SUDBURY -- With many people still sticking close to home, there is a new Sudbury-based novel that recently hit store shelves.
Sudbury resident Dave Wickenden has just released his fourth book, entitled Mad Dog, set in the 1970's Martindale and Gatchell neighbourhoods.
The book tells the story of a 14-year-old named Daniel who finds himself in a tricky situation.
"Somebody starts killing neighbourhood pets and he finds himself in the middle of that," Wickenden said.
"Being a dreamer he convinces his buddies to help him hunt for the killer so they can be the heroes of the neighbourhood. Unfortunately the killer has a different idea and he turns the tables on Daniel and basically frames Daniel for all the killings."
While he does have three other novels out, this one hits close to home for Wickenden.
"This is my old stomping grounds," recalled Wickenden.
"In 1975, I was 14, which is basically why I put it back at that era. We were one of the last generations to play outside, before the computers came up and everything else. We lived and breathed outside."
A retired firefighter of 31 years, after earning the rank of Deputy Fire Chief, Wickenden decided to pursue his passion of writing.
With this particular story, he was hoping to tie in his childhood to bring a feeling of nostalgia to the pages.
"I really wanted to enhance that, so anybody that grew up in the 70's is going to love this story," said Wickenden.
"It even talks about the sulphur clouds that would, on a bad day, coming from INCO at the time, would cover the streets and your eyes would burn and everything else. That's all mentioned. That's all brought into the story because that was summer in the 70's."
A member of the International Thriller Association and the Writer's Union of Canada, Wickenden says the book is available at many different spots locally including Coles Bookstore in the New Sudbury Centre, Bays Used Books and Giacomo's.
Digital copies are also available from online stores as well.
