The Black Wolf
by Louise
Penny
Our theme
for my book club in February was “Enemies” and this book fits that bill to a T.
The question of just who the enemy is, and if there are multiple, reverberates
throughout the book.
This is
the 20th book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. Most of
the series builds on previous story lines, but Penny does a great job of
building in back information so that you won’t feel adrift if you pick up this
book out of order.
In the
last book, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his senior agents Beauvoir and
Lacoste thought they had uncovered the extent of a terrible plot to poison the
water of Montreal and arrested the responsible parties. But is there more? Did
they get the right person? Was that even the end game?
The three
are in agreement, We have a problem.
As
Gamache’s deafness and the ringing in his ears continue to plague him, clouding
both his communication and thinking, he has just two notebooks and a few
numbers on a tattered map of Quebec to lead him forward.
The three
dig deeper into the evidence they have and what it means. They discover there
are deeper layers beneath the dark web of the Internet. Down deep where the
conspiracies thrive and multiply, there is more danger than they could have
anticipated. And more meanings in the notebooks and map that a young biologist
left behind for them.
Chief
Inspector Evelyn Tardiff is clearly
meeting with crime boss Don Joseph Moretti and he is clearly involved in every
bit of crime his syndicate can control, but where does she really stand?
The prime
minster seems to know more than what he is saying and a friend in the U.S.
military is also struggling with what to tell them without becoming a traitor
to his own country.
Thankfully,
Gamache is surrounded by the warmth and love of all his friends and family in
the Quebec village of Three Pines. There is definite comic relief here from the
elderly poet Ruth Zardo and her swearing duck, Rosa. There’s a parallel quest
for clarity in the form of painter Clara Morrow as she attempts to create a
painting that captures the moment just before something momentous happens.
As
Gamache’s hearing suddenly becomes clear like a moment of insight, the
revelations come in fits and starts and backtracks, like a rabbit running
around a snowy hillside.
For me,
this book tethers us in the village of Three Pines as it explores the darkest
part of what conspiracy theories and power brokers are doing. I love the style
and pacing of the book. It’s a relaxing read even though the story has a great
deal of tension.
I would
highly recommend it and I even might read it again, or at least listen to it on
audio.
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