The Ghost Riders of Ordebec

Adamsberg finds his way through to the end of another intrigue, with the perspicuity of Sherlock Holmes, the natural genius of Miss Marple and the eccentricity of Hercule Poirot.( Mind you, as Vargas presents him, he is probably more of a Columbo in his idiosyncratic fashion sense rather than a fashionably dapper Poirot.) The end result is always charming, for I can find no other words that suit the peculiar charisma that Adamsberg sports -- and indeed that are imbued in all the main, and recurring, characters. I can do no better justice to Adamsberg (and inherently Vargas) than to offer her own words:

"I'll be back," he always said, as if it was highly possible that one day he would go away and never come back. He went out of the room show more with a lighter step than usual and escaped into the street. He knew that he had been struck stock-still all of a sudden, like one of the Ordebec cows, and had lost about five or six minutes of the meeting. Why, he couldn't say, and that was what he set out to discover by walking the pavements. He wasn't troubled by these sudden gaps in his consciousness, he was used to them. He didn't know the reason for this one, but he knew the cause. Something had passed through his mind, like the bolt from a crossbow, so fast that he hadn't had time to get hold of it. But it had been enough to turn him to stone. It was an experience like that time he had seen the sparkle on the waters in the port of Marseille, or the poster on a bus shelter in Paris, or when he'd been unable to sleep on the Paris-Venice express. And the invisible image which had flashed across had drained the watery morass of his brain, bringing along with it other imperceptible images attached to each other as if in a magnetic chain.

The magnetic chain which falls into place for Adamsberg happens, inevitably, after he's walked his way through it, quite literally walking through an entire Paris night, bouncing his intuitions back and forth in his entire body, like some crazy, bedevilled pin-ball wizard. At the end of it all, sure of mind, and slightly rumpled of body, he emerges with his prey firmly grasped in his sights. Just unbelievably delightful to follow Vargas's process!

This is the best-one-yet in the Adamsberg series. show less

A wealthy industrialist has been found dead inside the burnt out remains of his car and everyone seems intent on pinning the murder on a well-known arsonist known as Momo. Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg believes Momo's plea of innocence and after a particularly rash act sets out to prove it and find the guilty party. Meanwhile a woman from Ordebec has also accosted Adamsberg and insists she needs his help to prevent a catastrophe in her town located in Normandy. Her daughter has had a vision of the ghostly host of hunters known locally as Hellequin's Horde that contained three local men and a fourth unidentified person. Legend has it that those seen with the horde will end up dead as punishment for past crimes that remain show more unpunished. The first of these men is now missing and the gendarmes of the area won't lift a finger to investigate his disappearance. Can Adamsberg and his team of misfits get to the bottom of these two cases and find out who is actually responsible or will the Commissaire be riding off into the sunset if his superiors find out what he's done?

As with all the books in this series there is not much of the procedural about this story with Adamsberg and his team all employing their various quirks to help solve the cases. I've said before that it's the characters that make these books so enjoyable but the setting and the underlying elements of the mystery really enhance this one adding in an almost supernatural feel to proceedings. While the story meanders as much as Adamsberg thought processes it never wanders far enough for the reader to lose interest. Any author that can get you to care about the fate of a pigeon (aka a flying rat) must be doing something right. I'd also like to make a special note for another seamless translation by [[Sian Reynolds]]. A worthy co-winner of the 2013 CWA International Dagger award. show less

Essentially, all of the characters in The Ghost Riders of Ordebec are odd individuals with unique challenges in how they get through their daily existence. Adamsberg’s unit is an effective team, but you have members who are narcoleptic, bulimic, socially-inept, and sometimes near-genius in their command of details associated with past events, both cultural and criminal.

Adamsberg is drawn into a crime foreseen by a young woman who witnesses the ride of Hellequin and his Army of the Dead. Three of four victims that she sees riding in that vision are recognized locals of the small city of Ordebec. The surface plot is whether the deaths of those three are merely coincidental or if they are premeditated acts by a single person. Adamsberg show more is thrown into conflict with the local gendarmerie as well as with his superiors in Paris who would prefer he work on a case drawing greater public attention. A third case involving a street pigeon also draws his attention.

The point is that there are (depending on how you count) four distinct acts of criminal assault or murder in this novel. They may or may not be connected in any way; when the reader begins, there’s really no way of knowing. What is made clear is that the detection of patterns in chaotic behavior is central to success in policing, whether the case involves a small cruelty or a much larger transgression. There is a balance needed between noting significant details at the crime scene and recognition of intangible connections.

