Irène
The Gripping Opening to The Paris Crime Files
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4.3 • 16 Ratings
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
THE NOVELIST KILLS BY THE BOOK
For Commandant Camille Verhœven life is beautiful. He is happily married and soon to become a father.
HE'S ALWAYS ONE CHAPTER AHEAD
But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder of unprecedented savagery. When his team discovers that the killer has form - and each murder is a homage to a classic crime novel - the Parisian press are quick to coin a nickname . . . The Novelist.
HE HATES HAPPY ENDINGS
With the public eye fixed on both hunter and hunted, the case develops into a personal duel, each hell-bent on outsmarting the other. There can only be one winner. The one who has the least to lose.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lemaitre's chilling first novel, the second to appear in the U.S. featuring Commandant Camille Verhoeven after 2013's Alex, finds the Parisian policeman enjoying the professional and personal contentment he never knew was possible. He and his squad are a well-oiled machine, but more importantly, he is happily married to Ir ne, who is pregnant with their first child. But a murder of unfathomable brutality, followed by another, puts Camille's career on the line. The murderer, nicknamed the Novelist by the press, appears to be reenacting scenes from crime novels. As the killings escalate, scrutiny of Camille by Philippe Buisson de Chevesne, a journalist with a personal vendetta against him, adds to his woes. Lemaitre slowly reveals the cracks in Camille's police team while dismantling the detective's life at home. The plot is unfailingly intriguing, though some readers may wish Lemaitre had lavished less grisly detail on the crime scenes.
Customer Reviews
Page Turner
The Opening salvo of a Trilogy. While I have yet to read all three books, this first instalment has enough vigour to ensure I’ll start book two.
Though French in origin barring a few procedural oddities nothing marks this out as the epitome of french crime novels. That might be to it benefit and certainly does not distract from an effective page turner.
Irene
Brilliant