Interview: Dan Newman, author of The Clearing

I'm pleased to welcome Dan Newman on my blog, as his first book The Clearing is now available. He was kind enough to answer my question. 

Will you tell us a little about yourself and your background? Have you always wanted to be writer?

Hi Vanessa! Thank you so much for this – it’s wonderful to be part of Vanessa’s Bookshelves...

I think that I came to writing because of the way I grew up, which was wandering around the globe with my parents – my father worked in international development, so we travelled a lot. I moved from school to school frequently, and I remember doing a lot of writing as it was something that could move with me. I spent time in some interesting places like St. Lucia, the Kingdom of Lesotho and Swaziland, and I think those places really helped form my perspective on things. When I came back to Canada to do my undergraduate degree, I really noticed the gulf between the worlds. That’s always stuck with me.

I only really decided to take on novel writing about sixteen years ago – my first book, The Cull, is still a favourite of mine even though it has all the problems you might expect with an early effort. One day I hope to go back and see if I can salvage it. So I’m not sure I always wanted to be a writer, but I’m pretty sure I want to now. I’m working hard at that one.

What about The Clearing? Would you give us a teaser? 

The Clearing is really a story about how our past stays with us, and left unattended for long periods of time, it will make itself known. In the book, Nate Mason finds himself beset by tragedy, and feels that the only way to move forward is to go back. And the past, his past, is waiting for him – almost as a character itself.

I've seen on your site that you have "other projects in the pipe" that sound promising. Why The Clearing instead of another one for your first book?

Well, as much as I’d love to be in a position to dictate what I’d like to have published, I’m simply not. The publisher gets to make that call, and after reviewing The Clearing, they bought the rights. My deal with Exhibit A is for two books, so I do get to decide what to submit next, but it still has to be something they find interesting and marketable. At the moment I’m just finishing up a sequel to The Clearing, so that may be the next book I submit to them, but I also have another project that is very near and dear to my heart that I would like them to look at. So I have some decisions to make there... 

The book is set on St Lucia where you lived, there are two journalists of which one wanted to be a writer, do you take inspiration from your life to create your characters and story?

For me, the old saw write-what-you-know is a guiding principle. I absolutely look to my own life when I write, and perhaps one of the few advantages I have is that my father’s career provided me with so many experiences in so many unique places and cultures. I really do see my childhood as having been a fantastic adventure. For example, much of The Clearing is based on my own experiences at an old plantation house in St. Lucia. The Bolom, an important supernatural character in the book, is something that as a young kid of eleven or twelve, I absolutely believed in – given what happened up there. And to find out what that was, you’ll have to follow Nate up to Ti Fenwe... J 

There's a deep connection with children in The Clearing and The Journalist (one of the project in the pipe) is also about children, is it an important connection for you? A subject that touch you? 

I think so. I think that because of the intensity of my own childhood – and I mean that in a positive, wide-eyed view of life, way – I see childhood as perhaps the most important phase of our growth. The foundations for everything we are, for everything we will become – it all gets poured during those few short years of childhood. It might also be due to the fact that I’m the father of a young boy, too. And fatherhood changes you. Watching a kid grow amazes and terrifies me all at once. I’m helping with that particular foundation... so yes, I’d say childhood is something I’m very connected to.

Are you still working? If yes, how do you manage to combine work and writing? 

Yes, I still have a day job. And while the fantasy is to write all day and make a good living at it, I still get great satisfaction from the balance I have right now. I try to write every night – usually between 9:00 and about midnight. Then I’ll also do some early mornings on the weekends before my family wakes up – the 6:00 to 9:00 slot is a very productive one for me.

Why have you chosen to write thrillers? 

I’m not sure that was a choice. I started writing and that’s what came out. When I first started, I found myself writing along the lines of Wilbur Smith... perhaps because I had spent so much time in Africa, or because it was Wilbur Smith that first got me into reading. 

Who's your favorite author or the one who inspires you the most? 

I am a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy. I think his novel The Road is the best piece of writing I've ever come across, and I think there are only a small handful of writers that can create that kind of work. Genius is not too strong a word. It’s something to aspire to, even if you know you’ll never achieve that kind of excellence. That’s certainly the case for me.

