|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Admirers of quirky, atmospheric whodunits will revel in Vargas's creative second mystery featuring Chief Insp. Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg (after 2005's Have Mercy on Us All). A series of savage attacks on sheep leaves the countryside near the French Alps gripped in superstitious fear, as locals suspect that an unnatural creature resembling the legendary Beast of Gévaudan is responsible. The inspector, keeping a low profile to protect himself from a would-be assassin, is drawn into the mystery after the killer turns to human prey, starting with a woman who has suggested that a werewolf was at large. While the abundance of fair-play clues (and the absence of a large pool of suspects) will enable most experienced genre readers to anticipate the solution, the unusual cast of characters and off-beat humor should help Vargas win new fans. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
The second Chief Inspector Adamsberg mystery to appear in the U.S. draws on the same mix of cozy characters and dark mystery that drove last year's Have Mercy on Us All. The focus this time is divided among Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the Maigret-like chief inspector with the French police nationale, and his former lover, Camille, who left Adamsberg at the end of the previous novel and is now living in a small village in the Alps. Trouble starts when it appears that a very large wolf is attacking sheep; then a woman is also killed, and rumors about werewolves begin to spread. Camille and two of the dead woman's friends are convinced the culprit is a man, not a wolf, and set off to trap him. Reluctantly, Camille agrees to call Adamsberg for help, and this merry band of eccentrics careens through the French Alps, their circuitous route suggesting Adamsberg's inimitable investigative technique: "an unending kaleidoscope of hunches and surmises that inexplicably gave rise to undeniably first-rate results." This is one of those rare series that will please both cozy fans and hard-boiled types. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky and Enjoyable Mystery, Dec 20 2008
By Lucinda Surber "Stop, You're Killing Me!" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Seeking Whom He May Devour: Chief Inspector Adamsberg Investigates (Paperback)
Seeking Whom He May Devour (French 1999, English 2004) is set in the French Alps. The villagers at first believe a rogue wolf is responsible for some sheep savagings, but when a woman is killed in the same manner, rumors of a werewolf begin to circulate. Soliman, the woman's young adopted son, Watchee, her ancient head shepherd, and Camille, a young musician recruited to drive the sheep lorry, head out in pursuit of a loner who disappears immediately after the murder. When the trio realize they are in over their heads, Camille contacts her old friend Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg for assistance. The solution of the mystery is clever and unexpected, but the true charm of this book is the eccentric road trip which brings together four vivid and unique personalities: Soliman creates fables to explain reality, Camille reads The A to Z of Tools for Trade and Craft for relaxation, Watchee lives and breathes sheep, and Adamsberg floats in a cloud of intuition, waiting for the facts to settle into an understandable pattern.http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/V_Authors/Vargas_Fred.html
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic French police procedural, Nov 6 2006
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Seeking Whom He May Devour: Chief Inspector Adamsberg Investigates (Paperback)
In the Southern Alps-Maritimes section of France, four sheep are killed at Ventebrune; nine at Pierrefort. The locals insist it is the brutal work of a feral pack of wolves led by a gigantic beast like none ever seen before. They believe this beast will turn to devouring humans soon.At Les Ecart five sheep belonging to Suzanne Rosselin are killed and three others badly wounded. Canadian Lawrence Johnstone works with wolves at the Mercantour National Park; he investigates the sheep killings and knows Suzanne through his live-in lover Camille. Suzanne accuses hermit-like Monsieur Massart of being a werewolf, but she dies when the giant beast attacks her. Johnstone thinks Suzanne was close to the truth, but Massart is not a supernatural creature, but has trained a wolf to do his killings. The local police still believe a large wolf is the culprit while everyone else concurs with the late Suzanne's theory of a werewolf on the prowl. As other people die, Commisaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg begins his inquiry though he is unhappy that his former lover Camille is here with the Canadian. He scans the police reports until he finds a clue that makes him believe he knows exactly what is happening.
SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR is a fantastic French police procedural starring an intelligent eccentric commissaire and a delightful support cast though support is a loose term in this superior thriller as Jean-Baptiste enters the fray later than usual for a hero. That will not matter as readers will join the locals debating who or what is the killer, wolves, werewolf, or human predator. Fred Vargas provides a tense gripping tale that readers will fully appreciate from start to finish.
Harriet Klausner
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Tasty, Bloody Tour de France, Jan 26 2009
By Avi Ewer "Curmudgeon" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Seeking Whom He May Devour: Chief Inspector Adamsberg Investigates (Paperback)
I grew up enamored with sophisticated detective stories of British origin and loving the blunt crime stories styled by American authors. Now, I am engrossed by the settings and character of recent European crime fiction.I am captivated by the historical details of Reverte, the peculiarities of several Scandinavian sleuths, the landscapes and approaches of various Italian procedurals and the whole foreign, make that alien, mental terrain being laid out before me.
Another reviewer has outlined the plot and described the characters of this work. Thankfully, I didn't read much about it, because it was such a delight to be brought into the story by this brilliant author. Ms. Vargas is masterful in her evocation of the people and places, fears and superstitions of the French Maritime Alps. She is equally adept at moving the plot along, devising events to keep the reader off-balance, alert and eager to learn if his deductions are conclusive. Even more, her use of language (wonderfully translated) crafts dazzling phrases, passages and paragraphs that make the scents and sights of the crimes, the discomforts of the setting and the psychology of the characters almost transcend this medium.
About three quarters of the way through the book, I decided I had fallen in love with Ms. Vargas. My one fear, as the story developed, was that the tale would reach a silly or simplistic finale. I was torn between avoiding the finish or hurrying to it like an on-line correspondent looking to meet an email-mate. Fear not, she finished with a flourish that reinforced my romance.
Forgive me for cutting this short, but I have come late to the work of Fred Vargas and I have other novels to discover.
Actually, I have already set about filling in the past of Chief Inspector Adamsberg, but I felt I had to share my enlightenment. As I said, I came late to the work of Ms. Vargas. Please, don't make that mistake.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
