In general, what makes a good book? Who knows?
Not I. Varies from reader to
reader. But, if you like books that span the gaps from police procedural to mystery to serial killer to monstrous gore,
I’ve finished one that will grip you in its bloodthirsty claws from page one.
Takes place in Paris. Pierre Lemaitre’s protagonist, Commandant Camille
Verhoeven, is the epitome of the anti-hero, and an original from start to
finish. Cantankerous, abrasive, short in
stature and temper, the powers that be just flat do not like him. He’s the detective for whom nothing is solved
until he’s turned over every rock and stepped on everything that crawls
out. As a reader, sometimes you find
yourself laughing out loud at his sarcasm.
Easy to laugh. You’re an
outsider. Tougher when you’re in up to
your eyebrows, your stupidity is hung out like dirty laundry, and the sarcasm
cuts you like a rusty knife. Nobody evades his rapier tongue, or his
insubordinate sighs. Certainly not his
superiors and especially not suspects with guilty looks, glibly spewing out half
answers.
Camille’s superiors give him
the shit cases, then are sorry they did.
Open and shut is never open and shut.
Arrogance and self-evidence never goes unquestioned by this snapping
bulldog.
And what of the case
itself? A woman has been kidnapped. You learn to hate the kidnapper in a page and
a half. But, as one curtain after
another gets pulled back? Let’s say this
case and this thriller have more twists and turns than a cornered rattlesnake. You know.
You’re sure you know. But, you
don’t know shit. And so it goes to the
last page.
I’ve simply never read a book
like this. Densely plotted. Characters
drawn so sharply and deeply, you swap back and forth from love to hate to grudging
admiration, until you find yourself in a quandary.
I’ve grown so tired of
thriller that promise to thrill only to fall back on tired formulas, or
unreasonable assumptions. Fifty pages of
splendorous magic, followed by 300 pages of pulp. Makes you want to throw the author up against
the wall for wasting your time.
This author is
different. Pierre Lemaitre has written a
mystery-thriller-police procedural that not only entertains, but makes you
laugh, makes you shiver, and leaves you breathlessly pondering for days
afterwards. The anti-hero, Commandant
Camille Verhoeven is a character for the ages.
You may like him or not, but you’re going to be waiting for the next
book to see exactly what the bastard is up to next.
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