When you are a big thriller fan, it is always an event in itself to discover a new author with a credible pen, a well-constructed plot and complex characters that you want to find in other investigations.
It must be said that this is not quite the first foray into the genre for Olivier Challet, who has published crime novels for young people alongside his work in the computer field for more than 10 years (with his series Max Enquête , at Boréal Junior).
The plot begins here with a first murder, that of a police officer found in Jarry Park, in Montreal, on New Year’s Day. Detective Lt. Jack Barral and his team begin digging into the victim’s past and private life to find who might have blamed him. The investigation becomes more complicated when a second murder is committed in Quebec, bearing the same signature, while nothing seems to link the two victims. The police are working hard, working overtime to catch the culprit before he strikes again. Their investigation will lead them to Gaspésie, accompanied by the biting cold of January throughout the novel.
The pace is exciting, we quickly get caught up in the game while the descriptions demonstrate a fine knowledge of police and forensic work. For his part, Barral wonders about his life while wandering the streets of Plateau Mont-Royal, exhausted by his shortened nights, demoralized by the stalled investigation, his mother’s fragile state of health and his broken commitments with his ex-wife and daughter. Oscillating between doubt and tenacity, he is one of those investigators of the caliber of Victor Lessard, SPVM police officer created by Martin Michaud. And if we trust this first title, it has all the potential to become the hero of a successful detective series.
