It was literally impossible to put down this tasty little thriller, tinged with black humor, which we read in one go as it is so gripping. Jacqueline has lived on the Mastigouche River for thirty years. She has only one neighbor opposite, Madeleine, widow and septuagenarian like her and whom she is content to greet from afar. When she announces her intention to sell her house, Jacqueline is terrified of the idea that strangers are moving in and disturbing her peace. It is then that she develops a Machiavellian plan to kill her, just to delay the sale of the property. But a sergeant from the Sûreté du Québec in search of challenges comes to snoop around and risks compromising everything.
Great crush on this novel which keeps us in an anxiety-provoking tension similar to Silence, by Dennis Lehane. The author is a striking new voice of the “Southern Noir”, a sub-genre of thriller that is increasingly popular among our neighbors to the South. Ike Randolph, a black man who has worked hard since his release from prison, learns that his son was shot and killed with his husband outside a bar in Richmond, Virginia. When the police investigation stalls, the father of the husband, stereotype of the white and alcoholic redneck, offers Ike to find the person responsible themselves. Between these two men whom everything opposes, in the heart of the land of Confederate flags, an alliance is formed as explosive as it is unexpected.
We may not travel very far with this thriller, but we certainly have fun in the company of the investigator Bonneau and his young assistant Lamouche, heroes of two other titles by the author. Bonneau is the kind of grumpy old cop, resistant to change, who everyone makes fun of and who insists on teaching his colleague his strange lessons of the trade. The duo here investigates the explosion that caused the death of a disliked politician. The only clue left by the perpetrator of the attack is a strange symbol reminiscent of a cat. But the police quickly discover a possible link with an explosion that occurred in a bar in the Village. The dialogues are funny and the investigation is just as interesting.
Don’t look for Elizabethville on a map. This fictional place, title of the author’s previous novel, is located somewhere in Western Canada, in the province of New Shetland. Detective Sergeant Joyce Bell, who is of mixed race, is having a rocky start to her new job as chief of police in Elizabethville. She knows that she represents “the Indian on duty”, but she wants to help her people and decides to investigate the cases of missing young girls. When the names of influential figures in the region come up in her investigation, she is forced to withdraw. So she chooses to go it alone. A thriller that goes off the beaten track, with a heroine of a new kind who is not afraid.
Jean-Christophe Grangé continues his foray into historical thrillers, which began with Les promises. This time, we are in France, in 1968. The student uprisings are in full swing, a young woman is found dead. His two friends ally with the investigator and find themselves up to their necks in the case that leads them to India – the dream destination of all idealistic and Buddhist intellectuals of the time. But the trip quickly moves away from the psychedelic dream and reveals its share of horrors and violence. Then begins a descent into hell that remains faithful to the lineage of the author’s previous novels: dark and bloody. And as always with Grangé, it’s grandiose, provocative, scary and nightmarish.
We look forward to each release of a new investigation by Norwegian detective William Wisting – and we are rarely disappointed. Now he has to find a dangerous criminal, convicted of murder, rape and torture, who managed to elude police surveillance and escape when he had to lead the investigators to one of his victims, buried in the forest. A race against time to find him ensues, but an internal investigation into the leak complicates Wisting’s search. A classic detective novel that makes us discover each time a little more the south of Norway and its vast expanses.
Former British reporter Fiona Barton made a remarkable entry into the genre a few years ago with her three brilliant thrillers featuring journalist Kate Waters. What a surprise to discover a brand new and equally endearing heroine, Inspector Elise King. She is recovering in what she believes to be a quiet little town by the sea. But behind these calm waters hide dark events that disturb her tranquility and push her to dig. A detective novel impossible to put down and an investigator to find, reminiscent of police officer Erika Foster by Robert Bryndza.
Ragnar Jónasson is unrivaled when it comes to constructing spellbinding behind closed doors, camped out in isolated and remote places in Iceland. With his series around the young policeman Ari Thór or his trilogy of The Lady from Reykjavik, the recipe works and we inevitably get caught up in the game. In this new thriller, four young people find themselves stuck in a hunting lodge because of a snow storm. In turn, they recount the events that preceded this terrifying night and transformed a relaxing stay into a nightmare. An Agatha Christie-style enigma that will surely please those who loved her excellent novel L’île au secret.
Australian Jane Harper is now one of the essential authors of the detective novel after having published four remarkable titles, including two with Inspector Aaron Falk. We find the character with enthusiasm in this investigation around the disappearance of a young mother. Small towns all have their secrets and the one where the plot is set, in a wine region in southern Australia, is no exception. With tact and caution, Aaron Falk tries to go back to the source without offending the sensibilities of those close to the deceased. If there is only one, it is the book to read to travel and take a real Australian sunbathing.
After The Magic Box, published last year, the Swedish Camilla Läckberg has once again teamed up with the mentalist Henrik Fexeus to write this four-handed novel. This time around, Inspector Mina Dahbiri enlists mentalist Vincent Walder to find a missing boy in a trendy area of the capital. Worried by her own worries, she must lead the investigation head-on before it’s too late, while this reunion makes them realize what a good team they are. A plot built according to the rules of the art, with many parentheses on Swedish society which make it the novel intended for long-time fans of the Scandinavian thriller.
