Alex

Best thriller of the year so far (July), though Neville may compete. Stopped me from going to work, had to finish it first. Man o Man, where have you been all these years monsieur Lemaitre? Nomen est omen. He is a true master of twist and suspense. The violence is visceral, the characters charged with emotion, the plot ingenious and yet plausible. And for once we get a Police Commissioner who is not embellished with dubious characteristics to compensate for the flatness of his character – we get the real thing – compassionate, contradictory, fraught, alive. But what makes this thriller really special is the plot which forces you to reconsider time and again, concerning the motives and character of the main protagonist of the story, show more Alex. At first she seems an innocuous victim of a violent abduction and hideous torture session – a race against the clock (and a pack of increasingly vicious rats). But that image changes when the supposed perpetrator of these crimes is chased by the Police and commits suicide. By then our ‘victim’ has escaped and is on a killing spree herself, using a combination of seduction and unexpected violence (as well as a cruel and horrific finish – half a litre of concentrated battery acid through the throat of each victim). This part ends with Alex’ ‘suicide’ in a motel close to the airport. What comes next is a painstaking reconstruction that brings Alex’ family to the forefront of suspicion. This part is told by a careful recording of the interrogations and arrest of Alex’ mother and brother. It ends with complete satisfaction on the part of this reader. show less

Cuando leí Irène, el primer libro de esta saga, pensé que Lemaitre era un genio; me quede corta.

Les voy a contar que me costo mucho trabajo continuar con la saga, porque realmente me dejo conmocionada el final de Irène, me dolió mucho, no lo esperaba y luego me topaba con personas que me decían que Alex era todavía mas sorprendente.

Creo que los que me dijeron eso, no leyeron Irène, porque las sorpresas de ambos libros son completamente diferentes.

Muy pocas veces me topo con un libro de Novela Negra en donde casi desde el principio sabemos quien es el asesino, como mata, a quien mata y porque lo hace.

Aquí la cuestión no queda en eso, no.

Resulta que empezamos con una victima de secuestro y tortura y estamos esperando a que muera show more de una manera cruel, despiadada y horrorosa, además odiamos al tipo que le hace esto, porque se nota su maldad.

Luego viene un sorprendente giro de la historia y pues resulta que la victima no es tan victima, para luego decirnos que, fíjate, que siempre si es una victima.

En fin, que pocas veces nos topamos a un asesino frío, morboso, malo y además inteligente hasta puntos insospechados, porque mira que hacer lo que hizo sin que nadie sospechara nada, ni siquiera que ligaran las muertes, irse de rositas hasta el final y además de todo joderse a su principal victima de una manera espectacular fríamente calculado y como broche de oro, salir impune.

Porque a mi que me digan lo contrario, engaño a todos, claro menos a mi Camille que pues si, será enanito, calvo, malhumorado, ahora también amargado, pero pues que puedo decir, soy una retorcida, el tipo me cae super bien.

PD. Para quien no ha leído Irène porque cree que ya se sabe el final porque ya leyó Alex, les tengo una noticia ¡Están equivocados!, nada se desvela en Alex de lo que sucedió en Iréne y no, el final de Alex no es mejor que el de Irène show less

This was one of the best detective stories I ever read.

Author manages to write in a such a intriguing way that reader just cannot put the book down. Switching from the titular Alex's story-line to detective Camille's and his team was written in a way that momentum is never lost, reader is not bombarded with filler-only chapters which I appreciate very much. Every chapter has its purpose and, man, there are so many twists. Dialogue and characters are excellent - entire detective team comes out so tightly knit, it's like they are married :) Ways different personalities are described - trust me it will make you laugh every so often. Every pettiness that you can expect from people - it's present here. This makes all characters grounded and show more realistic.

I wont go into story details here but this is one of those books that are so impactful that re-read needs to take place after couple of years (what I call Sixth Sense syndrome). This is the only downside for me.

This being first book I read about detective Camille I am on a lookout for more (apparently it is a trilogy). Camille proudly takes his place in elite group of eccentric and very capable detectives. It is a joy to watch him as he fights his battles with his superiors, subordinates, trying to keep calm when encountering the worst that people can do and generally gets annoyed when he is lied to or when he needs to do something he things is beneath him. He is so well described that you truly start to worry about him during his dark hours when he needs to fight daemons from his past.

And Camille is just at the head of very interesting set of characters - criminals and cops - from this novel.

