The Grey Wolf: A Novel: (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, Book 19), Louise Penny, author; Jean Brassard, narrator
Whew, listening to this novel was a chore. There is a new narrator and so his interpretation of the characters. It deviates from what was, heretofore, normal for me. Armand, usually introspective, philosophical and gentle, is arrogant, violent, gruff and authoritarian. If Penny is planning to change his personality and the direction of the novels so that they are more oriented to the run of the mill thriller than her usual quiet and calming philosophical approach to life and crime, she may lose some of her tried and true readers/listeners.
While the book is good, and has some similarities with the previous novels, and some recognizable old characters as well as new ones, and while it holds one’s interest because it twists and turns in a multitude of directions which makes the reader keep reading and guessing, it is confusing and difficult to keep track of the themes and the characters, so perhaps if you are listening to the book, take notes.
The plot is seemingly about domestic terrorism and a possible attack on the water supply of Canada. It seemingly involves organized crime, the cloistered Monks who reside in a remote area of France and hold the recipe to produce a specialized liqueur called Chartreuse, corrupt government officials, moles in the law enforcement agencies, suspicious scientific studies, missing laptops and notebooks, environmentalists running amok, unexplained murders and even more! So, take your pick, and then thank the author who summarizes all of the events, at the very end, so that the threads knit together. Without the summary and the reader’s copious notes, the unearthed secrets, renewed old vengeances, rushes to judgment, and misplaced loyalty and trust issues arising in every place that the investigation and investigators travel, the story would simply not come together. Perhaps in print, the book would be easier to follow, but the characters are many, the locales are varied, and the action spans two continents.
Who is behind the sinister plot to murder so many innocent victims? Are they “do-gooders” or terrorists, corrupt politicians or climate change hawks? Your guesses will go in circles, and in the end, not every question will be resolved, which means there is probably a sequel coming. Perhaps this is the forerunner of a new series that takes the reader in a different direction. Armand Gamache is getting older and more fragile. Is the author planning to phase him out and create a new hero? Who will it be, Guy Beauvoir, Daniel Gamache, Isabelle Lacoste? Will it move out of Three Pines? Her books have taken on a more “woke” approach, and with that, they have also gotten bogged down in minutiae and extraneous dialogue. I hope she returns to her original Inspector Gamache character, one less violent and angry and more like the soft-spoken, kindly, philosophical Inspector Gamache that we are used to reading about in the warm and fuzzy village of Three Pines.
I think that Sometimes it is not a good idea to fix what isn’t broken, but I will reserve judgment until the next book.