Customer Reviews

Seeking Whom He May Devour

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thank The Economist for reporting on Fred Vargas (a woman!) late last year and inspiring me to pick up this book. A most engaging and genuinely funny narrative voice, a sympathetic detective hero quirkily reminiscent of Simenon's great Maigret, myriad clues you don't know are clues, and a terrific surprise solution to the mystery -- gentle reader, ya shouda known!

As usual, a good book by Vargas with all the usual elements. These include a very thorough knowledge of medieval themes that shine through and a masterfully written storyline. Unfortunately, also a lack of knowledge in biology that shines through with some necessity in a book involving wolves.

For once, the translation is better than the original. One of the main characters is a Canadian and Vargas lets him use different English expressions in almost every sentence he says. Unfortunately, her English seems to be weak and the expressions are almost always used in the wrong context, sometimes with hillarious results. This excellent translation into English has of course also "translated" the faulty expressions into the correct ones.

This is not one of Vargas's best books, but it still will keep you reading without being able to put it down.

Man eating wolves in the Mercantour National Forest in northern Provence menace the community. Off beat characters, an enjoyable plot and an ending worth waiting for in this short fast-paced mystery.