Highly recommended. Even if you are not in detective novels and police procedurals give this one a shot - I have a feeling you will like it :) show less

Un ottimo thriller, ben congegnato, che ti tiene avvinto fino alla fine. Certo è un libro tosto, una storia dura e dolorosa. A leggere i delitti di Alex ti chiedi il perchè di tanta violenza apparentemente insensata. Ma poi capisci e comprendi tutto, capisci che ogni delitto ha il suo perchè.
Una storia comunque terrificante, e quando ne capisci le motivazioni non riesci a non prendere posizione a favore di Alex.
Però una cosa mi lascia perplesso.
Quando sta terminando la seconda parte, e chi ha letto il libro capisce cosa intendo, io avevo intuito subito chi sarebbe stato l'accusato nella terza parte; il protagonista che fino a quel momento non era praticamente mai apparso. Così come all'inizio della terza e ultima parte, durante show more l'interrogatorio, avevo intuito subito quale trappola era stata preparata alla persona interrogata.
Ma più ci penso e più sono convinto che qui sta l'abilità di Lemaitre, prepararti al colpo di scena facendoti arrivare da solo. La sorpresa così è più gradevole, vissuta. E proprio per questo rimani incollato al libro.
Consiglio di leggere questo thriller a digiuno però, è per stomaci forti.
Ora leggerò sicuramente gli altri della trilogia di Lemaitre.
E per favore nessun paragone con Millenium! show less

An attractive young woman is abducted on the streets of Paris. A witness sees her being bundled into an anonymous white van, but no one knows who she is or where she has been taken. Camille Verhoeven (a male detective) is assigned the case, despite disturbing parallels in the abduction of his wife several years earlier. Gradually, through extensive police work, the detectives close in on the case and uncover the motivations of the kidnapper. In alternative chapters, we are shown what Alex, the kidnap victim, is going through - trapped and left to die in a small cage in a remote location.

This is a fast paced thriller which is broken into three distinct parts. The plot is cleverly constructed. Each part leads the reader to totally show more re-evaluate everything that they've read until now and to see the characters in quite different lights to how they were presented earlier. There are some very clever twists along the way. It all adds up to one of the more original and absorbing thrillers that I've read in some time.

The book was originally written in French and is the middle book in a trilogy (although a fourth book is apparently now planned), but is the first to be translated into english. Although there is the occasional clunky sentence, for the most part you don't notice it, which I think is the mark of a good translation. show less

Unconventional, fascinating, disturbing thriller that really delivered the goods. Not for those with weak stomachs. It was very gratifying how the author toyed with the tropes of crime fiction and turned them upside down while inserting some devious twists; the book was hard to pin down and unpredictable, which was awesome. Very well written and translated with interesting characters. Apparently this is book 2 in a series but first to make its way to the U. S. I'll be looking for more by this author. Another great find in international thrillers.

Paris at night. A girl walks home alone down a darkened street. She’s grabbed, thrown into the back of a van and driven off. Next time we see her the girl is being forced naked into a wooden cage and suspended from the roof of a disused rat -infested warehouse. Her assailant wants to watch her die. The rats are not content to watch – they want a piece of the action.

The opening chapters of Alex by the French novelist Pierre Lemaitre are graphically gruesome; definitely not for the squeamish. But just when you think you can’t bear to read any more, Lemaitre masterfully brings us some relief in the form of the police hunt for the missing girl. We’re in the safe world of police procedure here with the tried and tested device of a show more senior investigator who has his own back story and the usual run in with his superior officers.

Alex might contain many of the hallmarks of the crime novel genre, but it’s certainly not run of the mill stuff. It has tremendous pace and tension and enough unexpected twists to keep most readers hooked right through to the end. Yes it has a high quota of horrible ways in which people meet their death but this never feels gratuitous or subservient to the plot and character. Yes it has more than a fair number of contrivances which require readers to suspend their disbelief but the novel is so fast paced and gripping that it’s easy to just ignore the tricks and devices.

Beyond the nasty bits and the police man hunt, this is a novel that has a strong human dimension. Both Alex the kidnapped girl, and the man desperate to find her, Commandant Camille are unhappy people though unhappy for different reasons. Alex (not her real name it turns out) has never recovered from her traumatic childhood. Camille has never recovered from his wife’s kidnapping and murder a few years earlier. He is riven with guilt that he couldn’t find her in time. He’s also trying to reconcile himself with his mother’s recent death.

At it’s heart, Alex is a novel of revenge. But it deals with that topic as more than a simple plot device. It uses it as a means to raise a moral question – the question of whether certain actions can ever be fully justified. It’s purpose is not to provide answers, but merely to get readers to evaluate, to consider for themselves. Quite an achievement to combine both a moral issue and a page turning book. Lemaitre seems to be an author to watch. show less