What are you reading currently? 

Two books just now: I’m on the middle of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, and I've just started Richard Parker’s Scare Me. My taste is all over the map. Always has been.

What's next for you ? 

On the writing front, I’m getting ready to send in my second book for Exhibit A – so there are a few long conversations coming with my agent - the most excellent Carrie Pestritto – to determine just which project that will be.

On the personal front, we’re about to get a dog for my son. We’re getting a chocolate lab, and I can’t wait. I grew up with dogs, and left so many behind with friends when we left to go to the next post. It was heartbreaking. I’m looking forward to bringing this little puppy home and giving him a family for life.

Why so serious questions: 

Surfing or writing?

Aaargh! Can’t I do both? Please!? Well, if I absolutely had to choose, I guess it’d be writing. Fewer sharks.

Your Desert Island read would be...

Easy – The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.

Given the choice where would you live? 

Another easy one! Tropical Queensland, east coast of Australia. A small beachside town called Noosa just north of Brisbane. I get back there every chance I get.

Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners ou Royals by Lorde? 

Gotta go with what has stood the test of time (sorry Lorde)... Come On Eileen.. Oh, I swear what he means. At this moment you mean, eeeeeeverything...

Thanks Vanessa!

Dan.

-----

About The Clearing:
When Nate was a boy, he lived in an island, St Lucia. The night of the "event", four boys walked in the forest but only three came back alive. They said it was a monster and no one believed them. Now an adult, Nate comes back to the island to set things right. As soon as he arrived, he realized that he's followed and that his life is in danger as well as his sanity. Against all advice, he decides to unveil the truth.

You can follow Dan on Twitter, his books blog or his personal blog.

Of Fever and Blood

by Sire Cédric

Publishers Square (October 15, 2013)

369 pages - 7.99 $ (ebook)

After reading the first book L'enfant des cimetières and despite my mixed feelings due to the presence of children where I do not like to see them (see my review here), I wanted to try again reading Sire Cédric because, despite this concern, the book was very good. And as I don't like staying on an uncertainty, when the book Of Fever and Blood came out on NetGalley I took the opportunity to rediscover this so popular author. A thank you to Publishers Square and Open Road Media for the book!

The Blurb

This fast-paced, supernatural thriller is a race against time to defeat a deadly force.

Of Fever and Blood begins at the end of an investigation. Inspectors Vauvert and Svärta, an albino profiler, solve a series of sadistic ritual murders and the supposed culprits, the Salaville brothers, are killed in a standoff.

However, one year later, the killings start all over again, but this time in Paris. All forensic evidence point to the brothers, but how can that be?

Their investigation leads Svärta and Vauvert to Judith Saint-Clair, the deathly ill patient at a mental institution that also housed the Salavilles. They discover the incredible truth: Saint-Clair had manipulated the Salavilles into killing young women in order for her to accomplish magic rituals to stave off death. Nothing and no one will stop her from reaching her goal of eternal life . . . death is not an option.

What I think of it

I must say that the fantastic and even horror side is very present in the book. Yes, there is an investigation very well conducted but the supernatural elements take over. As such, I'm not sure if the category booksellers give this book (thriller) is the best. In fact, a new category should be created " thriller horror " or " horrific thriller "... in which books from this new generation of writers influenced by Stephen King as Sir Cedric or Maxime Chattam could be put into. In any case, this novel confirms the quality of writing of Sir Cedric, particularly to convey the horror.

About the book, I meet again with Vauvert with pleasure. The giant cop with a fine intelligence has grown since L'enfant des cimetières. If in the first book, he tried to do his job despite the aspects he did not understand and refused to believe in, in this second book, he's much more comfortable with supernatural elements. He accepts those elements as part of life and soon learned to write a police-report-that-can-be-read-by-chiefs. This time he teams up with Eva, a profiler cop from Paris, albino and quite broken because of a violent and muddled past that we discover as the story unfold. Eva is exceptionally competent, knows it and doesn't hesitate to follow her ideas to the great displeasure of Vauvert. If I struggled to appreciate her at the outset - because she seemed too cold and distant - as I discovered her story and, therefore, learned the reasons for her behavior it helped me to like her.

