The Black Wolf

Summary: Having arrested the “Black Wolf” trying to poison Montreal, Gamache realizes this was but a prelude to a greater threat.

If you read The Grey Wolf, you knew this book was coming. And if you did not, stop right here. That book gives the background for this, and this review gives details that will spoil the end of the Grey Wolf.

Gamache and his team have barely stopped an attempt to poison Montreal’s water supply as part of a power grab. The supposed mastermind, Marcus Lauzon, the Deputy Prime Minister, is now in solitary confinement. But Gamache, recovering at home, having lost his hearing due to a gun discharge meant to kill him, is beginning to doubt that the threat has been removed. They just may have been diverted off show more the trail of something bigger.

Not knowing who to trust, he has brought his closest associates, Beauvoir and LaCoste to Three Pines. Quietly, they have been studying the notebooks and a map left by slain biologist, Charles Langlois. But most of his notations are cryptic, and a laptop that may offer the key is still missing.

Another clue is equally puzzling. The Grey Wolf had given them this warning:

In a dry and parched land, where there is no water.

What that means, they have no clue. Canada has an abundance of water.

Slowly they piece together clues that convince them something bigger is going on. Woven into it are forest fires, atmospheric conditions, secret war plans and a treasonous international collaboration.

But back to Gamache’s doubts as to the identity of the Black Wolf. Is it Jeanne Caron, the popular current Prime Minister, a mob boss, or someone else? Or could it even be Lauzon? Penny tantalizes us with this throughout the book.

Like The Madness of Crowds, the book has surprised many readers with its prescience as to current events. In light of this, Penny includes an author note at the beginning of the book that she submitted the book to her publisher in September 2024, predating events that followed the U.S. presidential election in 2024. Most striking are her references to Canada as a “fifty-first state.”

It’s also striking that two meetings occur at the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, which straddles the US/Canada border. A black taped line runs through the middle of the building denoting the border. It has been a unique place where Canadians and Americans mix without checkpoints. Until this year. Now Canadians can’t enter the grand entrance on the US side without going through border control. An emergency exit on the Canada side serves as a temporary entrance.

Beyond details like this Penny explores our brave new social media world and its capacity for misinformation and deep fakes where interviews and videos can be doctored to say the opposite of what they were meant to reveal. In addition, Penny explores the international implications of climate-related events including fires, smoke pollution, and water shortages.

Like many of Penny’s books, this one has a hair-raising finish, one that stretched plausibility for me at points. However, one of the most interesting plot elements is that there is a point at which Gamache intentionally misleads Beauvoir. One senses that something shifts in their relationship. Plot material for a future book?

However, her larger scenario didn’t stretch plausibility. It was bleak and scarily realistic for me. It was only relieved by the beautifully ordinary life of Three Pines with an eccentric poet and her goose Rosa, and all the people who gather at the Bistro for exquisitely good food. Perhaps that is a parable of how we must live in our time. That is, we enjoy the good, true, and beautiful of the given day, thankful for and praying for the Gamaches that stand between us and annihilation. show less

After Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has foiled a very serious conspiracy that would have resulted in mass deaths and panic everywhere, he hopes to be able to heal at home in Three Pines, but he soon realizes that the plot he thwarted was only the beginning, not the end of the conspiracy. And what is coming next makes the previous events seem like child’s play. He must somehow find his way through the layers of deception to reach the truth, but who can he trust? And what will it all cost…. This is an absolutely terrifying book because the main storyline being presented is very plausible, especially given the current US Administration. As ever, Ms. Penny’s tale is very tightly woven and tense, with the reader being compelled to show more barrel through because we just have to know What Happens Next! All that is done brilliantly, but I want to focus on a couple of smaller (well, less dramatic) aspects of the book. First, there’s the sheer poetry of Ms. Penny’s writing, for example noting twilight in this way: “The light that was draining from the sky seemed to be absorbed into the homes and businesses around the village green.” Beautiful. And also the humanity infused in all of her characters, even though she cannot spend much time with them given the confines of this particular story. For example, the end of Chapter 36 is devoted to describing Clara’s solo art show which consists of portraits of Three Pines villagers, so beautifully written that it brought tears to my eyes. I’ve loved Ms. Penny’s books since the beginning, and this one is indeed a triumph. One cannot simply start with this book, however; although I’d suggest starting at the beginning (“Still Life”), I realize that it would take a great deal of time to get to this 20th entry chronologically. “The Black Wolf” is actually the second half of the story begun with “The Grey Wolf,” and at minimum that book must be read before this one. Extremely highly recommended. show less

I liked the first ten books in this series - I felt they followed a good narrative arc - and was quite surprised when the series continued and have found the last ten books variable. At the end of this one Louise Penny explains and justifies setting some stories outside Three Pines but I am like most of her readers, I expect, in preferring stories with mostly Three Pines characters and setting. I was not at my best when I read this one but I found it quite complicated and at the end still wasn't sure who was the villain.

