Adam Shields
Summary: The previous case continues to unfold
I am a long term fan of the series. Most of the books I have read more than once. But starting at about the eighth book there has been a shift from a mystery series to a thriller series. There are some books in the last dozen that have had more mystery elements than thriller elements, but most of those books have shifted from mysteries where Gamache and those around him follow clues and psychologically gain an understanding of the perpetrator, to thriller elements where the point is unfolding tension. Along with that thriller element, a natrual shift has been to make Gamache more and more of a traditional hero.
Part of what I loved is that the early books portrayed Gamache is using his brain, his love of others, the empathy he gained from his own tragic history and his experience with previous cases to solve crimes. But a lot of the recent stories have been focused on action hero tropes, luck, or the willingness of Gamache to bend the rules to stop others who have no regard for the rules. I am glad for series like this to grapple with the moral complexities of any job. And police work has plenty of moral complexities. And this series has grappled with the ways that bending rules because you think you are in the right can lead to bending rules because the rules are getting in your way. One of the things that gets tedious in John le Carré's books is that there are often no characters that are actually doing the right thing for the right reasons. It is all about power. There may be some realitiy to that, but it doesn't make for very compelling reading.
As the Gamache books have become more about conspiracy theories and less about crime, they fall into the trap of needing to be larger and larger conspiracies. This is a spoiler, but there is an author's note at the beginning that hints at the spoiler because the book was written prior to the most recent US Presidental election even if it wasn't published until Oct 2025. Early in Trump's presidency there was a lot of language about Canada becoming the 51st state of the US. The story here is about a conspiracy to invade Canada, or maybe a conspiracy to invade the US by Canada. Or maybe all of that is a ruse for other purposes. At times this feels a bit too "ripped from the headlines."
As it is, I think it is a fine thriller. It is really the second part of a two book arc, and I am not convinced that there won't be a third book in the arc. But even if it is a fine thriller, much of the elments of the series that I love, the people, the character development, the complex portayals of characters that I have grown to love are missing. While Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Isabelle Lacoste are all throughout the book, they feel more cardboard than normal. They have become arms of Gamache more than indpendent characters.
I will keep reading Louise Penny, but I do wish she would return to the smaller, cozy style that was the reason I started reading her.
This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/black-wolf/
Originally posted at bookwi.se.
Summary: The previous case continues to unfold
I am a long term fan of the series. Most of the books I have read more than once. But starting at about the eighth book there has been a shift from a mystery series to a thriller series. There are some books in the last dozen that have had more mystery elements than thriller elements, but most of those books have shifted from mysteries where Gamache and those around him follow clues and psychologically gain an understanding of the perpetrator, to thriller elements where the point is unfolding tension. Along with that thriller element, a natrual shift has been to make Gamache more and more of a traditional hero.
Part of what I loved is that the early books portrayed Gamache is using his brain, his love of others, the empathy he gained from his own tragic history and his experience with previous cases to solve crimes. But a lot of the recent stories have been focused on action hero tropes, luck, or the willingness of Gamache to bend the rules to stop others who have no regard for the rules. I am glad for series like this to grapple with the moral complexities of any job. And police work has plenty of moral complexities. And this series has grappled with the ways that bending rules because you think you are in the right can lead to bending rules because the rules are getting in your way. One of the things that gets tedious in John le Carré's books is that there are often no characters that are actually doing the right thing for the right reasons. It is all about power. There may be some realitiy to that, but it doesn't make for very compelling reading.
As the Gamache books have become more about conspiracy theories and less about crime, they fall into the trap of needing to be larger and larger conspiracies. This is a spoiler, but there is an author's note at the beginning that hints at the spoiler because the book was written prior to the most recent US Presidental election even if it wasn't published until Oct 2025. Early in Trump's presidency there was a lot of language about Canada becoming the 51st state of the US. The story here is about a conspiracy to invade Canada, or maybe a conspiracy to invade the US by Canada. Or maybe all of that is a ruse for other purposes. At times this feels a bit too "ripped from the headlines."
As it is, I think it is a fine thriller. It is really the second part of a two book arc, and I am not convinced that there won't be a third book in the arc. But even if it is a fine thriller, much of the elments of the series that I love, the people, the character development, the complex portayals of characters that I have grown to love are missing. While Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Isabelle Lacoste are all throughout the book, they feel more cardboard than normal. They have become arms of Gamache more than indpendent characters.
I will keep reading Louise Penny, but I do wish she would return to the smaller, cozy style that was the reason I started reading her.
This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/black-wolf/
Originally posted at bookwi.se.