Juste une ombre

by Karine Giebel

Thriller

Pocket - mai 2013

608 pages - 13.95 $

I discovered with pleasure the rising French authors in the polar world. Karine Giebel in part of them: she won several times the price of polar of Marseille and the Cognac and SNCF prices of polar. My forays into the French readings are just as best as possible as they allow me to find back my roots while diving with delight and thrill in a thriller...

4th cover

First, it's a silhouette, one evening in the street ... A face-to-face with death.

Then, it is a presence. By day: at every intersection. The night, by your bedside. Unable to understand, explain, to prove.

Soon, an obsession. Which ruins your career, separates you from your friends, your lover. Makes you crazy. And alone.

Just a shadow. That takes on your life and takes it forever.

You belong to it, it is already too late ...

What I think of it

Here is a special case: we hate as much as we are afraid for Cloe. She's so pedantic, pretentious, cruel, pushy, that initially we want to say "she has it coming" But as you learn to ignore the shell, we discover her secret, we feel compassion for her faults and we're bamboozled by her charm. Alexander also is and as we like Alexander - a broken cop with crazy eyes but a killer smile - we soon find that Cloe does not deserve this shadow. Nobody deserves that. Yet there it is but nobody sees it except Cloe. So you will find in this book some realistic and well written characters and emotions we all felt at one time or another.

As for the plot, what about it? It's powerful enough for us to strongly feel powerlessness. This is mainly a psychological thriller and it's tense, intense, nervous. You think that this is not possible, the shadow will end up making a mistake by leaving a footprint but here is the whole problem: shadows don't leave trace. And then suddenly, BAM! Giebel throws you to the ground. It's so realistic, I thought it speaks from experience. The story is so similar to news items that you can read sometimes. And news items rarely end well...

This book reads like a play, like behind closed doors. The action takes mainly place in three locations: at Alexander's flat, at Cloe's work and at Cloe's flat. As a result, a kind of intimacy is created, we go inside their home like it's ours, making the Shade even more disturbing with its intrusions. There's enough to become paranoid by reading this book! However, beware, this book is not for everyone, it's about a shadow that seeks to destroy women, there are some difficult scenes. I do not want to spoil the book, but rapes are at issue and as some people around me can not bear to read this kind of scene, I prefer to warn you fellow reader.

In a nutshell

A book you'll read in one go, a compelling with (too?) realistic tension story. Characters whose flaws are very credible. A book I highly recommend. I give it 4/5 .

My thought on closing the book: dammit, she's didn't go in for half measures!

Good to know : Her books are translated in Italian, Dutch, Russian et Spanish

The Snowman

by Jo Nesbø

Harry Hole #7

Vintage Canada (4 janvier 2011)

464 pages - 19.95 $

After reading the Leopard, I bought this book, because it's often cited as one of the best of Jo Nesbø and more importantly, I wanted to know why Harry Hole was in such a bad shape and it seemed it was due to the Snowman ...

Synopsis

The night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a solitary figure: a snowman bathed in cold moonlight, its black eyes glaring up at the bedroom windows. Round its neck is his mother's pink scarf. Inspector Harry Hole is convinced there is a link between the disappearance and a menacing letter he received some months earlier. As Harry and his team delve into unsolved case files, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years. When a second woman disappears Harry's suspicions are confirmed: he is a pawn in a deadly game. For the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his turf, a killer who will drive him to the brink of insanity.

What I think of it

In that book Harry's professional and personal relationships mingle and meet and you get to know better the different characters, which makes us closer to the protagonists and gives us the impression of being part of the team. I met Harry Hole again with pleasure. He's in a better state than in The Leopard (which was written after The Snowman), but as I haven't read them in the order... It's in this book that I knew the extent of the horror experienced by Harry and why he's hurting so much in the future. In any case, I enjoyed discovering more about Harry 's relationship with his colleagues who regularly mock his propensity to see a serial killer behind every dog run. I made acquaintance with Rakel - and discovered their history - and Oleg who worships Harry.

Here, no action at all costs, no chases in each chapter, but tension rises gradually. We have a sense of failure and a feeling of the horror to come. Harry must investigate the murders of the past in connection with the disappearances of the present time and it takes time. Time during which the danger increases and we feel that something bad is coming but the killer seems quite too smart for Harry and, indeed, he's on the verge of not succeeding. The atmosphere is cold as can be - probably because it's about the first snow (perhaps to read it in July would not have the same impact!) - and adds to the tension and anxiety. As to discover the culprit... beware the obvious!