Well I’m glad that’s over. This was just plain painful to listen to. Somewhere out there in the ether are people who will read this book and be able to make sense of it. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. I was confused to begin with, and thought it would get better, but instead the book got more unbelievable and more murky. I know that reading is supposed to expand a reader’s imagination, and it has always done that for me, but, I’m sorry, not this book. Where in this modern and terrifying world will the fate the entire planet be in the hands of a single Chief Inspector from Quebec, Canada? Yes. individual people can make significant changes to the world order, and we see that over and over again in the news, but, show more unfortunately no one Saviour can come and rescue us all from certain doom. I realize that this is a fiction book, but it is supposed to be a crime novel, not science fiction. I started the book with some trepidation after reading The Grey Wolf last year, but finally decided that I should finish the storyline. Ms. Penny is a good writer and she captured my interest at the beginning of the book with a compromised Gamache healing from the wounds he received in the previous book. But then, as it went on, the plot and the characters became more and more unbelievable and far-fetched. I started with a possible three star review, but by 50% of the way through I was down to two stars, and that absolutely incredible and interminable ending brought it down to one star, and that is where my review will stay. No, I will not be reading anymore Gamache books. Give me a straight-forward crime novel that is firmly planted on planet earth like The Lynley series, or the Cormoran Strike series. or the Dave Robicheaux series, or any of the series that my favourite authors write. That list of favourites is long in my case, so I’m grateful to have more books to read in each of them. show less

Continuing where The Grey Wolf left off, Penny does an excellent job reminding readers of events in the previous book when they need to know them, rather than in an info-dump at the beginning. The intricate plot is engaging and unnervingly prescient. Once again, most of the beloved characters have to take a back seat to a secret that seems determined to remain just out of Gamache's reach. Surprisingly, some of the most entertaining character moments are between old and new. While I miss the simpler days of a quiet murder in Three Pines, Penny's writing chops are evident in this complex mystery/thriller.

Although this does not rise to a favorite of the series for me, I still found much to appreciate in the 2025 installment to the Armand Gamache series. Penny explores apocalyptic possibilities as she gives credence to the disastrous results of climate change if ignored. As the mystery plays out, there is espionage, political intrigue, greed, corruption and a central question of “who do you trust?” As always, Penny has given us much to think about in the main storyline along with the hidden gems of her observations. I particularly appreciated the theme which was carried throughout… just before something happens. The pivotal moment of “before” is intriguing to consider as we examine life events.

I must say I was kept guessing about the identity of the Black Wolf right up to the end. I suspect that's what Louise Penny intended.

Penny's last book, The Grey Wolf, ended on a cliffhanger. Gamache and others had been able to stop a terrorist plot to poison the Montreal water system and they had arrested a politician that they thought was the Black Wolf. Then Gamache realized that there was more to the plot than the poisoning and that they had to keep investigating. The biologist who was killed in the last book left a map and two notebooks that the small Surete group who Gamache trusts have pored over. One remote lake seems to be key and Isabelle flies up there with a biologist friend of the Gamaches to take a look. What they find show more isn't the laptop they were hoping was there; instead they uncover a corpse who appears to have been executed mafia style. The man presumed to be the Black Wolf, Marcus Lauzon, must know more but he won't talk while he is in prison. So, Gamache has him come to Three Pines for Sunday dinner (closely escorted by Jean-Guy,of course). The only thing Lauzon divulges is a whisper in Gamache's ear "FEDS". From there, Gamache starts unravelling a complex plot that involves the highest levels of government on both sides of the border. And yes, the phrase the "51st state" is mentioned. What's so impressive about this plot is that Penny wrote it well before the current POTUS took office and started musing about Canada becoming the 51st state.

I'm not sure where Penny will go now with her Gamache series. She is working on a new book which will probably have more attention in the coming months now that she has finished her all-Canadian book tour. It ended at the Haskell Free Library (the institution that straddles the border between Quebec and Vermont) which was a deliberate choice since several key plot elements take place there. I loved that Penny chose to have the musical "Billy Bishop Goes to War" being staged there as Gamache was talking to an American general about FEDS and other things. show less