Customer Reviews

Stone Council

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

 

 

"Diane Thiberge has just 48 hours, not a minute more." THE STONE COUNCIL starts off fast, and gets faster and more complex as things go along. Inexplicable things start happening, and people start dying.

I loved it. The plot revolves around a 30 year old ethologist who specializies in the study of predatory animals. This knowledge serves her well as we unravel the mysteries of who this killer is, why they are killing, why they kill in the creepy ways that they kill, and finally how Diane came to be in the middle of this story. Unraveling all that leads us to explore telepathy, psychokinesis and how the Soviet state funded research in these areas. In the process, we see Diane come to know herself.

THE STONE COUNCIL delivers everything you want in a thriller, down to the surprise revelation at the end that brings all the disparate plot elements together at last.

this is an unusual book and a very compelling read. the translation is superb. although originally written in french, it is mercifully lacking in froggy aspects. there is plenty of action and excellent characterisation.
i bought this book in paperback in switzerland, and observe that paperback editions are available there many months before they come out in the usa or england, which is odd.
the occult and the exotic are mingled without descent into the unconvincing. an astonishing scope of geography and ethnology is encompassed.
the only fault in the plot is the ridiculous notion that the bad guy would fix up an elaborate car crash to kill the little boy, when that task could have been done much more simply. also the author seems to believe, perhaps a french notion, that there are five states of matter instead of the classical three.
nonetheless these are minor criticisms in a truly imaginative thriller that is wonderfully engaging and very well written, though one wonders how much that is due to the translator's skills.

An assault victim herself when she was a teenager Diane Thiberge (Monica Bellucci played the role in the film version) is an ethnologist and a martial artist. She adopted an Asian child Liu-San, (she christened him Lucien), as part of her search for a meaning for life. When nightmares and Lucien's accident plunged Diane into another tragic path - a series of murders may have a relation to her adopted son, who might be a prey for supernatural forces.

Jean-Christophe Grangé is the author of unusual thrillers like Les rivières pourpres or Blood Red Rivers (film Crimson Rivers) and L'Empire des loups - Empire of the Wolves (made into film with the same name). His plots and unpredictable twists are a delight, and this novel is following the same path. However, there is a difference, unlike his previous works; Stone Council is progressing a bit slow. Which might irritate some readers but the thrill is there and Stone Council is still full of the unique Grangé touch. So I am giving full marks to this one.

Having also read Grange's first novel, I was not surprised at the rather bad translation from the French to American English which at times had me wanting to compose a few extra sentences merely to connect two otherwise seemingly disjointed thoughts. Like "Blood-Red Rivers", this novel defintely falls into the Jean-Claude Van Damme class of thriller, with a tough, world-weary protagonist who is never ruffled by weapon-wielding thugs jumping out from behind museum displays, a ghost town nuclear reactor mysteriously turning on full blast or life-long acquaintances stepping surprisingly into the role of first class Judas within the blink of a well-trained eye. None of this is really offensive; Grange's method of storytelling makes you want to believe in the improbable; his heroine, wild-life observer and martial arts expert with a twisted past, although a bit modeled on Angelina Jolie's Laura Croft persona, depicts a bizarre vulnerability beneath the outsider's aloofness. Her desire to adopt an Asian orphan, the premise which drives the story, is never fully explored, but nonetheless, provides a different starting point from the typical group of unexplained murders that usually jumpstarts this sort of book.

Grange weaves politics with violence and the supernatural to create a very different story that will definitely catch your attention. Unfortunately, I believe that the translation leaves the American reader groping for character motivation and a little more description when first encountering the streets of Paris, the provinces and the other more exotic international terrains. M. Grange, please insist that your translator have a better grasp of American colloquilisms.

Nevertheless, despite the rough translation, I do like Grange's storylines. They are different and unpredictable; the third person narration moves the story nicely; the French venue adds a foreign quality to the mystery which allows the reader to explore and ponder cultural differences. I would like Grange to examine the characters more from a flashback perspective. Instead of being told about Diane's teenaged tragedy, I would have liked to go back in time and experience it from her adolescent mind and then re-explore it from her more seasoned mindset.

This book started out with a great idea, but fails to build on it. The lead character comes across as hopelessly passive, and there is too much suffocating atmosphere and too little movement.

Apart from that, the translation from French is very peculiar. The author writes sentences like: 'the wind blew through the trees like a woman holding her skirts over an airvent' and 'the woman wore her cheekbones like other women wore high heels'. Not grammatically wrong, but it makes it hard to take the author seriously.

I thought this book was thrilling! I think you might agree. Read for yourself and you decide!