Tag: france

Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette

A short read but a book with so much to unpack. Follows Aimée a killer and master manipulator who arrives in a new town and integrates into the local upper classes and plays them off each other resulting in a deadly showdown of blackmail and revenge.

I enjoyed the book and the plot moved a long nicely, the first half was great at setting the scene but then the book just came to a crescendo too quickly. It would have been nice to flesh out some of the backstory of the locals and of Aimée too. Everything just happened too fast once the shit hit the fan regarding the corruption and poisonings. This book would have benefited from an extra 50 pages.

A good noir novel though, and I am curious if there are any adaptations of it.

An Enemy In The Village by Martin Walker

An enjoyable read and addition to the series. A bit low on action seeing several vendetta’s against France’s favourite policeman with a very active trouser snake. This one centre’s around a suicide of a local business woman and the fall out that follows. Not too much of the crime until the climax.

I felt with this book it was setting up the next stage in the Bruno series with the introductions of new characters, and the closure of some relationships. It will be interesting to see where it goes next.

As ever the setting and cuisine are the stars of the show, if only St Denis was a real place. I would happily love to park up at Bruno’s with Balzac on my lap and spend the evening.