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Who Killed Richard Oland

Who Killed Richard Oland

Richard Oland, once co-owner of Moosehead Breweries, was brutally murdered in his office in downtown Saint John, New Brunswick in the early evening of July 6th, 2011. His killer sprayed blood everywhere as he smashed Richard Oland’s head with dozens of blows. It had all the characteristics of an organized crime hit, designed to kill one and warn others.

His murder remains unsolved and unexplained. The Saint John city police have no suspects. Individuals who could explain the murder have disappeared, pleaded bad memories or gone silent.

Saint John, and the rest of Canada, were witnesses to two murder trials where Dennis Oland, Richard’s son, stood accused of the murder. In this book, Janice Middleton sets out the obvious and clear evidence that Dennis could not have been the murderer. Even so, Dennis was convicted by a jury in his first trial, likely because everyone in the city knew of a motive that was never mentioned in court: Richard had had an affair with his son's wife.

The Oland family got Dennis acquitted, but his acquittal left questions unanswered: who killed Richard Oland? And why was he targeted?
Janice Middleton pieces together the tangled story of Saint John’s most dysfunctional citizens. She points to people who might have wanted Richard Oland dead, shadowy investors who arrived in Saint John to finance the re-opening of the local sugar refinery. The deal went sour, the investors lost millions, and they disappeared from sight.

This is a compelling account of how someone got away with murdering a rich, powerful, sleazy leading citizen of Saint John.

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average rating is 5 out of 5, based on 2 votes, book lovers sharing their thoughts

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arielaonthego

Location:

Bangkok, Thailand

average rating is 5 out of 5

Time Published

Who Killed Richard Oland? Book Review

Who Killed Richard Oland is the story of one of the bloodiest murders in Canada’s history.
Telling a true story, this book retells every single detail. An insane amount of research and care went into this book, and it’s all clear from the writing. I can tell that Janice Middleton truly cared about this book, and it’s that next-level attention to detail that tells us that. This book could very well be a novel. I feel like if it were a novel it would be just a bit more entertaining to read. Nonetheless, the author does a great job at establishing the people in this story as if they were characters. At times the lines between character and person are blurred, and it truly feels like you are reading a true crime novel.

I wouldn’t recommend going into to this expecting a novel because there is a lot of exposition as well, but I would have loved it even more if it was a novel. Thankfully I didn’t have any lulls while reading, it was pretty consistent in presenting new information, but it was still a little bit hard for me to get through because it was non-fiction. I wouldn’t quite say that it was “boring”, just that it was hard for me to get through. I don’t usually read non-fiction, and the fact that it took time to establish settings that I was already familiar with. I will say that this went further in depth than worldbuilding in a fantasy book, though. This was really good for setting the story.

I would say this book was “clever”. Especially in it’s title. It made me feel smart when reading it, and I liked that.
I think that one drawback when reading this book was that it really wasn’t targeted for me and my age range. Well then, you might be saying, “WeLL ArIeLA, tHeN wHy DiD yOu gEt tHis bOOK?” Actually, I didn’t. My dad originally bought it for himself and brought it over to Thailand, so I was like “Well, I like physical copies better, and there’s one right here.” I decided to pick it up and read it. I think it was pretty good for the most part. I really enjoyed it, and I also learned a lot, like how legal stuff and crime works. I was reading one night before bed and then I was left with the question “what happens to dead people blood when someone dies”, so then I searched it up and I learned that they either put it in a fridge or throw it way. Nothing too fun, but that’s just what we got.

Welp, this is my book review for Who Killed Richard Oland. I thought that this book deserved no less than 5 stars. I hope you consider checking it out!

I recommend this book.

Emily Hunter

Location:

Prince Edward Island

average rating is 5 out of 5

Time Published

Another must-read 5-star review!

“Who Killed Richard Oland” has been on the minds of Saint John residents for many years.

But only some of them. A lot of people believe that Dennis Oland killed his father, but as this book gets right off the bat to saying, he had a set in stone alibi. So who really did it? This book presents many sides to this unsolved case. And Janice Middleton does an excellent job portraying all of them.

Though I’ve read a book written on this topic before, and it was a really great book too, I actually think of them as quite different when compared side by side. And what I found striking about this book was the fact that there were still details I had yet to hear or read that were revealed in this book. The fact that Richard Oland had been having an affair I knew from the previous book. But 3 affair partners? I had no clue. This book also has an email interview that the author did herself with Dennis Oland, which I find adds so much to the story, having whole paragraphs that Dennis wrote in his own words really takes this book to the next level.

I love the layout of this story. It’s very sequential which I enjoy, as I find it much easier to follow when the story is unfolding in front of me as it happens. I also love the authors writing. One thing you’ll notice in all my reviews is I love to talk about the level of detail. And I love a good meticulous author, so Janice pleased me immensely with her writing, as this was packed full of details, and as I had mentioned previously, so detailed that I had never heard of them even though I know a fair amount about this case. Like the red mafia for instance. I was very surprised when they came up.

My one last note is the fact that I like how unbiased the author is. Lots of facts, lots of proposals, but the author doesn’t point fingers. Many people believe Dennis killed his father, but as the author points out, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest he did not. And the author strays away from saying everything but “guilty” in regards to Dennis.

I recommend this book.