Madness of Crowds, Louise Penny, author; Robert Bathurst, narrator
When a scientist is booked to speak at a nearby college, at the last moment, right before the New Year, Inspector Gamache is assigned to protect the venue and the attendees. He is at a loss as to why he has been called up to do this, and he is confused about the unusual last-minute booking during the holiday season, especially since the lockdowns of the pandemic have just ended. When he learns how controversial the speaker is, he is even more shocked. He attempts to have the lecture canceled, but both the President of the school and the Chancellor dismiss his concern and refuse his request.
The speaker is a scientist who uses statistics to ignite interest, positive and negative, on the subject of Euthanasia. Her lectures are increasingly followed by anger, demonstrations and violence. The novel takes you to the lecture as the statistician attempts to prove that there is a moral obligation to care for the well, over the needs of the disabled, sick and aged who are draining the system of finances and resources, she believes unfairly. She says there is simply not enough to go around. The morality and ethical sides of the argument are explored but without really reaching a conclusion.
Euthanasia has been a controversial subject for my entire lifetime, and I expect will continue to be for many more lifetimes. Mercy killing for animals has long been an accepted practice, but not for human beings. The fact that assisted suicide has become acceptable, when once thought heinous, is spurring the conversation along. As the book explores the value of life and death, it explores the idea of who is truly valuable and who can be discarded. Who deserves life, and who deserves death? The discussion of Euthanasia grows emotional and intense. The issue of abortion rears its head as well as mercy killing. As the moral obligation of caring for the disabled, sick and aged is explored, so are the ethical concerns about having enough services to go around.
During the lecture, there appears to be an attempt on the scientist’s life, followed by audience panic which Gamache quells. An investigation follows which results in an immediate arrest, but shortly after, there is another victim. The scientist’s assistant and best friend is murdered. Are the two incidents related? Inspector Gamache will find out. He is still the calm and very considerate “lawman” .
Louise Penny seems to have gotten a bit lost in the weeds here. As she tries to be politically correct, presenting the issues from all sides, for and against, it grows confusing and tedious. As the Secrets are uncovered, an abundance of misdirection leads the reader in circles trying to figure out if the murder victim was killed because of mistaken identity or intentionally. Why would anyone want to murder the assistant of the statistician who was advocating euthanasia? The scientist’s past yields secrets that uncover possible suspects until they are actively investigating several.….the school chancellor, the asshole saint, Abigail, the speaker, Ruth, the poet, Steven, The Sudanese heroine nominated for a Nobel Prize, and even Jean Guy Beauvois, the inspector’s son-in-law and the Inspector himself. Each appears to have a possible motive. Everyone appears to be a suspect since everyone appears to have some involvement. It gets a bit silly. There are just too many tangents.
As this is all taking place, Reine Marie is investigating the drawings of monkeys which leads to an explanation of the theory of one hundred monkeys. It is the idea that eventually a tipping point is reached which brings about a certain reaction. Somehow, it involves a rogue scientist, an actual Canadian researcher, who had tortured his patients in order to study them, rather than cure them. He seems to have connections to “Three Pines”. Many of the characters were also strange bedfellows. All of them had secrets.
The problem with this book is that it went too far as it tried to gently cover controversial and/or progressive issues, without taking an actual stand one way or another. Jean Guy has a child with Down’s Syndrome bringing up abortion. The school chancellor’s husband has Alzheimer’s bringing up mercy killing. The scientist had a disabled sister, again bringing up euthanasia. The rogue scientist developed America’s black ops methods that are considered torture by some. The Sudanese immigrant loves her country in spite of its flaws and doesn’t wish to stay. Immigration issues are brought to mind. Regardless of how the reader stands on any issue, the book will not provide satisfaction or a decision.
I wondered if Penny was setting up the forthcoming novel with the polarizing Hillary Clinton, that is being heavily promoted at this time because this book definitely veered from her other books that did not waste words or leave the reader wanting. Whatever it was that caused this book to be “overcooked” and overly political, even if presented subtly, it should be avoided in the future if she wants to maintain her readers. Adding the name of a celebrity that the author supports, doesn’t make for a good novel.
The voice of the narrator, Robert Bathurst, brings all of the characters to life. From book to book in the series, he remembers the tone and personality of each one, so much so, that any reader who follows the series will recognize them immediately when he speaks. With that said, this book was not one of my favorites because the plot had too many tangents and the book rambled on unnecessarily, often with redundancies.