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.

An evil mind by Chris Carter

Series: A Robert Hunter Thriller
Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books; Reissue edition (September 27, 2016)

Suffice to say that the author has plenty experience in the field of criminal beheviour... to understand that this book (and the series it seems, although I haven't read all the books) has a touch of truth that makes it very realistic!

Carter has written a book that'll grip you and never let you down from the beginning till the end. And I shall add... till the end of each chapter as he instills that kind of mini-cliffanghers that make it so hard to close your book to go to work (cause, of course, you won't close it for something as trivial as sleep!)

I never read anything by Carter, so I didn't know Hunter, his character. But a thing is certain, he can wrote some very interesting and believable characters! I really liked Hunter and I feel like reading his other books to better know him. The FBI team was great too and Folter, the evil minds, is so manipulative and sick, it's a pleasure. 

For the more septic of you, just read the first chapter... you'll see how good Carter is and what kind of read you'll envoy! And for those of you who like shows like Criminal minds ou film like Silence of the Lambs, just go for it! But beware, that book is not for the faint hearted... some description are gruesomes.

What's the story?

A freak accident in rural Wyoming leads the sheriff’s department to arrest a man for a possible double homicide, but further investigations suggest a much more horrifying discovery—a serial killer who has been kidnapping, torturing, and mutilating victims all over the United States for at least twenty-five years.

The suspect claims he is a pawn in a huge labyrinth of lies and deception—but can he be believed?

The case is immediately handed over to the FBI, but this time they’re forced to ask for outside help. Ex-criminal behavior psychologist and lead detective with the Ultra Violent Crime Unit of the LAPD Robert Hunter is asked to run a series of interviews with the apprehended man.

These interviews begin to reveal terrifying secrets that no one could have foreseen, including the real identity of a killer so elusive that no one, not even the FBI, had any idea he existed—until now...

In a nutshell

A great book, a sick criminal, some twists you'll never see. It's a 5/5 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.

After the Crash by Michel Bussi

Hachette Books; 1 edition (January 5, 2016)
384 pages

I have heard repeatedly about Michel Bussi, the author who skyrockets in France, mainly through word of mouth. Michel Bussi is a fairly prolific author who already has his fair share of books.

I chose After the Crash, because the story was quite different from what is usually done: we do not seek the murderer but the identity of a baby! 

The book alternates between different views, different countries, different periods, which can stun a little when it is wrongly done but that's not the case here. Here, it gives more of a sense of urgency to find the answer to the question: but who is this child?

It's a theme that has always intrigued people I think: imagine a child who was raised in the wrong family. Here, one family is rich, but crazy, the other is poor, but loving. How does one know which one is the right one? Credule Grand Duke (just that name made me want to read this book!) a private detective in search of that answer, pays the truth with his life. 

Mark, the brother of the girl and who love that same girl, will do everything to find the identity of the sister he loves as a man. One can only hope for him that she's the child of the other family, the mad-crazy rich family, even if everything points to his own. 

And then the end comes to destroy all the tracks that you thought you had found. The end, as fast and brutal as the death of Credule Grand-Duc at the beginning, will throw you to the ground as fast as an unexpected newspaper article. We feel a certain sense of race against time (even if we only know why that race is so important towards the end) that ended up at a steady pace and a great twist. 

But what's the story? 

On the night of 22 December 1980, a plane crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is engulfed in flames. 168 out of 169 passengers are killed instantly. The miraculous sole survivor is a three-month-old baby girl. Two families, one rich, the other poor, step forward to claim her, sparking an investigation that will last for almost two decades. Is she Lyse-Rose or Emilie?

Eighteen years later, having failed to discover the truth, private detective Crédule Grand-Duc plans to take his own life, but not before placing an account of his investigation in the girl's hands. But, as he sits at his desk about to pull the trigger, he uncovers a secret that changes everything - then is killed before he can breathe a word of it to anyone . . .

In a nutshell

Am I glad to having discover yet another great French author! After the Crash reads in one enjoying sitting with a sense of urgency about the search of an identity that makes all the difference.

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.