Harry's struggle not to drink, his efforts and the anger he feels all the time are obviously recurring in the series, but this is what makes him an endearing character (yes, cliché die hard in thrillers!). However, even if you can read the books by itself because it does not interfere with the story, there are several references in the books to what happened before. It seems to me that it's best to read them in order, especially as Harry's state of mind is linked with what he has experienced and therefore what happened in the previous books.

In a nutshell

Second book I've read by Jo Nesbø and I'm sold! He has a style of his own, where the horror of the crimes, the anxiety associated with the investigation and the atmosphere will guarantee you cold chills! One thing is certain, you will not see snowmen in the same way... 4/5 for this volume .

My thought on closing the book : Poor Harry, he really caught hell!

The Clearing

by Dan Newman

Available October 29, 2013

ISBN: 9781909223523

Format: Large (Trade) Paperback

336 pages - $ 16.99 CAN

I received an email informing me of Exhibit A's future release of this book. I liked the summary and I wanted to discover the author. So I ask and received and ARC (and was so happy to have a real book instead of an ePub!) This book is the last in the challenge R.I.P. VIII.

Synopsis

In 1976, four boys walked into a jungle. Only three came back alive.

Haunted by terrifying childhood memories he doesn't fully understand, journalist Nate Mason returns to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia where he grew up.

Back then, as the son of a diplomat, he was part of an elite social circle. But during a weekend of whispered secrets and dares in a decaying jungle mansion staffed by the descendants of slaves, Nate’s innocence was torn apart.

The survivors of that gathering blamed what happened on a myth, an unseen terror from the bush. No one believed them. But now. almost forty years later, is the truth finally about to come out?

Within hours of arriving back on the island, Nate becomes convinced he’s being followed. He soon discovers that his search for answers could cost him his sanity as well as his life, as he realises that some childhood nightmares never go away.

Can childhood nightmares haunt you for the rest of your life? How much do you need to believe in a monster for it to become real? The Clearing is a dark and atmospheric psychological thriller, full of intrigue, terror and superstition, which examines our deepest fears of the unknown. A potent mix of the friendship and bravery of Stand By Me and the betrayals and fear of Angel Heart.

What I think of it

We follow Nate who returns several years later on the island - where he lived a dramatic story in his youth - to end a series of galleys in his life that are bound to the famous event. We follow him but at different times through flashbacks (at the time of the event when he lived in the island, at a crucial period of his recent past and nowadays). What may seem confusing actually let us understand the current events, the reason for his return to the island and to be closer to him. Because we discover the young boy, full of joy, excitement and terror, we learn to appreciate him, we want to protect him (I confess : the fact that I'm the mother of a pre-teen of the same age had a lot to play in this part !)

Facts, old and new, are discovered along the story. There's that idea that we can't understand the present without knowing the past and that premise is good. There is also a supernatural hand (it is an island!) Voodoo is never far away, odd situations are never exactly explained but are well designed to create a distressing condition for Nate who don't understand them because he's not native. Nor are we, so we very well put ourselves in his shoes, living a surreal adventure (have you ever get a chicken leg thrown in your face?). We do not understand but we feel very uncomfortable. So there is a rise of feelings of discomfort, fear and misunderstanding well conducted by the author, who knows the islands, having lived there.

There are some lengthy parts although the space does not falter. How so? It takes a lot of time for Nate to get to his goal and of course many things happen but at times I felt that the author could have not included some mishaps. Fortunately, the atmosphere of the book, how Newman tells the story and the back and forth in time are so well done that every time I began to find it long, the story bounced, the pace accelerated and I was reconciled with the book.

Nate wishes to return to the place of origin of his bad luck to solve all his problems. I admit that when I discovered why he wanted to go back I found it a bit superfluous. The fear experienced by the children is enough to explain their tell at the time and Nate's desire to return was largely explicable by his guilt associated with the event 25 years ago. The end is not as thrilling than is suggested by the story, even if the author manages to make it more enjoyable by adding a final touch of mystery.

One of the characters in the book (if you can talk about character) is the island itself. Certainly there are other people in the novel but in my opinion the island holds the upper hand with Nate. The author has described it as scary as a spot paradise. As much with a joyful atmosphere as a strange one and just as simple in relationships than full of several customs and beliefs that complicate things. We understand and share the joy of Nate who revisit some places, the longing for his childhood but also his fear. That island has two sides to its coin and it can turn very quickly!

In a nutshell

A good novel with its particular and pleasant atmosphere. A character we learn to like, an island that puts a spell on you. I give it a 3.5/5.

My thought on closing the book: what a good dive into the Culture of the islands!