The Madness of Crowds

This was my first Louise Penny book, and as such I went into it not knowing what to expect, although I was aware of the hype surrounding this series.

I have to say I ended up really enjoying it. I haven't read any of the previous 16 books, but although there were references to previous books/events, I didn't think it took anything away from my experience of reading this one.

There were a lot of characters, but once I got into the flow of the story, I got a hang of who was who. I liked the sense of community and how everyone seemed to know each other.

The story was really well written and I loved Chief Inspector Gamache.

I'd definitely recommend it, although maybe it would be a good idea to begin at the start of the series, so that you get to learn the background stories of the characters as you go along.

Thank you to PH and Louise for the chance to read this book.

I absolutely loved this and definitely want to read more by this author. A very different kind of murder mystery, and ideal if you are not particularly into gore. It raises many philosophical questions about eugenics and in particular how people are affected after the pandemic, as it's set just after. I loved the sense of community that the author gave, and how human and fallible she made her characters. The plot was really gripping too.
I read this as an advanced review copy for free on Pigeonhole and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Hey! We’re back in the Three Pines! And after a run of two books in the series that I didn’t care for, I actually enjoyed this one! Or maybe my feelings about the previous two books made this one feel not as bad. Unclear. I will say that, despite us being back in the Three Pines, on familiar ground, and working a familiar case, things managed to feel just a bit sloppy. I think if I didn’t actively dislike the previous two books, I’d probably rate this one lower.

Gamache & Co. are called on to provide security at a rally being held over the holidays. The person holding the rally is the most inconspicuous, likeable person you’re liable to meet, and yet they’re there to present some incredibly distasteful facts and figures. Someone takes a few shots at her during the rally, and the plot is off to the races! Her aide turns up dead, fingers get pointed, and it’s up to Gamache to unearth the various long buried skeletons in closets to get at the purpose and the truth.

First off, full stars for being back in the Three Pines. I missed it here.

But I had some issues with the book. Namely, it felt like it tried to do and be too many things at once. Major plot spoilers: For instance, Penny buries the lede hard on what exactly it is Abigail is presenting on for so long that I was expecting everything from anti-vax sentiments to a full-blown Nazi rally. It’s actually eugenics, but it seemed like that didn’t even matter to the larger murder reveal so I’m not sure why it was played so coyly. It also felt vaguely forced, like the other social issue books Penny’s written in the past, which took me a bit out of the story. It also felt rather repetitive in places, with Gamache & Co. rehashing the same points, the same strong feelings, the same sentiments in different locations frequently during the book. Penny is great at creating interpersonal drama over many different facets in a murder mystery, so when I was reading the same points rehashed several times throughout the book, I started to get a little bored.

I still am giving this a cautious 4 stars though, if only to keep myself in the game and happy to read the next book in the series. It’s an improvement on All the Devils are Here, but it’s definitely not the same caliber as the early books in the series.

Summary: After Covid, a researcher proposes mandated euthanasia and eugenics as an economic response, and Gamache is asked to protect her and then solve a murder that may be related.

I do not know how authors will deal with the reality of Covid over the coming years. Of course, such a globally important event will find its way into many books of fiction and non-fiction, but what about as Covid is still very active? In the 17th book of this series, Louise Penny, a series that comes out annually in early fall, had to have written The Madness of Crowds as Covid was raging. But the Madness of Crowds is a consciously post-Covid book. The book opens with the town of Three Pines holding a memorial and the first real gathering after vaccines became widespread. And if only that were how Covid really had ended, cleanly without additional varients and outbreaks and widespread vaccine rejections. However, the Madness of Crowds is fiction, and in this fictional world that is not real in many different ways, Covid had a clean ending, albeit one that was still filled with trauma, grief, and loss.

Covid matters in another plot point. At the start of the book, Gamache is asked to provide security for a lecture at a small college near Three Pines. The Canadian government commissioned Abigail Robinson, a statistician, to prepare a report about shoring up the national health system in response to the widespread cost and devastation as a result of Covid. Dr. Robinson's report is rejected before it was released, and a cult following develops around Dr. Robinson as she independently presents her findings. Violence has erupted at several earlier lectures as both supporters and protesters grapple with her call to mandate euthanasia for the elderly and disabled as a means to protect the economy and the national health system from economic ruin.

Because this is an Inspector Gamache novel, it is clear that there will be a murder at some point that Gamache and his team will have to solve. That murder will require digging into the background of those involved, and many people will have a motive and previously unseen connections. I am not sure when it happened, but as I was reading this 17th novel in a series that I deeply love, I realized that the genre of the series shifted from mystery to thriller without me noticing. The Madness of Crowds and many of the previous books are not mysteries because the reader is trying to figure out who the killer was. Instead, the Madness of Crowds is a thriller that is trying to communicate tension and ideas.

Chief Inspector Gamache and his second in command (and son-in-law) Jean-Guy Beauvoir have a personal stake in the plan; their youngest child/grandchild, born in a previous book, has Down's Syndrome. Beauvoir has to process what it means to be the father of a child who is unlikely to be fully independent. He deeply loves the child, but he also grieves. Gamache has to navigate the line of protecting people with unpopular and dangerous ideas and pushing back against that danger.

The Madness of Crowds also explores mass movements and complicity with horrible actions. Like many of Penny's books, this is a book of ideas as much as a fictional story. It avoids being propaganda or pedantic by keeping the story moving and centered on the crimes. Like most of the Gamache books, it is Gamache's love for those around him that drives his passion and desire to see justice and safety win out. Love, even for the perpetrators, allows for insight, but at a cost.

As I keep saying for the whole Inspector Gamache series, these books keep being engaging, and the thread has not yet worn out. Admittedly, their characters do not always age as one might expect, and the mythology of the lost town of Three Pines still doesn't completely make sense, but some of that is just part of the charm of the fictional story. And now I have another year to wait for the next novel.