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Crime novel set in Paris (The power of books)

21st April 2014

Irène by Pierre Lemaitre. Novel set in Paris.

Author Pierre Lemaitre is a relative newcomer in the UK to the genre crime thriller set in Europe – excellently translated into English by Frank Wynne. His main character Commandant Camille Verhoeven is a flawed, very determined yet physically challenged DCI who supervises members of the Brigade Criminelle in Paris.

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Taking the novel on the flight to Paris

It is not a novel for the faint hearted, it is truly GRUESOME in parts, and the imagination of the author runs riot, splattering his readers with gore, visceral body bits and murderous drive. It is a prequel to Alex which we reviewed when it was first published in the UK. It is indeed strange that Alex was published first because it gives quite an indication of what is to come in this, the sequel, Irene; there are references to Verhoeven’s change in personal circumstance, and that knowledge without doubt did detract from the impact of this novel. Unfortunate that. Therefore do read Irene first and Alex second.

The concept of the plot is a brilliant one. A murderer is on the loose who with great attention to detail seems to be recreating murder scenes from some of the great horror novels, American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis for one – to Camille and his superiors this feels hugely sinister and surely that can’t be for real? But if this is the case, where might a murderer be going with such an elaborate plan?

The mutilation of women in the book is hard going, yes, it is bloody and sickening. There are elaborate and visceral descriptions that are a challenge to the reader. But it finds its stride and comes full circle to a reasonably satisfying conclusion.

In the novel it would have been fascinating to have a psychological profile as to why the murderer embarked on this path, what his personal experience might have been that turned him into such a flamboyant and theatrical stager of death. And that perhaps is a subject worthy of another LeMaitre novel.

0857052888.01.ZTZZZZZZ1782060790.01.ZTZZZZZZSo, to round off… we were so struck by these covers, which are REALLY eye-catching, vraiement non? So we asked the publishers Maclehose to give us a little background about how they evolved. Voilà, their response:

“Developing the cover concept for ALEX was among the most challenging design assignments of recent seasons. Everyone in-house was entranced by this dark novel and its ambivalent heroine, and American designer Allison Meierding wanted to honor the title character by creating a cover design that captured the allure, danger, and mystery that surrounds Alex Prévost. After trying dozens of approaches, Allison was struck by the UK marketing campaign and its “Who is Alex?” tagline. It crystallized something, namely: Unlike most “whodunits”, the central mystery of the book is really about trying to figure out the motivations of this beautiful young woman who behaves so unpredictably and, for most of the book, so inexplicably. There is also a mystery wrapped within a mystery, leaving the reader repeatedly faced with the question: Is Alex a victim or a criminal? By having a “layer” of the cover torn away revealing the heroine’s name–with the ripped section obscuring the eyes–Alison was able to convey simultaneously the violence of the plot and the intrigue about the heroine. Who is this beautiful girl and what secrets does she harbor?

“The main differences between the UK and North American approaches to this cover and to the others in the Verhoeven series are threefold, though the concept is the same. The designers in each market have chosen different images and used different color schemes and fonts. On the cover of the book IRENE, the violent tear is placed over the mouth of the woman’s face, suggesting her helplessness, but the image of the woman, the background color, and the typography are different. The final novel in the series, CAMILLE, will also be a variation on this theme of life disrupted by violence, though with an important twist, since Lemaitre ingeniously flips the reader’s expectations once again in the final entry in the series. To say more about the third cover concept would give away too much about the book, so apologies for being coy, but you’ll have to wait until the cover reveal along with the rest of Lemaitre’s growing crowd of admirers.”

Thank you to Maclehose Press for sharing this insight into how these book covers evolved. You can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

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