Camille by Pierre Lemaitre (4.2🌟)

Camille is a crime thriller, third book in the Brigade Criminelle or Camille Verhoeven trilogy. As with Irene, the crime case in this novel involves Commandant Verhoeven directly.

This time we follow a woman, Anne, who by chance witnesses an arm robbery and is brutally beaten by one of the criminals. She survives but is disfigured, fearing for her live. Camille is notified about the incident and requests to be assigned to the case though he only deals with murders,  not robberies. What his bosses don't know is that Camille is romantically involved with Anne. Obviously leading a case on her attack is in breach of the police rules. To add to the complications,  Camille finds it hard to identify the robbers let alone find them.

Opinion: again this is another Lemaitre novel that I devoured in a few days. The crime and mystery were well thought and the twist near the end brilliant. The ending left me a bit shocked and sad, but I think it was a good one.

I got my edition from my local library. It is a hardback, published in 2015 by Quercus. It has 316 pages.

Alex by Pierre Lemaitre (4.4🌟)

Alex is a crime thriller novel, second book in the Brigade Criminelle  (Camille Verhoeven) trilogy.

Won't say much about this novel to not spoil anyone's read. But, I think it was better than Irene,  and that is a lot to say. We meet Commandant Camille Verhoeven again a few years after the events in the first book. We follow him as soon as he is asigned the case of the kidnapping of a woman. He doesn't want to lead the case but he is forced by his superior Le Guen. There are very little clues as to the identity of the kidnapped woman. There was only a witness who saw a man taking her into a white van and then dissappear. No one else saw anything and the case seems an impossible one.

Opinion:  it was mind blowing. The twists were brilliant and the ending though brutal and hard was satisfying. I liked Camille's character development and maybe also the relationship with his colleagues Armand and Louis. But the best in my opinion was Alex, everything about the character was gripping,  interesting, thought provoking and more.

I got my edition from my local public library. It was published by Quercus publishing in 2013. It has 354 pages.

Irene by Pierre Lemaitre (4.2🌟)

Irene is the first novel in the Brigade Criminelle (or Camille Verhoeven) Trilogy. It is a crime thriller dealing with a peculiar police investigator and  a twisted serial killer.

The story follows Camille Verhoeven, a Commandant from the Parisian police. He is married and lives a stable live. Only problem with him is, he is too aware of his short stature though he tries not to show it to his colleagues. Camille is called to investigate the murder of two girls. The crime scene is so disturbing most police officers cannot stay there more than a few seconds. Through the investigation Camille and his team are able to connect the murder with two more. One in France and one in Scotland.  Moreover they are sure the killer is the same and that he is copying the brutal murders from classic crime novels.

Opunion: An excellent, gripping novel.  Well written. Short, quick chapters. This is the kind of novel I could have read in one long sitting had I had the chance, and time, and energy.  Excellent protagonist, very well presented, a likable character. The villain a mean, twisted mind. The plot, a puzzle, so clever and interesting. And the ending is.. ahhhhhhhhhh! 😨😲 I want to continue with the trilogy so I'll probably grab the second book soon.

I got my edition from my public library. Published by Quercus publishing in 2014 with 398 pages.

I have not been in the mood to update this blog. Maybe because I am enjoying so much my readings (and want to read rather than write here) or just because because. ... I'm kind of forcing myself to at least leave a short entry about my recent read, to keep my records up to date.

Inhuman Resources by Pierre Lemaitre (3🌟)

Inhuman Resources is a thriller originally written in French and then translated to English in 2018 by Sam Gordon. It deals with issues of unemployment, injustice, frustration, anger and others.

The story follows Alain Delambre an unemployed 57 year old man, desperately searching for a job.  He used to work in Human Resources but now he is doing bad paid menial jobs. One day, after several years of unsuccessful search he is shortlisted for tests and interviews through a recruiter. Luckily passes the tests and is selected for a final one. The only problem is that it would be a role playing game involving hostage taking. In his desperation to get the job Delambre does everything he can think of, legal and illegal, fair and unfair to prepare.  But when he learns that a winer to the game has already been chosen before it has even started ......

