Blood Wedding - Pierre Lemaitre

I first discovered Pierre LeMaitre back in 2013 when I picked up his (terrifying) novel Alex. I loved it (my review) and have been a fan ever since. His latest book - Blood Wedding has just released - and it's just as creepily terrifying as his previous works.

Sophie is working as a nanny to a young boy. When she awakes one morning she find the boy dead - with one of her shoelaces around his neck. And Sophie can't remember a thing.

Hoping she hasn't killed the boy (She couldn't have done such a thing - could she?) and knowing no one will believe her Sophie runs, creates a new identity and tries to hide. Why? Well, that little dead boy isn't the first time Sophie can't remember things. Working as a nanny was the latest stop in a downward spiral from successful, married businesswoman to frightened, forgetful and unstable woman she is today. What has happened to her and her life? She has no idea - but someone else does....

I enjoyed getting immediately caught up in Sophie's maelstrom. As I read the first half, I thought the novel was going to go one way, looked at the number of pages left and thought 'oh, that's too much for this storyline'. And then LeMaitre knocked all my preconceived notions as to how the book would unfold out the window in the second half. I truly don't want to ruin the book for anyone. But there is someone 'helping' Sophie on her downward spiral.

"I know her so well. I knew how she would react, what would interest her. "It's important not to overdo it. The important thing is to maintain the atmosphere."

Just as I thought I now knew where LeMaitre's story was going, he threw in a few more twists. I love that gotcha moment when you read a single sentence, sit stunned for a second, and then read it again just to confirm.

This is a one sided cat and mouse game, with the reader fully aware of what is happening to Sophie. Until........

Deliciously creepy! Stephen King calls LeMaitre "A really excellent suspense novelist." I think so too.  Read an excerpt of Blood Wedding.

The Cold Nowhere - Brian Freeman

I've read the first couple of Brian Freeman's  novels featuring protagonist Jonathan Stride. His latest novel, The Cold Nowhere, is the sixth in the series.

A young girl trapped on a boat, pursued by an unknown assailant. She's not as helpless as her pursuer might think though...."Wherever she went, whatever she did, Cat always carried a knife." She escapes - and lands on Detective Stride's doorstep.

Stride is back working in Duluth, Minnesota. And his past has come back to haunt him as well. Stride knows Cat - he failed to save her mother. Michaela  was brutally murdered by her husband - stabbed to death, in fact. And now Cat swears someone is trying to trying to kill her too. Stride vows to help her. "He couldn't undo what was done or erase his mistakes. All he could do was make a promise."

Familiar and recurring characters appear in The Cold Nowhere - notably Stride's partner Maggie Bei and ex-lover/partner Serena Dial. I 've enjoyed these two female characters in the past. They're strong personalities. A secondary personal storyline always adds to a book. The sexual tension and rivalry between these two women and Stride has been carried on throughout this series. A little bit is good. A lot, not so much. In The Cold Nowhere, I found myself growing weary of the repetitiveness of it. And for me,  it cheapened the two female leads.

Stride is struggling with inner turmoil - for many pages.

"She'd opened the door for him, and all he had to do was walk through it. All he had do was open up. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to do what she'd done for him and lay himself bare."

Enough already.  I found myself skipping pages and glossing over these poignant moments by the middle of the book. I was looking for a novel closer to Freeman's first book (which was award winning) More crime, less angst.

The crime storyline was well plotted crime and the final whodunit was a good one. There were a few procedural/plot points that bothered me. An upscale prostitution ring may be operating because the rate of STD's in the city has risen? Hmm, if it's upscale, I wouldn't expect the rate of STD's to go up or raise suspicion. And the other one that bothered me was Maggie (who I really like) giving information about a crime/case to a civilian.

There were a few awkward similes....

"She should have been pretty, but life and want had gnawed at her face like an attack of bed bugs."

And more insects...

"Insanely cold - twenty degrees below zero. Stride felt the wind chewing like maggots at his face."

There was just too much 'stuff' that got in the way of what could have been a really good crime read. I'm in the minority on this one, as The Cold Nowhere was just an okay read for me.  Read an excerpt of The Cold Nowhere.

Alex - Pierre Lemaitre

I had seen a few mentions of Alex by Pierre Lemaitre around the blogosphere and thought it might be a good fit, given my penchant for crime thrillers.

Was it ever! I was hooked from the first chapter. (And more than a little annoyed at myself that I didn't start reading earlier in the night) Fair warning right from the start - Gentle readers this one's not for you - there is graphic violence and disturbing situations.) Back to that first chapter.....a beautiful young woman named Alex is snatched off the street, taken to an abandoned warehouse and forced into a small wooden crate which is then suspended from the ceiling. Her captor says nothing more to her other than he is going to watch her die. But Alex is resourceful....very resourceful...

A kidnapping is reported and the case is given to Commandant Camille Verhoeven - a man who lost his pregnant wife to a kidnapper - her body was found, but not the perpetrator and he has eschewed all kidnapping cases since.  Verhoeven's boss LeGuen assigns him to the case as he says there is no one else and so Verhoeven reluctantly takes on the case. LeGuen has brought Verhoeven's old team back together. Lemaitre has created a memorable group of investigators that I really enjoyed. But the most memorable is of course Verhoeven.

"People rarely get the measure of Camille on first meeting and rarely appreciate him. This might also be because he's not exactly cheerful. Camille doesn't like himself very much." Camille is also a victim of fetal hypotrophy and stands only 4'11'. "Camille is positively stunted. He sees the world from the viewpoint of a thirteen year old." In contrast, his superior and old friend LeGuen is quite large - the scale is somewhere near three hundred pounds. Armand and Louis fill out the team. Again opposites -  Louise is wealthy with no need to work and Armand is a notorious penny pincher. (His scavenging ways provided a light note in a heavy plot)

And what a plot! Lemaitre is fiendishly clever, leading the reader down one path initially and then veering off in a direction I didn't see coming. I really don't want to give much more away - I love being surprised and Lemaitre successfully caught me unawares. Loved it!

I have to also mention that Frank Wynne did a fantastic job with the translation - very smooth reading with no wooden clunky sentences or form.

Alex is an excellent thriller and a great introduction to a prickly character I want to see more of. Alex was the winner of the CWA International Dagger Award 2013. Read an excerpt of Alex.