Sur la dalle: Thriller (Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, 12)

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The exhilarating new Inspector Adamsberg novel from France's multi-million-copy bestselling crime fiction star

E quindi non lo so. Ma dopo le 100-150 pagine, infarcite di dialoghi, a dire il vero un po' lunghi, che ho letto senza interesse, ho capito che questa volta il feeling tra me e il romanzo non era scattato. E tutto il resto mi è parso sciapo, noioso, privo di quel brillante misto fra humour e giallo che da sempre rende i romanzi della Vargas unici e molto piacevoli. Worlds that closely resemble the real one, except that beliefs, tales, apparitions, even professions, from the Middle Ages fit in seamlessly.”— The Philadelphia InquirerFollowing an unexpected meeting with a strange old lady, Adamsberg’s investigations take him to the south of France, where he discovers a precedent to the deaths connected to this normally shy and harmless spider. As to be expected with Adamsberg, both the crimes and his methods for solving them, are highly unconventional. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (Hutchinson Heinemann, Oct) by Cat Bohannon Vargas doesn’t spare us the grisly details of outrageous crimes committed against defenseless girls and women, but never have I ever wanted to be in a mystery novel before. The characterizations of police officers and villagers are so full of personality, intelligence, and humor that one cannot help but wish these folks were by one’s side—or at least televised.

At the National Museum of Natural History, Adamsberg meets a pensioner who tells him that two of the three octogenarians have known each other since childhood, when they lived in a local orphanage called The Mercy. There, they had belonged to a small group of violent young boys known as the "band of recluses." Adamsberg faces two obstacles: the third man killed by the same venom was not part of the "band of recluses", and the amount of spider venom necessary to kill doesn't add up. Commissaire Adamsberg investigates the death of three men linked by their childhood at an orphanage in Nimes, all killed by the venom of the recluse spider, in the new novel by the #1 bestselling French crime writer Vargas does a brilliant job of handling horrific crimes in a factual, sensitive manner. Her characters are quirky, and the book’s humor reminded me of Louise Penny’s dry, self-deprecating wit. At times I had trouble following the names and places set in France, but that’s mostly my fault (since I’ve never been there!). Adamsberg is remarkable, in his deft maneuvering in tense relationships within his squad and his ability to pull together random strings of evidence into a clear explanation of events.

It is very difficult to quantify Vargas' work. She takes one into the world of the best, most unique police squad one will ever find although some similarities may be made to Christopher Fowler's "Bryant and May" team. Et si moi aussi j'avais deviné l'identité du coupable, ça ne m'a pas dérangée un quart de seconde, il s'agit d'un Fred Vargas pas d'un Gillian Flynn, le plaisir de la lecture se trouve dans l'écriture et dans l'univers si particulier, pas purement dans le "whodunit". D'autant que je n'avais pas du tout démasqué le pourquoi et le comment cette personne tuait. As a novelist, Fred Vargas writes mostly crime stories. She found writing was a way to combine her interests and relax from her job as a scientist. Her novels are set in Paris and feature the adventures of Chief Inspector Adamsberg and his team. Her interest in the Middle Ages is manifest in many of her novels, especially through the person of Marc Vandoosler, a young specialist in the period. The ghost of an eighteenth century nun who slaughtered her victims, desecrated corpses of virgins, magic potions that ensure eternal life ... With all this, Commissioner Adamsberg will find in this title, which this time may cost him not the reason but the heart. Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of the French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau (often mistakenly spelled "Audouin-Rouzeau"). She is the daughter of Philippe Audoin(-Rouzeau), a surrealist writer who was close to André Breton, and the sister of the historian Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, a noted specialist of the First World War who inspired her the character of Lucien Devernois.