The story gets off like a bat out of hell as a young girl is kidnapped and finds herself locked in a house where the bloodstains are too numerous not to create a sense of immediate panic. Vauvert and Eva save her in extremis and everything seems to end well. Except that a year later, all start over again. Being struck by the story from the beginning created a tension that doesn't falter. Crime scenes are particularly gruesome - very well written in a fairly understated style - and strike a cord with demonic elements (hell and demons represent some kind of deap-rooted fear for most poeple).

If we know fast enough the motive behing the murders, there is a race against the clock to know WHO is the instigator and then WHERE is this famous person because he/she must be stopped as soon as possible to avoid more dead people. Throughout the book, there is a tension and a nervousness, well served by a realistic judicial proceedings. As in L'enfant des cimetières, I like to see Vauvert's efforts to make some situations credibles when they haven't one ounce of reality. In this novel, the police attempt to integrate these supernatural elements in their investigation by affixing a certain logic but when it's not possible, Vauvert doesn't hesitate to think outside the box, even if he finishes to be pursued by justice.

In a nutshell

A good novel one reads quickly, nervous and horrible. A winning trio altogether. I give it 4/5.

Good to know: Sire Cedric was awarded the 2012 Cognac Polar Prize for this book and the Cine+ Frisson 2011 Prize.

My thought on closing the book: brrr! it sends shivers down one spine!

Out of exile

by Luke Preston

A Tom Bishop Fampage

Momentum (October 1, 2013)

254 pages - 4.99 $ (kindle)

Luke Preston was recommended by several authors that I follow on Twitter. As these authors are good, I think that they should also have good taste about books, right? Plus, Luke Preston on Twitter has a keen humour so I wanted to read his second book when I saw it on NetGalley. A thank you to Momentum for the book!

The blurb

Sometimes a little violence is a good thing

You can't go on the kind of spree ex-cop Tom Bishop did and not face consequences.

After three years of rotting in a cell, Bishop is busted out of prison in the dead of night and thrown into the middle of a police war where the stakes are high and personal.

Now, the very man who put him away calls on his help. But what starts out as a simple rescue mission escalates into an adrenaline-fuelled, action packed thrill-ride as Bishop plunges into a web of conspiracy that threatens to destroy his soul, but may provide the truth about his past.

Out of Exile is the anticipated follow up to the award-nominated Dark City Blue.

What I think of it

Out of Exile is the sequel to Dark City Blue that has already caused a stir at the time and that ends with Bishop in prison. Fortunately, not having read the first book does not stop to read the second. Some references are made, of course, but I never felt out of the gang, which is great, but it does make you long to read Dark City Blue!

Out of Exile is not a book you read, it's a effing action-packed film, a kind of Die Hard with a more virile McLane! It's explosive, relentless and incredibly funny. This is an action-packed film where the hero is not afraid to get his hands dirty.

About the characters in the book: we mainly follow Tom Bishop ex-cop who ended up in jail for having taking out the dirty cops who killed his daughter. He's therefore in jail at the beginning of the book. He's a tough guy, violent but who always tries to do what is right. As he says : "Sometimes a little violence is the right thing to do." He is very tall, bald and full of scars (due to bullets received in Dark Blue City), he's the kind of person who would make you want to change of pavement if you crossed him. Yet we can't help ourselves to like him, to know that with him on our side we have the best chance we can get to survive.

One thing I really appreciated is that Bishop does not hesitate to let go of something when he sees that he can't do it. He won't run unnecessarily in front of guns - assuming that him being alive will be more useful. Often heroes risk their lives in situations where logic dictates to hide away from bullets. Obviously, the hero never dies, but it's more difficult to identify with that kind of hero. Bishop reacts more consistently with logic and even if his stamina is much better than mine... I found that he was more realistic in his decisions.

The story is very complex, ultra-fast paced. Tom must team up with a gang of criminals to try to save the victims of a hostage. But he soon realizes that the hostage-taking is a tactic to reach for even more violent and devious ends. He's of course pursued by justice but managed to get the support of some former colleagues. It's a chase against the clock, the dirty cops, cops... no time to lose! There's a lot of stunts, explosions and other ingredients for a good action movie in this book. English is not my mother tongue so I read more slowly than in French and yet I read this book in two days! I couldn't let go of it.

