The Circle by Bernard Minier

Paperback: 496 pages
Éditeur: Minotaur Books (18 octobre 2016)

What's great when reading a second novel by an author is that you meet back with some characters and you get to know them, they are part of your circle of acquaintances (yes, yes, I made that joke!)

This is the second novel by Bernard Minier I read and I find it even better, though, I must say, I sometimes have a little trouble with the central character, Servaz, as I do not find him very realistic (or, if it is, I never had the opportunity to meet a person who quotes that often Latin or authors, even with my literature teachers!) 

Aside from that, helped by his team (very nice by the way), Servaz returns to the city where he was educated - and where his daughter is studying - for an investigation high in twists and discoveries about his past. One can only hope for a happy ending for Servaz, following the return of his childhood love. You'll come across a circle of student with very darkly dubious intentions and see hovering with a pleasant horror Julian's shade, the great villain from Frozen, Minier's first book. Minier also serves us a scathing critique of the political and academic circles without it turning around (the return of the joke, still not tired of it!). We move from one clue to action without a brake and it never gets boring!

What's the story?

June 2010. In the middle of a World Cup match, Martin Servaz receives a call from a long-lost lover. A few miles away, in the town of Marsac, classics professor Claire Diemar has been brutally murdered.

As if that weren t disturbing enough, Servaz receives a cryptic e-mail indicating that Julian Hirtmann, the most twisted of all serial killers, is back . . . and hitting a little too close to home. With death and chaos surrounding the small university town in southern France, where he was once a student and where his daughter is now enrolled, Servaz must act quickly.

With the help of detectives Ziegler and Esperandieu, Servaz will have to uncover a world of betrayal and depravity to connect the dots between the gruesome murders that keep reopening wounds from his past. Bernard Minier plunges readers once again into a perfectly constructed, dark, and oppressive atmosphere, driven forward by a gripping plot, pushing the limits of the genre."

In a nutshell
A fast reading novel with lots of twists.  A second book even better than the first one. It is a 4/5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.