Irene

Wow! From the first sentence I couldn't put this one down--or, it was hard to stop and even get dinner, I was so gripped by this book and pulled into this world. A serial killer is on the loose and derives the way he kills people as an exact replication of scenes in various crime novels. For that the newspaper dubs him "The Novelist." For most of the story I wondered about Irene, Camille's wife--why was the book called by her name? What was her importance to and role in the story? In the final chapters I found out. A grisly and grim novel, even OTT is places, I shivered my way through. Just when I thought I had the plot figured out, there would be another twist, completely unexpected, that threw me off. Altogether, one of the best show more detective novels I've come across.

Highly recommended. show less

In his first novel Irene Pierre Lemaitre comes up with a clever way to pay tribute to the writers that have inspired him, while at the same time creating something unique and original himself.

This is the first of the Verhoeven books, set in Paris and featuring Commandant Verhoeven, the taciturn leader of a squad in the brigade criminelle. Verhoeven is a dwarf, and has struggled at times in his career and in his personal life because of this. This seems to be behind him as he is at his peak professionally, married to a beautiful wife and with a baby on the way. Life should be good for Verhoeven, but it isn’t.

Verhoeven is investigating a series of brutal murders of young women. (Be aware, Lemaitre’s descriptions of the crimes are show more strong stuff). The crime scenes are meticulously prepared and forensics can find little or no evidence. The squad have virtually nothing to go on, and Verhoeven finds himself crossing swords with the Juge and with a tabloid journalist. When a second crime emerges, Verhoeven makes a connection that even he can’t quite believe and he is plunged into a dark and horrifying pursuit.

In the last act, Lemaitre pulls off an artful narrative trick that gives the story a kick, but still feels a bit too clever by half. Apart from that though, Irene is a pulsing yarn with a unique protagonist and a chilling and original plot. I would probably have given this 5 stars except that I read Alex before this one, and Lemaitre completely gives away the ending of Irene in his second novel. So read these in order, if you want to get the most out of them. show less

The same plotting brilliance as in "Alex" and so much unpleasant misogynistic violence that one feels like attending confession. And with the same twist at the end that you don't see coming. Really. It's like a "Gone Girl" twist ramped up to nuclear bomb levels.
And therein lies the disappointment, because I felt cheated. The twist in Book 1 (Alex) was shared between the characters and the reader. It applied to us both. In Book 2, the surprise is aimed squarely at you and me, the reader. And I felt patronised.
By the way, the translation (from French) by Frank Wynne is just first class. It's impossible to find a trace of French idiom in the text. It reads like it was written directly in the English idiom. Usually, something of the show more original language seeps through. This may be no bad thing if one is familiar with the original language, but most of us English readers aren't multi-lingual (more's the pity, eh?). Often the translator shows he or she could not resist something. A particularly clever jeux de mots perhaps, but here it's all English plays on English words. Quite an achievement.
Now I'll read something that doesn't send me to see the priest. show less

Camille Verhoeven is the small of stature Commandant from the Paris Police Nationale. The latest case that he's been assigned to is a particularly savage and brutal killing of two young women. Despite the proliferation of blood and body parts the only real clue is a fingerprint used by the killer as a signature for his work. It links the deaths to a previous case which also remains unsolved. It also comes to light that both crimes are recreations of scenes from famous detective novels. Are there any more killings that fit this pattern and more importantly can Camille and his team prevent any more?

While this is the second book translated to English from the French series it should really be read prior to the first, Alex. There will be show more major spoilers for this book if you read them the other way around. This is probably the goriest police procedural that I've read with the results of the killer's handiwork vividly described and it's certainly not for the squeamish. An excellent translation from Frank Wynne makes this a very easy read and the very short chapter breaks only increase the tension as the investigation is seemingly heading nowhere. I'll certainly be continuing with this series. show less

Very well-written, very well-translated, interesting homage-like invocation of other crime-story authors & plots (Gaboriau, Ellroy, Ellis, McIlvanney, J.D. MacDonald, Sjowall & Wahloo) into the crux of this one. But such heinous violence that I could only read with "light eyes" and skip the carnage (against women, of course). So I did not, by any means, read all the pages. {Pre-publication review copy via Nook download} pub=12/9/2014

This was clever in the twists that came along the way, especially with (mild spoiler) a metafiction twist in the final 10th of the book.
However, the crimes were too grand guignolesque for me to say that I enjoyed it. The premise of a criminal using classic murder novels as the basis of their insane crimes is certainly an intriguing one esp. for crime fiction buffs but the selection here was mostly disturbing for me.
Confusingly, this is the 1st of the Commandant Verhoeven books written (originally published in French in 2006 as "Travail soigné" (Careful Work) but it is the 2nd one translated into English after Alex (originally published in French in 2011 with the same title, and published in English in 2013).
I'm intrigued enough to show more still want to read the 2nd one now, especially to try to understand why they might have decided to publish it first. But caveat emptor on "Irene" if you prefer books more along the cozy side rather than more disturbing noir. show less

Camille Verhoeven un inspector de policia, tiene una buena vida, casado y esperando su primer hijo.

Le asignan un caso de asesinato, pero no cualquier asesinato, es uno bastante sangriento y violento.

Al llegar a la escena del crimen nota que todo esta demasiado preparado, por lo que esto lo lleva a darse cuenta que este asesinato y otros estuvieron basados en algunos libros de Novela Negra.

Ahi empieza toda la carrera de Camille por atrapar a un asesino sanguinario y no es que tenga mucho tiempo para hacerlo.

Un libro extraordinariamente bien llevado, con una trama bien manejada y que nos tiene en el borde casi todo el tiempo, esperando a ver en que momento se comete otro asesinato y sospechando de todo el mundo.

Además tengo que añadir, show more que a mi me gusto Camille, me gusto como persona y como personaje, al final uno se da cuenta que en realidad no conocimos realmente a este nada tipico inspector, sabemos quien es, a que se dedica, nos dan un fogonazo de su vida privada y del amor de su vida, pero nada profundo, no puedo decir mas porque no quiero desvelar nada, pero si, que me quede con ganas de saber mas sobre él.

Un giro final, que personalmente me dejo en shock, quiero leer sus demás libros, puesto que este es el primero de una serie de 4 libros, pero necesito algo de tiempo para reponerme de este final tan sorprendente. show less