In a nutshell

An explosive book, funny with a very interesting main character which is easy to relate to. A big favorite for this thriller. I give it 5 /5 (and  I run to buy Dark Blue City)

My thought on closing the book: Wow, it rocks!

The King's Hounds

by Martin Jensen

AmazonCrossing (29 octobre 2013)

272 pages - 5.21 $ (Kindle)

I've had this book through NetGalley. I know it's lame but its cover had me from the start... and then, the blurb did the rest!

The blurb

The first in the bestselling Danish series of historical mysteries

The newly crowned King Cnut of Denmark has conquered England and rules his new empire from Oxford. The year is 1018 and the war is finally over, but the unified kingdom is far from peaceful.

Halfdan’s mixed lineage—half Danish, half Saxon—has made him a pauper in the new kingdom. His father, his brother, and the land he should have inherited were all taken by the new king’s men. He lost everything to the war but his sense of humor. Once a proud nobleman, Halfdan now wanders the country aimlessly, powered only by his considerable charm and some petty theft. When he finds an unlikely ally in Winston, a former monk, he sees no reason not to accept his strange invitation to travel together to Oxford. Winston has been commissioned to paint a portrait of the king at the invitation of his new wife, and the protection of a clever man like Halfdan is well worth its price in wine and bread.

But when the pair’s arrival in court coincides with news of a murder, the king has a brilliant idea: Why not enlist the newly arrived womanizing half-Dane and the Saxon intellectual to defuse a politically explosive situation? The pair represents both sides of the conflict and seem to have crime-solving skills to boot. In their search for the killer, Halfdan and Winston find seduction, adventure, and scandal in the wild early days of Cnut’s rule.

What I think of it

I loved it! An excellent book, very pleasant, very nice, very funny.

I completely fell for Halfdan - who tells the story in the first person - even if he sometimes lacks in moral sense. When we meet him, he's about to rob Winston to steal his food and he's considering it without qualm. Add to that that he's a real womanizer and that he does not hesitate to use violence if necessary. I don't know if it's his humor or the fact that he's sometimes unlucky or clumsy, but he's a very likable character that one quickly appreciates. Winston, the brain of the pair is also a great character: former monk, an intelligence based on the thoroughness and details, he has a sense of his superiority. He regularly highlights the fact that he was the first one to understand one thing and that Halfdan could have done the same by thinking. Winston and Halfdan are a bit like Holmes and Watson, although Watson in this book is a little more crafty and womanizer. Do not forget the donkey, Atheling, which provides some very funny and light scenes, especially when in the presence of Halfdan.

The plot is well done. It a classic whodunit, the number of potential suspects is known quickly, all that is to know is which one did it. The elements are revealed one after the other, in a chain of events that leads logically to the killer. It is easy to know who killed before the end, but the overall context of the book makes that story interesting until the end. We also learn more about judgment and how people defended themselves at the time (and thankfully that has changed!)

I enjoyed getting to know the life in England at the time, which makes this book very interesting from the historical side. It's also nice to discover the historical side of the history of England from the perspective of a Danish. Here, the Danes or Vikings are not the bad guys just because they have invaded the country.

Finally, Halfdan and Winston have three days to discover the murderer so the pace is fast, you won't get bored. There's action, especially as Cnut want to solve the problem as soon as possible, meetings more or less pleasant and characters that bring a lot of freshness. And icing on the cake, this book is the first in a series.

In a nutshell

A little treasure. The light atmosphere of the book - especially thanks to Halfdan I must say - the plot, the historical context: it's all well written, well done and very enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this book! I give it 4.5 / 5.

My thought on closing the book : Excellent!

Interview: Chris F. Holm, author of The Collector series

I'm so thrilled to received today Chris F. Holm! 

I've met him at the QuebeCrime festival last year. I was too shy to go meet the authors that were there so I was hanging with another volunteer. We had so much fun that Chris came to talk to us, telling us we had too much fun not to share it with others! He merely talked about the others, telling us how incredibles they were, what a great story they had, how great writers they were and wondering why he was invited. 

