Irene

The Commandant Camille Verhoeven Trilogy

By: Pierre Lemaitre

Narrated by: Peter Noble

For Commandant Verhoeven, life is beautiful: He is happily married, expecting his first child with the lovely Irene.

But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder of unprecedented savagery. Worse still, the press seem to have it in for him - his every move is headline news. When he discovers that the killer has killed before - that each murder is a homage to a classic crime novel - the fourth estate are quick to coin a nickname: The Novelist.

With both men in the public eye, the case develops into a personal duel, each hell-bent on outsmarting the other. There can only be one winner - whoever has the least to lose....

©2014 Pierre Lemaitre (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Quirky, brutal and not for the faint-hearted, it is crime fiction of the highest class.... Superbly constructed and executed, it puts Lemaitre very close to Ellroy's class. If you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down." (Geoffery Wansell, Daily Mail)

" Irene, is... clever, as the diminutive Parisian detective Camille Verhoeven is initially confronted with a murder scene so horrific that it puts him in mind of Goya's Saturn Devouring his Son." ( Irish Times)

"[ Irene is] hardly predictable, as [Lemaitre] pushes the pulse-quickening plot toward an ingenious-and shocking-finale." ( Library Journal)

Gripping and surprising

Disturbing and fast-paced, this first book in the French crime trilogy plays well with the book within a book trope, making it feel fresh if unsettling. A nice change from British crime fiction (which tends toward the classic or the cozy) and Scandinavian (which can seem unrelentingly depraved), this French iteration relishes in the arts (with themes of visual arts and literature).

Our main character is Commandant Camille Verhoeven, and as a protagonist he breaks away from the typical police leads in a simple way -- his stature. Standing less than five feet tall, his vantage point itself is a departure, as is the way his height impacts how colleagues, witnesses, the press, and suspects interact with him. His quarry is a truly diabolical and well-read serial killer who meticulously plans and carries out his macabre crimes. Mixed into this well-worn serial killer hunt are discussions of class and education, childhood and family, success and love.

The entire book moves well, with more than enough gory crime scenes and clever tête-à-têtes. And there is a fairly big twist toward the end that makes you wonder how much of what you read to that point is accurate. This twist makes a reader feel somewhat toyed with and acts as a parallel to how the killer toys with the police force in general and Camille in particular. The ending comes after a breathless chase (both literally and liturature-ly) and it is terrible to behold.

Napoleonic Inspector & Lovely, Pregnant Wife Irene

First, a Warning: Do NOT read Alex (the 2d in the Verhoeven trilogy, but the first translated and published in the States) before reading this, or even the publisher's Irene-spoiler description of *Alex*. Regretfully, I did; else this review would be longer.


*Irene* is a hyper-intelligent, noir, (quasi-meta) thriller with a quite original (and short) protagonist Commandant.

Second Warning: This novel is not for the weak of stomach or heart.

***Highly recommended.***

Excellent narration

Very gruesome but the evolution of the plot was different than other crime/detective stories. The resolution left me unsatisfied, but overall an engaging read with great narration.

The mystery is non-existent.

The suspense when it finally happens is predictable. The investigation naive. The beginning of this book is boring fluff and takes forever to gain any traction. it is a very monstrous and grotesque marathon that crashes into a final scene.. then vanishes back into mundane torture before it abruptly ends.

Not nearly as good as Alex

Maybe this book lost a lot in translation. I could not identify with the characters, and found the story line to be contrived, over the top and melodramic. It lost the sense of suspense with so many cliche characters and predictable plot twists. I read the book 'Alex' by the same author; that book suffered from many of the same flaws. The ending of Alex salvaged the book somewhat, but 'Irene' kept getting worse. The ending was sufficiently stupid, and didn't tie together the sloppy storyline or unbelievable characters. Overall, a real disappointment.

Too gruesome

The characters were great, but the story was too gruesome. The narrator not only read in an extremely affected manner, he made every character sound staggeringly affected. Maybe one person might speak thus, but not the entire cast of characters. I won't go here again, though I'm sorry, since I did like the characters.

Irene

I tried to delete this book in just the first chapter but being new to you system audio book I slipped to the last chapter and let this publication, that I give one star due to the filthy language and oppessivre plot line. Sincerely, Scott Duane Troyer

Disappointing with Bland, 2-Dimensional Characters

What a disappointment after hearing much praise for this author. None of the characters were fully realized. I never became invested in anyone's fate. This was especially noticeable in the title character, Irène. There are so many accomplished crime fiction writers whose characters come to life on the page. Maybe this author improved in subsequent books but I cannot recommend Irène.