Really an interesting police procedural. show less

Every time I start to read a new Fred Vargas I rejoice to have returned to a world in which a character like Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is able to rise to the position of Commissaire in the 5th Arrondissement.

This must be Adamsberg's most mysterious case yet, concerning as it does the mediaeval Norman legend of Hellequin's horde of ghost riders, who appear to the lucky (or cursed) medium, in the company of perhaps half-a-dozen local scoundrels, whom they have 'seized'. Within weeks, back in real life, the scoundrels are no more, each in turn falling victim to unpleasant and untimely deaths.

The perfect setting, then, for Adamsberg's style of policing: subjunctive, metaphorical, seeing everywhere symbols, where those literal dogmatists show more around him see only the quotidian. Adamsberg takes his time; he thinks by browsing, he has this peculiar and inexplicable gift of divining traces in the world of what has passed before - it is poetic, and inspiring.

None of which is to say that these novels are in any way difficult, highbrow, or lacking in action. The bodies pile up, there is a dash, where necessary, of police procedural, corruption, etc.

For a great crime thriller, and for so much more besides, this is as good as anything by Fred Vargas, and much better than pretty much anything else in the genre you'll read this year.

Buy it! show less

This is a terrific crime novel from France, featuring memorable characters and very odd crimes. The chief investigator, Commissaire Adamsberg, is disorganized, intuitive, and not very focussed on the crime he is putatively dealing with. His associates are equally far from ideal cop-hood, and the witnesses and/or criminals with whom he interacts are also peculiar. Maigret would not be amused, but I was delighted -- one falls right into the story, accepting its crazed premises and odd characters at least for the duration. Once I finished, immediately turned to Amazon to find that the number of Adamsberg books available in English is limited. Ah well, more will be translated in time.

Ein jahrhundertealter Mythos führt Kommissar Adamsberg in die dunklen Wälder der Normandie. Ein Heer aus Schattengestalten soll dort wüten und ungesühnte Verbrechen strafen. Lina, eine junge Frau aus der Normandie, hat es jüngst in der Nacht über den Waldweg reiten sehen. Und nicht nur das: Die Reiter hatten vier Menschen in ihrer Gewalt, deren Tage – der Legende nach – gezählt sind. Und tatsächlich dauert es nicht lange, bis das erste Opfer des Wütenden Heeres stirbt. Adamsberg ist überzeugt, dass sich jemand der mittelalterlichen Sage bedient, um ungestört zu morden. Wieder einmal findet sich in diesem Roman alles, was die unnachahmliche und inzwischen sprichwörtliche Magie Vargas ausmacht: wunderbare Charaktere, ein show more intelligenter Plot, eine subtile Handlungsführung, gefärbt mit einem sprühenden Funken Humor. show less

When a terrified woman begs Commissaire Adamsberg for help with a murder that has not happened yet he is intrigued. Her daughter claims to have seen the ghostly hunt, lead by the Devil's helper Lord Hellequin. These spectral horsemen ride through Northern France collecting the souls of evildoers and any living person spotted riding with them is sure to die a horrific death soon after. With three local men identified among the riders, and one of them already missing, it is not long before the bodies pile up but can Adamsberg solve the case before the lives of his men come under serious threat?

This excellent novel provides a refreshing break from the 'tough, misunderstood detective with a heart of gold' characters that populate so many show more books of this genre. Adamsberg is ditzy with flashes of genius, he likes taking his shoes off to walk in the grass and cares as much about finding out who tied a pigeon's feet together as he does about solving murder. All-in-all a truly lovable protagonist. The whole story has a slightly surreal feel to it with its immobile cows, narcoleptic policemen and suspects who talk backwards but this all serves to highlight the peculiarity of the case. Written with a fantastic combination of humour and tension it is a fantastic read. Highly recommended..

Out of all the police procedurals I think Fred Vargas' Adamsberg’ series is the most tender and whimsical; overflowing with captivating characters that linger in your head for days after.

“You care, deeply, for Adamsberg and Danglard and their team. You care for poor besieged Léone and her sugar-hungry hound, Fleg, and for the crazy Vendermots who would need an entire social services team working overtime just to sort out their problems. Damn it, you even care for the crippled pigeon that sleeps (and craps) in Adamsberg's shoe.” /http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/The_Ghost_Riders_of_Ordebec.html show less