I must say that I didn't know him at the time so I asked about his book. Well, he got me when he explained it was a crime fiction mixed to fantasy! I told him I'll read his book because it seemed to be my kind of reading. I'm not sure I convinced him at the time but it really was the book I wanted to read... and the first I've read after the festival. And oh boy! what a book! Dead Harvest is the first one in the Collector trilogy and one of the best books I've read last year! His two other books The Wrong Goodbye and The Big Reap were as good and no wonder they're still in the top 5 of the most seen books on my blog!

Chris is one of the most humble and kind author I know and also one hell of author and he's accepted to answer my questions that I'll let you read now! 

Will you tell us a little bit about yourself? 

Uh, sure. I’m tall, but not too. Skinny, but not as skinny as I used to be. I’m fond of small talk and small kindnesses. Of pie and punk rock and tattoos. I’m a damn good parallel parker, and a horrible – if enthusiastic – singer. Try though I might, I can’t pull off hats. But every now and again, I can write a half-decent sentence. 

So Chris, knowing that Sam was born from a doze-off... any other "dime-a-dozen" lastly? 

It’s strange – I don’t often take inspiration from dreams. Mine are usually so nonsensical, or filled with such lame horror-movie clichés – they’re of limited narrative utility. The opening scene of DEAD HARVEST was, until recently, my sole exception. But a month or two ago, I had this vivid nightmare that caused me to leap out of bed and jot down everything I could remember, and I’ve been noodling at the idea ever since. It looks like it may turn into a sprawling post-apocalyptic horror novel in the vein of THE PASSAGE or THE STAND. But I’ve got another novel or two I need to write first. 

How do you manage to combine work and writing (and tweeting and blogging and running...) 

My friend Julia Spencer-Fleming likes to joke that writing, for her, is a hobby that’s gotten out of hand. I feel much the same way. When I started out, I wrote a couple hours here and there on weekends. Now I work a few hours every day at least – and way more than that on weekends. That means I’ve had to scale back on lots of other things – cooking, cleaning, movies, television, guitar, socializing, reading – to make room. I don’t mind; I love my writing life – and since my wife is a book reviewer, we’re often working side-by-side, which is nice. Truth be told, the only thing I really miss is having more time to read. 

Which subjects are more difficult to write about? 

My books contain their share of violence, but that violence is particularly difficult when it touches the lives of innocents. In fact, one death in DEAD HARVEST – those who’ve read it will know which – affected me so deeply, I wasn’t sure I could keep it in the book. I was worried I’d crossed a line. My wife insisted I hadn’t. For what it’s worth, I must not have, since I didn’t get a single letter about it. And more recently, one of the storylines in THE BIG REAP required me to put myself into the head – albeit briefly – of one of the most despicable figures in human history. I thought I knew what I was in for, writing that bit – it’s not as if I painted this person favorably, after all – but it was far more disturbing than I imagined it would be. Oh, and sex. Any writer who tells you sex scenes are easy is either lying or delusional. 

Which events will you attend in the next months? 

As I write this, I’ve just returned from a weekend at Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, which was my last book event of the year. Now comes the long, quiet stretch of winter. But in March, I’m headed to Left Coast Crime in Monterey, California. I suspect it’ll be a nice break from the snow. 

What are you reading now? 

As I mentioned, my wife, Katrina, is a mystery reviewer. As such we wind up with lots of ARCs in our house. Rarely to I ever sneak a peek at one before release – even when she’s got a copy of something I’m dying to read – because it feels like cheating. I’m a big believer in paying for books to support the authors I love. But recently, Kat came into possession of the new Hilary Davidson novel, BLOOD ALWAYS TELLS, and I couldn’t resist. So far, it’s fantastic. When it comes out, I’ll buy a few copies to make up for my transgression. 

What do you look for in a good book? Is there anything that will make you put a book down, unfinished (or to throw it with great force as advocated by Mark Billingham lately)? 

What I look for most is voice. If I fall in love with a novel, it’s almost always on account of voice. I want it to grab me. To transport me. To knock me out of my critical, writerly mode of reading and make me believe. If it does, I’ll keep reading, regardless of the subject matter. If it doesn’t, I’ll likely put it down. My threshold for doing so is pretty low, actually – life’s too short to read a book I’m not enjoying. 

