Of words and deaths
Julia Bartz’s first published novel, The queen of darkness carries with enjoyable bite the frustrations of the author for which the two previous manuscripts did not find a taker. Understand that this effective gothic thriller takes place, from depth to surface, in the literary world. The readers, like the characters, are locked up in the middle of winter in a lost mansion in the Adirondacks where a mysterious novelist (a kind of feminist JD Salinger) who dabbles in horror (a kind of feminine Stephen King) invites five young women dreaming of publish a first book to participate in a writing seminar. But the author turns out to be a manipulative monster who enjoys stirring up rivalry between the candidates. Until they start falling (dead). About halfway through the novel. Afterwards, it all goes downhill. It changes seamlessly in tone and rhythm. The “claustrophobic” gothic becomes gory and disheveled. But far from uninteresting.
Sonia Sarfati
The queen of darkness
★★★
Julia Bartz, translated by Laurent Boscq, Sonatine, Paris, 2024, 446 pages
Love at first sight
The least we can say is that the murder weapon, in Black as the storm by Sonja Delzongle, is most original. Lightning. Which, on this summer solstice day on the island of Ré and its neighbors, fell on seven people installed and prepared by one or more people who did not wish them well. Captain Max Fontaine will lead the investigation. While taking care of his broken heart: the beautiful Elsa has just abandoned him. Before being murdered. And here he is promoted to the rank of suspect in this affair. That’s a lot for a single character who, what’s more, is difficult to get behind. Max was born in a female body and transitioned, that’s not a problem. What is one are his motivations, which one of his colleagues described as “an insult to transgender people”. Welcome and necessary comment, which alleviates (a little) the discomfort felt during many pages. Fortunately, at the heart of the novel is a plot leading down little-trodden paths and this murder weapon is thunderous.
Sonia Sarfati
Black as the storm
★★★
Sonja Delzongle, Fleuve Noir, Paris, 2024, 555 pages
The book of all sorrows
Frédérique Santinelli and Guillaume Volta are having difficulty recovering from their last investigation (see The lambs of dawn from the same publisher) when a strange package appears on Santinelli’s front steps. It’s a demonic book: The Tityos calendar describes 23 different ways to kill a woman and the literature teacher quickly understands that the coded manuscript is intended for her. She spots the name of a woman wanted for a long time by the police and then contacts her friend Volta, an investigator with the Sûreté du Québec… and soon they both plunge into an incredible story. The case, which refers to Greek mythology as well as the worst deviances, quickly turns out to be trapped on all sides and the investigators will uncover enigmas which can only be resolved in a future book. Over the years, Steve Laflamme has developed a style of writing that places him somewhere between Benoît Bouthillette and Patrick Senécal. This is already remarkable, but we can assume that the best of his work is yet to come.
Michel Bélair
The book of all sorrows
★★★ 1/2
Steve Laflamme, Libre Expression, Montreal, 2024, 418 pages
The final list
The work of Agatha Christie continues to inspire filmmakers and novelists and those who know her will recognize here an intriguing revival of Ten little niggers (renamed There were ten of them few years ago). However, there is no island here on which the future sacrifices would find themselves: rather a list, received by each of the designated victims. It contains nine names that the police cannot connect even as the bodies pile up across the United States. We will follow Jessica Winslow, who is part of the FBI… and the famous list, but she too cannot find a link that could explain her presence there. Then finally, a faint possibility takes shape after Winslow’s disappearance: revenge would be at the source of this vast operation planned down to the smallest detail. But who avenges whom? And why ? Peter Swanson keeps the suspense going until the very end thanks to nervous writing whose rhythm is very well rendered by the translation.
Michel Bélair
Nine lives
★★★
Peter Swanson, translated by Christophe Cuq, Galmeister, Paris, 2024, 406 pages