Search - The Brutal Telling (Armand Gamache, Bk 5)

One of the best places in the literary world to live is Three Pines, Louise Penny's Canadian version of Shangri-La. The friendships there are strong and deep-- better than most people's family lives. Peter and Clara the artists, Myrna the bookshop owner, Ruth the curmudgeonly poet, Olivier and Gabri the bistro and B&B owners are all people I have come to know over the course of this series. Their strengths, their weaknesses, how they support each other during difficult times-- I feel as though these "people" have let me into their homes and into their hearts.

I have been completely absorbed into Louise Penny's world.

It is a shock when Myrna discovers a dead body in Olivier's bistro. When renowned Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is summoned to investigate, I knew all would be well. Gamache, a man of infinite wisdom and infinite kindness, knows how to get to the bottom of things:

"But one of the first lessons the Chief had taught Beauvoir when he'd joined the famed homicide department of the Sureté du Québec was that to catch a killer they didn't move forward. They moved back. Into the past. That was where the crime began, where the killer began. Some event, perhaps long forgotten by everyone else, had lodged inside the murderer. And he'd begun to fester."

The body having been found in the bistro, the first suspect is Olivier, but as Gamache's team spreads out and begins their search for facts, the suspect pool becomes much deeper. There are the strangers who've bought the old Hadley house and are turning it into a swanky hotel and spa. And what about the Czech family who lives nearby? The murder victim himself is very difficult to identify, but as more and more tiny pieces of the puzzle come together the more things keep pointing back to Olivier.

The Brutal Telling is a complex tale of treasures and greed. It all takes place in a comfortable, charming village populated by fully fleshed characters I've grown to appreciate and, in some instances, to love. First and foremost, I do love Penny's intricate weaving together of place, of history, and of character. And I love how she is not afraid to tear the village and the people she has created asunder...and then to put them back together again. At the end of this mesmerizing book, the village of Three Pines will never be the same, but there is hope. There is always hope.

The one vision that has remained with me since turning the last page is of the cranky old poet. There Ruth stands out on the village green, looking up into the sky at Rosa...a trail of bread crumbs falling from her fingers into the grass. Reading Louise Penny is a bit like becoming Hansel or Gretel. Penny's world is so complete, so magical, that I feel as though I need to mark a trail somehow so that I can find my way back out.

If you have yet to read any of the books in this series, what on earth is stopping you?

Louise Penny has such a wonderful style, sly or playful or breathtaking by turns. She also has a very sure way with her characters, turning Gamache and the others into people you feel you've known for years, but who can still surprise you with a look or a few words. The Canadian settings, too, are lovingly detailed, and I swear I gained at least a couple of pounds reading about the pate and butter and cheese and baguettes consumed in the course of the story. All of that, added to a pretty good mystery, makes her an author I'll seek out again.

I've enjoyed all the other books in this series; but this one was a disappointment. Muddy, all-over-the-place plot, never did figure out what the "brutal telling" was supposed to be exactly, and I guess I'm getting tired of some of the bitter(Ruth), self-centered (Beauvoir, Peter) characters. Maybe the next in the series will be better, hope so; it used to be a good series.

Another great Inspecor Gamache novel set in Three Pines

I had no expectations going into this book, not really even an idea of what it was about. I hadn’t ever read anything by this author, and I hadn’t heard of Armand Gamache in my life. So imagine my surprise at how much I really liked this book, a feeling that started a couple of chapters in and stayed with me the whole time!

To read the rest of my review, please visit:
http://www.dorolerium.com/?p=1714

I am loving this series! I can't wait until #6 comes out in September!