Opinion: slow first third, the rest was entertaining. I liked the twists and turns though they were not mind blowing. I though this was a character driven novel but I couldn't connect with the protagonist or any other character. Not that I didn't like him doing bad things. Actually those actions gave Delambre the bit of humanity he had. And also I think his actions made sense in terms of the story. However he felt unreal. I mean he was not a real person, struggling like a  real person. He was some flat character going mad.

I got this edition from the public library. It was published by MacLehose. It has 392 pages.

Three days and a Life by Pierre Lemaitre (4🌟)

Three days and a life is a French noir novel. Unlike the other book I have read by Lemaitre (Blood Wedding, thriller) this is a drama story. It focuses on how our decisions and the consequences of our actions can shape our lives.

Antoine is a 12 year old boy who after making the biggest mistake of his life, decides not to tell anyone. However the memories of the terrible act he committed follow him everywhere he goes. This only adds to the other mental and emotional issues he has. His parents are divorced and his mother is distant and cold. He is not allowed to spend much time with his school friends and he spends most of his time on his own. When his 6 year neighbour dissappears he does not want to join the town people in the search. Instead he tries to escape but fails. As the days pass he is taken in a roller coaster of doubts, fearing that he will be caught and sent to prison. He imagines everyone,  his family and his neighbours, outraged about what he did. The news, the media showing his face. Humiliation and torture to his mother. But will anyone find out what he did?

Opinion: to be honest I was expecting a thriller, but instead I got this wonderful gripping story. This is an in-depth exploration of human psyche as one child and then a man, deals with the consequences of his actions and decisions. The story is very well told. Well written. Interesting. There are no police chases, lawyers or trials. There is one person, hiding in plain sight, dealing with his own fears and remorses. The characters of Antoine and his mother are very well constructed and realistic. Other, secondary characters, were equally interesting, particularly the towns doctor.

I got my edition from my local library. Published by MacLehose Press. It has 251 pages.

Blood Wedding - Pierre Lemaitre (4🌟)

Blood wedding, traducido al español como Vestido de Novia, es un thriller psicológico, originalmente escrito en francés en 2009.

La historia sigue a Sophie Duguet, una mujer con aparentes trastornos psicológicos, que trabaja cuidando a Leo, un niño de 6 años.  Una mañana Sophie encuentra a Leo muerto en su cama. Sospechando que ha sido ella misma la que lo ha matado huye del lugar. Durante su huida desesperada intenta re armar el rompecabezas de su memoria. Luego de varios lapsos de tiempo vacíos, en los que Sophie no recuerda nada, muchas cosas malas han pasado a su alrededor. La muerte de Leo no es la primera tragedia, y ella sospecha que no será la última. Sophie se convierte en la fugitiva más buscada de Francia pero aún así es capaz de superar sus ansiedades y temores y esconderse de la justicia. Pero no todo es lo que parece y la situación de Sophie pueden empeorar aún más.

Opinión: una lectura muy entretenida, rápida de leer (muchos capítulos cortos) y adictiva. La trama me pareció original. Con una narradora no fidedigna, el lector no sabe muy bien que creer. Hay por ahí dos o tres vueltas de tuerca muy bien hechas (no las vi venir) que le añaden más desconcierto a una trama que ya está cargada de suspenso. Me gustó el desarrollo de personajes de la protagonista y el antagonista. Sophie es una mujer creativa y resistente.  Lemaitre nos mete en la cabeza de ambos cambiando de perspectiva narrativa. Conocemos el pasado de Sophie entre sus delirios y su lucha por escapar llegamos a entender como es que llegó a la situación en la que se encuentra ahora. Me gustó mucho la lectura pero el final, y algunos eventos poco antes, me desconcertaron un poco, más que todo porque el personaje principal toma decisiones que yo considero ilógicas llevando a situaciones inverosímiles que le bajaron la calidad a la historia, pero no puedo decir más porque no quiero arruinarle la lectura a nadie.

Mi edición es en tapa dura con sobrecubierta publicada en 2016 por MacLehose. Tiene 312 páginas.