McGill-Queen's University Press Blog

Richard W. Pound's "Unlucky to the End", a review from the Montreal Review of Books

A recent review of Richard W. Pound's Unlucky to the End from the Montreal Review of Books --

"Although Dick Pound is best known as chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency and IOC vice-president, Janise Gamble's story has nothing to do with sports. And yet, to read the life of this average kid from Peterbourgh is akin to being caught in a safe spot on the side of the mountain, helpless, watching an avalanche roar down on an unsuspecting group of skiers. In both cases the end is inevitable.

Pound chooses to use a gentler metaphor. "A few small events of a couple of wrong choices -- the sort of thing that could happen to anyone -- may be enough to steer someone off the path of a normal, happy existence. In the same way, a butterfly stirring the air in Southeast Asia may affect whole storm systems a month later in North America."

Janise Gamble was caught in a storm of her own making. A happy kid from a small town in Ontario, Janise was fatally attracted to a charmer, John Gamble, whose darker side included alcoholism, drug addiction, spousal abuse, and a life of petty crime. During their brief and tragic marriage, the mesmerized Janise continued to forgive her husband. Even after the most violent beatings she always took him back when he wept and cried that she was all he had to live for. He didn't live long. He and a buddy decided to rob a Credit Union in Calgary. The buddy shot a police officer, the pair took hostages, and the duo decided to commit suicide via a drug overdose rather than face arrest and prison. Gamble died, the friend didn't, and he and Janise where tried and convicted for the murder -- a crime Janise didn't commit. She was sentenced to 25 years in Kingston's women's prison where lifers were given no training for re-entry to the real world. Six years later, following a piece on CBC's The Fifth Estate, a Montreal lawyer made Janise his cause, working towards her release. The rest of the story is the final thundering roar of the avalanche.

This is not an easy read. It's not a pleasant story. But Pound, who became interested in Janise's story when he met the Montreal lawyer, has created a compelling story with very real characters. It's a bleak picture on an abusive relationship and a striking exposure of a Canadian miscarriage of justice that is as powerful as the stories of Steven Truscott, Donald Marshall, and David Milgaard.

Pound is a skilful craftsman who uses photos and phone and trial transcripts which add to the drama. But the main reason that Unlucky to the End rises far above cheap sensationalism or detective fiction-type action is that Pound, once he heard the story from Colin Irving, was a man on a mission "to see what had happened and, to some extent, how and why."

For Canadians, the "how and the why" of this tragic miscarriage of justice is undoubtedly as important as the "what," the grim unfolding of events which began when an uncomplicated small town girl fell in love with a sociopath."

- Montreal Review of Books

Richard W. Pound, review and interview in the McGill Reporter

By Neale McDevitt --

"Win Wimbledon. Swim the English Channel. Walk in space. These three items could very well be on Richard Pound's ever-dwindling To Do list. Chancellor of McGill, Chairman of the World Anti-doping Agency, partner in the Montreal law firm of Stikeman Elliott and a former Olympic swimmer, the outrageously accomplished Pound will conquer a new frontier on September 17 with the release of his book Unlucky to the End: The Story of Janise Marie Gamble (McGill-Queen's University Press).

Not that this is his first foray into the world of literature. By his own count, Pound has authored "seven or eight" books, including a biography of W.R. Jackett, the first Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada. It's the genre of Unlucky to the End that makes it stand out. Richard Pound, true crime author?

In Unlucky to the End, Pound tells the shocking story of Janise Marie Gamble, a 21-year-old Peterborough woman who, on March 12, 1976, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Calgary police officer Allan Keith Harrison during a botched robbery—despite the irrefutable evidence that she had not fired the fatal shot.

Pound first heard of the story from his squash partner and fellow McGill alumni, Colin Irving—a Montreal lawyer who took up Gamble's cause after seeing her story on CBC's The Fifth Estate and eventually helped secure her release after 14 years. "Irving asked me if I was interested in writing the book and gave me all his files," says Pound.

Poring over the documents, Pound's interest turned to shock and incredulity at the court proceedings. In the book, Pound contends that the sentence was based on legislation not even in force at the time. As a result, Gamble was punished more severely than she would have been under the existing law of the day. "When you realize that she was charged with a crime that didn't exist at the time that the events took place and given a sentence that didn't exist at the time that the events took place—something is clearly wrong," he says.

Pound broadened his research by conducting interviews with witnesses, police and lawyers from both camps. The deeper he probed, the more disturbed he became with his findings. "It's scary to see how very small incremental steps can lead to life in prison," he says.

Having completed the bulk of his research—or "most of the backswing" as he puts—Pound had to put the book on the shelf for several years as other literary projects demanded his attention, including a book on the Olympics that was published in 2004 and another on doping in sports that came out in 2005.

Although it only took four months to write when he finally sat down to do it, Pound shrugs off the suggestion that it was any great literary feat. "I think it's easier to write non-fiction than fiction. When you have to sit there and generate a story from your own head—I can see why that would be daunting. With non-fiction it's just a matter of marshalling the facts and telling the story the way it happened. Hopefully, the injustice or the pathos will hit you that much harder."

And where does Pound find the time to research and write such a thorough account—especially considering his many professional duties? "There's loads of time," he says in his typical straight-shooting manner. "The key is just not to piss it away." Spoken like a true crime writer. "

Richard Pound's "Unlucky to the End" -- Early review from the Quill & Quire

“Dick Pound is probably best known to Canadians as the former vice-president of the International Olympic Committee and later the crusading head of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He also finds the time to serve as chancellor of McGill University and as a partner in a law firm. And now he has managed to write a new book – one that has little to do with any of those presumably time-consuming pursuits.

Unlucky to the End, a true-crime tale with a heavy emphasis on the legal details of the case, is about a 1976 Calgary bank ro bbery that goes bad, leading to the murder of a police officer and then a hostage-taking. In the first part of the book, Pound quite ably depicts the crime with a keen eye for detail, noting, for example, that the first reporter to reach the hostages by phone was future Alberta Premier Ralph Klein.

Janise Gamble, the wife of one of the robbers, was with them when they carried out all aspects of the crimes. At question, in the trial –  and, to a lesser extent, in Pound’s book – is Gamble’s specific role in those crimes and whether or not she knew what her husband and his old jail buddy had in mind. A Calgary jury convicted her of murder, and that verdict sets off the last half of the book, which focuses on the various legal efforts to free Gamble from the Kingston Prison for Women.

 Pound was not personally involved in any of these efforts; his connection ot the story is through a friend, Colin Irving, who became interested in the case after watching an episode of The Fifth Estate. The chapters detailing how Irving used the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to argue for Gamble’s release aren’t nearly as compelling or as entertaining as the depiction of the crime itself. But Pound does his best to break up the long law-heavy stretches by inserting often-touching correspondence between the lawyer and his client.

Throughout Unlucky to the End, Pound neatly balances complex legal proceedings, Gamble’s compelling personal story, and a shocking true crime tale. It is this mix, as well as Pound’s fondness for quirky details, that make the book a worthy read for fans of the genre.”

- Dan Rowe