By Julie Kish
Behind You
A novel by Catherine Hernandez
HarperCollins, May 2024
In her newest novel, Scarborough native Catherine Hernandez focuses on a dark period in Scarborough’s history. Her fourth novel, Behind You, is a fictional portrayal of a time when a serial rapist/killer was at large in her neighbourhood. She is depicting a time from her own childhood when the entire city of Toronto was obsessed with identifying and stopping “The Scarborough Rapist.” This novel precisely depicts the horrific time many Scarborough women still recall.
Behind You is the author’s fourth novel and the most suspenseful and gripping book to date. The story alternates between two timelines, and both stories are told by the protagonist and narrator, Alma Alverez. In the present day, Alma is a film editor who is assigned to edit a True Crime series featuring a notorious killer from the late 1980s. When Alma begins editing the film, her memories of that terrifying time begin to haunt her.
In the earlier timeline, Alma is a young teen living in Scarborough when the perpetrator is terrorizing women. Alma is taught self-defence by the local police and is told to walk with her keys splayed between her fingers, as depicted in the novel’s cover art. The fictional perpetrator is never named in this novel and is referred to only as “The Scarborough Stalker.”
As if being terrified to walk alone is not enough of a burden, poor young Alma is subjected to inappropriate comments and unwanted advances from men. Catherine Hernandez has completely “nailed” the description of life for women during an era when men were rarely held accountable for their inappropriate and sexist behaviour. Young Alma had to tolerate men trying to look up her skirt on the bus and would say nothing when her creepy neighbour tickled her palm when he shook her hand.
In the current timeline, adult Alma is concerned about her teenage son’s obsessive and controlling behaviour towards his girlfriend and desperately wants to prevent him from becoming the type of man who victimizes women. She wants to teach him to be a man who uses his strength responsibly.
The victimization of women is a theme throughout the novel, and the author makes the topic fresh and thought-provoking. The author also deals with trauma and healing in a way that makes the ending very satisfying. The highly provocative and expertly written novel would incite a lively discussion at any book club.
Catherine Hernandez’s first novel, Scarborough, won multiple literary awards. She also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, which premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival and won eight awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
I want to thank HarperCollins for providing me with a digital Advance Reading Copy of this novel. Behind You will be available for purchase on May 7.