If you could experience one book again for the first time, which one would it be? 

What a wonderful – and difficult – question! It’s tough to narrow it down to one, but if I had to choose, I’d say THE THIN MAN by Dashiell Hammett. It’s a wonderful novel full of sparkling characters rendered in clean, crisp prose, but it also packs a wallop of a twist that still holds up some eighty years later. I’d love a second chance to be duped by a true master. 

What's next for you? 

I’ve recently put the finishing touches on a creepy little tale about the murder of a poor high school student in small-town Maine. It’s equal parts crime novel and ghost story, and I’m really proud of it. I’d tell you the title, but I’m not yet sure it’s gonna stick – my agent and I have changed it a couple times already. With luck, you’ll hear a lot more about it soon. 

Why so serious questions questions:

What would be your desert island read? 

Just one? Sheesh. I suppose I’d go with JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL by Susanna Clarke. It’s long enough to entertain for days on end, and rich enough to provide a fresh escape each time I read it. Plus, maybe reading about the chilly English weather will keep me cool. 

Your favorite villain? 

There are so many to choose from – but I confess, the books I love best don’t tend toward heroes and villains in the traditional sense. So instead, I’ll pick one each from television and movies. My favorite TV villain is Alias’ Arvin Sloane. He’s so oily, so cruel, and so smart, he provided a lovely foil for the heroic Sydney Bristow. And my favorite movie villain would have to be True Romance’s Drexl Spivey, the white pimp who thinks he’s black. He’s vicious, feral, and – thanks to a brilliant performance by Gary Oldman – unbelievably funny. You can’t take your eyes off him when he’s on-screen, for fear of what he’ll do next. 

Whose hero do you wish you had created? 

I’m going to go a little outside the box on this one, and choose Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter Morgan – in part because I think the idea of a serial killer who hunts other serial killers is lightning in a bottle, and in part because I think both the books and the television series (while entertaining) squander some of that character’s potential. Obviously, questions of morality are front and center in my own writing, and I think I could push Dexter in some interesting philosophical directions. It seems a better hypothetical use of my time than imagining myself writing subpar Philip Marlowe or Sherlock Holmes novels, don’t you think? 

Sam (who truly loves studying) or Dean (who truly loves pie) Winchester? (I always found some similarities between the Winchester and Sam and I'm not the only one as it seems...) 

I’m going to use this question to get a little something off my chest. I used to watch Supernatural, back in its monster-of-the-week days. But then I stopped – not because I didn’t like it, but because they started telling stories that had a lot in common with this book of mine called DEAD HARVEST that my agent was shopping. Fast-forward a few years to when the book finally comes out, and all the sudden folks everywhere are saying my book sounds a lot like Supernatural – or the TV show Reaper, which also debuted after I finished it. The fact is, we all got to the same place via different routes, with no knowledge of what the other writers were getting up to. Maybe now that I’ve got a few Collector novels under my belt, I can go back and catch up. 

Back to your question, I’ll say this: I’d rather hang out with Dean Winchester, but I’ve got more in common with Sam. Sadly the things we have in common don’t include good hair or impressive-for-a-bookworm musculature. 

More importantly: which kind of pie ? Oh, I love all kinds. But if I had to pick a couple favorites, I’d say pumpkin, rhubarb, blueberry, buttermilk (which is really more of a tangy lemon curd), and key lime. 

========

To follow Chris on Twitter or his blog

About The Collector series: Sam gave away his soul to save his wife. Now he's collecting others' soul. But he remembers what it's like to be human and what were his values so he follows his instinct more often than his orders, which puts him in situations where it's difficult to know what's right to do and who he can trust. 

The Ghost Riders of Ordebec

by Fred Vargas

Vintage Books (25 mars 2014)

ISBN-13: 978-0099569558

448 pages - 16.99 $

I discovered Fred Vargas - a French author known around the world who has received the International Prize Dagger Award in 2013 for this novel - after reading several books by Patricia Cornwell... Vargas, you like it or not (I rarely heard mixed reviews about her!) And personally the Adamsberg's wacky and offbeat style, after the scientific rigor of Scarpetta, was sheer bliss! I also appreciate that her stories are often related to fears or old stories (fear of the wolf in Seeking Whom He May Devour, of the plague in Have Mercy on Us All). This time, it's about a legend about the ghost riders...

