While reading the book I had a few creepy moments. I can't tell you how many times I may have crossed paths with these guys. From the restaurant that they met at, a favorite of mine in Toronto, to where they lived, also among my stomping grounds. It got a little spooky, not gonna lie.  Even the victim, lives near my in-laws. Going past certain places, like Trinity Church Rd, it gets to me every time.... Will I ever forget someone was murdered near there? Probably not.

If you know nothing about this story, and like true crime, read it. It's a good one. It just hits so close to home for me.

5/5

**Compensation may be earned from the link within. This copy was borrowed from a friend. Opinions are owned by Freda's Voice.