|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Fresh on the heels of winning an unprecedented fifth Agatha Award, Louise Penny's latest novel brings to a head the bitter conflict that has been festering within the Sūreté between Armand Gamache and his nemesis, Chief Superintendent Francoeur. It is a contest of wills that reaches back decades, and before it is finished all involved will be forced to examine their allegiances and their priorities in life; for some will prevail while others will see their worlds dissolve before them.
As Christmas approaches Armand Gamache finds himself contemplating a life in crisis. His former friend and trusted subordinate, Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir, is still suffering the effects of being shot during a raid and remains heavily dependent on drugs to ease his pain. His relationship with Gamache's daughter Annie has dissolved, and she has asked him to leave their home. Despite their fifteen-year friendship Gamache orders his officers to have nothing to do with Beauvoir, who blames Gamache for his injury and comes to despise him. Moving over to Francoeur's camp, and ignoring the impact of the painkillers on his judgment and his ability to perform his job, Beauvoir prepares to lead yet another dangerous raid, this time on a local biker stronghold.
Meanwhile, Gamache's own life within the Sūreté has been far from tranquil. The always-borderline-dysfunctional Agent Isabelle Lacoste has been banished to the bowels of the Sūreté Headquarters to perform routine administrative chores, while the rest of Gamache's team has been gutted, dispersed into other units and replaced by the dregs of the department. Surrounded by officers who neither understand nor respect him, Gamache is only nominally in control. He summons Lacoste and together they set out to visit the tiny community in the Eastern Townships where he seeks to surround himself with friends.
Shortly after arriving in Three Pines, however, Gamache encounters his old friend, bookstore owner Myrna Landers. She tells him that a Montreal woman, Constance Pineault, had visited her recently and had promised to return, but hadn't appeared. Concerned, Myrna asks Gamache whether he would look her up on his return to Montreal, and he reluctantly agrees.
Gamache realizes that there are many reasons why the elderly woman might not have called her friend: she might have had a change of plans, or simply forgotten, or she might have become ill. So Gamache is not unduly concerneduntil, that is, he and Lacoste visit the woman's home, and peering through a window, see her lifeless body lying on the bedroom floor. She has been struck on the head with a lamp.
With Christmas looming and pressed for staff, the local Sūreté investigator accepts Gamache's offer to take over the case. The dead woman has her own story to tell, however, and it is a tale that stretches back over decades, in events that once brought global attention to Quebec.
The woman's death is not the only thing on the investigator's plate, however. He is obsessed to learn who had leaked to the internet the video of a police raid which had gone disastrously wrong. Headed by Gamache, the raid had resulted in the deaths of several officers and the wounding of others, including Beauvoir and Gamache himself, the event triggering his fall from grace within the Sūreté. Aware that his movements and even his conversations are likely being monitored electronically, Gamache and a small team of loyal colleagues gather in Three Pines to sort out the puzzles they face. It's an ideal location, since the isolated village exists in a sort of electronic black hole, with no cell phone or internet computer service. But while this gives them privacy, it's a double-edged sword: they will have to establish an electronic presence with the outside world if they want to survive.
Penny's title, HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN, is taken from a stanza in Leonard Cohen's iconic song Anthem, and like the song itself the novel is a genuine tour de force. With elements in a layered backstory extending as far back as her debut novel, STILL LIFE, Penny has devised an audacious and topical plot with a devilishly clever resolution to bring the saga to a compelling end. Since backstories are such an important element in her novels I wondered whether tying up all the loose ends signaled the end of the Gamache series. Not to worry: staunchly refusing to part with any tantalizing details, Penny nonetheless assured me that the series will definitely continue. One thing is certain: her many readers are sure to be delighted with HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN.
§ Since 2005 Jim Napier's reviews and interviews have appeared in several Canadian newspapers and on such websites as Spinetingler, The Rap Sheet, Shots Magazine, Crime Time, Reviewing the Evidence, January Magazine, and Type M for Murder, as well as on his own award-winning website, Deadly Diversions. He can be reached at jnapier@deadlydiversions.com
Reviewed by Jim Napier, August 2013
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