The blurb

France's bestselling crime writer, and three-time winner of the CWA International Dagger, sends the unorthodox Commissaire Adamsberg far outside his jurisdication in a chilling tale of evil-doers who disappear after visitations from a band of ghostly horsemen. 

'People will die,' says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters. She has been standing in blazing sunshine for more than an hour, and refuses to speak to anyone besides Commissaire Adamsberg. Her daughter has seen a vision: ghostly horsemen who target the most nefarious characters in Normandy. Since the middle ages there have been stories of murderers, rapists, those with serious crimes on their conscience, meeting a grizzly end following a visitation by the riders. 

Soon after the young woman's vision a notoriously cruel man disappears, and the local police dismiss the matter as superstition. Although the case is far outside his jurisdiction, Adamsberg agrees to investigate the strange happenings in a village terrorised by wild rumours and ancient feuds.

What I think of it

We meet back in this novel with the brigade lead (or not too lead actually) by Adamsberg. Vargas knows how to create very credible characters despite their caricatural flaws. There's the Commandant himself, a kind of evanescent UFO in the police world but also the nerd Danglard, Veyrenc who speaks in alexandrine, Retancourt a nonstandard cop including in size or The Ball - the cat that spends his time sleeping and that is carried to his food - and all the others. Their flaws make them endearing and humans, They're not super cops, they're not cops who drag their past like some cannonballs. We can feel that Vargas likes all her characters, so that in spite of their flaws or perhaps because of their flaws, we appreciate them.

The story is also well done. Adamsberg is conducting three parallel investigations, one who drags him in Normandy in the footsteps of the Lord of Hellequin and his deadly riders that designate who will die next. The designated fall one after the other and Adamsberg finds the culprit thanks to a detail he banged into without understanding. I confess that until the end, I didn't know who was the killer, because Vargas, nonchalantly, leads us by the nose, throwing in front of us the most likely suspects and leaving in shadow the identity of the murderer until the denouement.

What I also like about this book is the atmosphere and the off-the-wall dialogues - often due to Adamsberg who speaks as he thinks... and thinks differently, leaving his colleagues - and us - in the fog but who thinks in a very personal and effective logic in the end. An extract in which Adamsberg mixes the suspect Christian Clermont in Paris and the dead guy in Normandy Mortembot :

- Blue striped costume for Christian. You see? Not brown.

- No.

- So why did I thought that Mortembot's jacket was blue?

- By mistake.

- Because he changed Danglard. Can you see the link now?

- Frankly, no.

- Because I knew, deep down, that Christian had changed. As well as Mortembot.

- And why Mortembot has changed?

- But we don't care about Mortembot! Yelled Adamsberg. One would think that you deliberately don't understand.

- Do not forget that I almost died under a train.

- It's true, briefly acknowledged Adamsberg.

In a nutshell

A fast reading, not complicated but much less simple than it seems. We let ourselves be carried away by the crazy atmosphere of the book and we end up being had by the conclusion! I give it 4/5.

My thoughts on closing the book : He's a really great guy that Adamsberg!

The Heavens Rise

by Christopher Rice

Simon & Schuster Canada, Inc.

Kindle edition : 14.99 $

336 pages

I had that book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I thought the blurb was promising and him being the son of his mother... I expected a great book, full of mystery, voodoo, bayou and such things that delight me in Anne Rice's books (I know, it's stupid, good writing is not genetic... but hey, one can hope right?)

The blurb 

It’s been a decade since the Delongpre family vanished near Bayou Rabineaux, and still no one can explain the events of that dark and sweltering night. No one except Niquette Delongpre, the survivor who ran away from the mangled stretch of guardrail on Highway 22 where the impossible occurred…and kept on running. Who left behind her best friends, Ben and Anthem, to save them from her newfound capacity for destruction…and who alone knows the source of her very bizarre—and very deadly—abilities: an isolated strip of swampland called Elysium.

