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It's Boxing Day in the freezing Quebec village of Three Pines. The locals are out watching the annual curling match (you know, that weird sport played on ice with big stones and brooms) when the most unpopular inhabitant, CC de Poitiers, keels over dead. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called in to investigate - and is a tad disconcerted to discover that the victim's big, gloomy house holds unpleasant memories for him from a previous case. And it soon becomes clear that people were virtually lining up to kill CC, so unpopular was she with both her family and people in the village. Gamache has problems of his own. It looks like someone is trying to undermine him with the powers that be. And Agent Yvette Nichol is back on his team, despite their serious differences in the past. DEAD COLD is the second book from Louise Penny, and it's a very strong offering. There are plenty of references back to STILL LIFE, and it did feel like a disadvantage not to have read it, particularly when it comes to the past history between Gamache and Nichol. If you think PD James puts Adam Dalgliesh on a pedestal, you might want to proceed with some caution in DEAD COLD, as Penny at times portrays Gamache as some sort of saint, complete with doggy-eyed hero worship from his colleague Jean Guy Beauvoir. I hasten to add that Gamache is a generally convincing character and you do admire his manners and persistence. If you're irritated, though, by writers unable to grasp the concept of point of view, then Penny will rapidly have you grinding your teeth. It might not bother some readers, but it drives me demented. I don't understand why some writers can't see that if you shift your focus within one paragraph then readers will have their work cut out trying to settle on who's talking/thinking. The book's strength is its highly-impressive world-building. You really do believe that you're part of the bohemian population of that freezing village. Penny has a large cast, but she juggles them confidently and gives them adequate time to speak for themselves. DEAD COLD showcases a selection of fascinating, complex characters, set amidst a landscape that feels all too real. It's a story I enjoyed reading until one bizarre incident threatened to throw me out of the whole book. It involves an exchange very late on between two of the characters which added nothing to the plot or to what we needed to know about them. It had the strong whiff of an author over-keen to share her religious faith with the reader. Whatever, it was unnecessary, intrusive and very out of place.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, October 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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