In the far north of Sweden, amid the spectacular scenery of Sarek National Park, a helicopter ambulance evacuates a woman found hypothermic and showing signs of strangulation. The story alternates between her interrogation, led by Inspector Suhonen who tries to understand what happened to her, and her own memories, two months earlier, in Stockholm, while preparing for this hike with her partner, her best friend. and her new boyfriend. Little by little, we discover tensions that make us doubt each other’s intentions. A remarkable first novel and a psychological drama of great intensity.
As a highlight of this thriller, we are warned from the outset that it is inspired by real events, which only makes it all the more disturbing. We begin this journey at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, where a woman is tracked down by dangerous men. A Portuguese woman comes to her aid, but is also kidnapped. While her husband seeks to trace him, aided by an attaché from the United States Embassy in New Delhi, Madina studies Chinese and communist ideology in a predominantly Uyghur region of China. Modern history, current events and geopolitical issues come together in these two fascinating intrigues that unfold in parallel. Change of scenery guaranteed.
This breathless novel takes us to the moors of Brittany, near the Monts d’Arrée. One night, the car carrying a small family stops on the way, after hitting something. The father and the son disappear in the dark, leaving the mother alone who manages to reach the nearest gendarmerie, after having been pursued by a mysterious man. The next day, no trace comes to corroborate his story. Lieutenant Maëlys Mons, a Breton from Finistère, leads the search, while the mother decides to carry out her own investigations on her side; but strange visions she sees in her dreams make her doubt her sanity. A breathtaking incursion into the “black country”, its silence and its icy solitude.
As always, with the “Queen of Black Tartan”, we travel to the heart of Scotland and its politics; but the new investigation of its heroine Karen Pirie takes us this time to London, Dublin and Paris. The commander struggles to get into the rhythm of her new life and her first serious relationship since the death of her companion, killed in service. His late Sunday morning, however, lasts the time of a coffee, when a colleague calls him with a case for the Historical Investigations Unit. With her stubbornness and her discernment, this formidable policewoman is once again striving to unearth the secrets of the past in this new essential title.
With Franck Thilliez, crowned master of the French thriller, we plunge directly into the action and the suspense knows no downtime. Commander Sharko, Lieutenant Lucie Henebelle and the team of the Paris Criminal Brigade – “the 36” – lie in wait for a monster with the profile of a necrophiliac killer. But from the start, their intervention turns into a nightmare and the policewoman Audra Spick, five months pregnant, is seriously injured while the suspect throws himself in front of a train. Everything seems to be converging for the worst in this noir novel where, in the end, an even more horrible affair takes shape than what the police imagined.
Inspector Hugo Boloren, hero of two other detective novels by the author (Douve and Terra Nullius), has left his post in the French police. His mother is sick, his partner is back in his life and he is looking for a passion in zythology (the study of beer). When a French secret service agent contacts him about a downed undercover agent in New York, Boloren is forced to fly to the United States to investigate his death, accompanied by his girlfriend who serves as his cover. He recounts in the first person his dive behind the scenes of an illustrious theater where CIA agents do not let go of him, while taking us into the background of international espionage.
Seventeen is the nickname of a secret agent who no longer has any illusions about his profession. He is the 17th in his line and must eliminate his predecessor. In this novel where he speaks directly to the reader, he has decided to put the cards on the table. Between the different stages of his mission in Minnesota, South Dakota or Utah, he evokes his reminiscences of Berlin and Beirut and stirs the memory of the past, when he had not yet killed anyone. . A thriller for all fans of John le Carré spy intrigues, whose tone recalls his last title, The Spy Who Loved Books.
In recent years, the Swede Stefan Ahnhem has carved out a place for himself in the Scandinavian thriller landscape with his successful series around the investigations of Fabian Risk and Astrid Tuvesson. This fourth title is reminiscent of his penultimate, The Ninth Grave, as murders follow one another in southern Sweden and neighboring Denmark. The characters are emblematic of the genre – an alcoholic crime squad leader whose addiction threatens the solving of the case, and an investigator torn between family life and work obligations – bringing an interesting complexity to the plot. The author’s background as a screenwriter is never far away, either, which is not to displease lovers of sensationalism.
The least we can say is that Captain Katel Marelle by Michel Bussi is not lacking in humor. When the body of a man is found in the Meuse valley, she finds a way to curse the temperature and grumbles because it was not discovered on the Belgian side, which would have made her a corpse of less on the arms. But the man, whose suicide is suspected, has three driving licenses with different names – like a “James Bond of the Ardennes”, baptizes the police officer. Bitter and scathing, she sets out to meet the three women with whom he had led three independent lives for decades, as a cleverly constructed enigma looms.
Catherine McKenzie is an Anglophone from Montreal who has already published a dozen bestsellers in the United States. The heroine of her new title is a young journalist named Jessica Williams. At Newark airport, she meets a woman with whom she shares her name and date of birth and ends up exchanging personal information after a few drinks. Returning from vacation, the “real” Jessica Williams notices that her bank account has been emptied and immediately suspects the woman from the airport. She decides to find her with the help of her private detective friend and discovers other victims with the same name in neighboring states. In the end, who will fool whom? An intriguing and surprising novel.