An accomplished surgeon, Niquette’s father dreamed of transforming the dense acreage surrounded by murky waters into a palatial compound befitting the name his beloved wife gave to it, Elysium: “the final resting place for the heroic and virtuous.” Then, ten years ago, construction workers dug into a long-hidden well, one that snaked down into the deep, black waters of the Louisiana swamp and stirred something that had been there for centuries—a microscopic parasite that perverts the mind and corrupts the body.

Niquette is living proof that things done can’t be undone. Nothing will put her family back together again. And nothing can save her. But as Niquette, Ben, and Anthem uncover the truth of a devastating parasite that has the potential to alter the future of humankind, Niquette grasps the most chilling truths of all: someone else has been infected too. And unlike her, this man is not content to live in the shadows. He is intent to use his newfound powers for one reason only: revenge.

What I think of it

I really loved the eerie atmosphere. For that, I was not deceived: we're in Louisiana, with all its charms, its secrets, its carnival, its so peculiar atmosphere that's so easy to fell for. The beginning of the book (or more likely its 2/3) is all about the setting. There's not a lot of action, its more about a secret you'll be aware very soon but without knowing its content. We follow some characters through some events that show you there's a problem (a big one at that), that something is wrong. You understand rapidly that it's something about the bayou, you think its voodoo, then you discover it's more scientific than you thought. All in all the build-up is very well done: there's a lot of tension, you don't know which one will be hurt, you don't know what'll happen. 

About the characters. We follow different people without really becoming attached to them. The story is about Niquette and her two friends, Ben and Anthem. Something big happens to Niquette, she's changed for ever yet she's not very present in the book.  Ben and his boss are those we see more often and in a sense they can be seen as the main protagonists. Ben is the character I liked the most, probably because he's more present. Anthem seems a nice guy but we don't see a lot about him or not enough to really feel for him. The bad guy in the story, Mitchell, is so purely bad without any real reason, that it's difficult to hate him! As for Niquette, that's a pity she's not more present throughout the book, seeing that she's kind of the reason for all the violence! I wish the author had written his characters as well as his setting, it would have been terrific!

About the story, as I said, the tension is well built along the plot, it's increasing slowly but surely. You're captivated by the atmosphere, by the setting, by the secret and you let yourself go with the story, thinking hoping that the end will be astonishing. That's where I was disappointed. The end is too easy, too quick, too not credible. I can't say why cause I'll give the plot but I'm not sure I'll accept as easily that killing people to gain an ability is no sweat...

In a nutshell

Christopher Rice is a good writer and his world can be bewitching but the book lacks of credible explanations and of an end that makes sense. Those who prefer an eerie atmosphere in a book will be delighted, those who prefer a strong story might not like it. I give it a 3/5. 

R.I.P. VIII wrap up

October is just finished and with it, the R.I.P. VIII challenge.

Carl, who created the challenge tells us that : 

"R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII had nearly 200 participants this year and we read and reviewed nearly 500 books, short stories and films/tv shows. I’m sure there were many more things read and viewed that were not reviewed."

My participation, albeit modest, was to read four books and I succeeded the challenge, even though I had to change one book at a time due to a writing too small to read on my Kobo mini ...

Here's what I read:

Alex by Pierre Lemaitre, a truly master in writing and suspense!

L'enfant des cimetières by Sire Cedric, truly disturbing but quite good.

Don't look back! by Karin Fossum, some very smarts dialogues, a parochial attitude faithfully transpose.

The Clearing by Dan Newman, an enchanting island, an endearing character, sprinkled with voodoo.

Without being chauvinistic, I admit that my preference was to Pierre Lemaitre whom I discovered with great pleasure. I particularly appreciated the quality of the writing, a literary style very well mixed with slang. Not to mention the story that'll chill your blood, the turnovers of contexts and feelings (you'll truly be manipulated by Pierre Lemaitre even in your feelings!) In short, a great book!

I did not take part in the TV series challenge, but I also discovered during this period Whitechapel. Excellent, well-acted, an English humor as we like it, the investigations incorporate very famous cases in England (which allows to know more of the detective story in the UK). In short, a gem that I am glad to know.

One thing is for sure, this was my first challenge (with the exception of the Goodreads challenge to read 30 books this year... okay, my first specific challenge) and I loved it. I will do it again next year, for sure!