The Three Pines community faces a deadly case in this unforgettable and timely thriller

Book blurb

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in the small village of Three Pines in Quebec. Someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. When he finally answers the call, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That’s only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin THE GREY WOLF. At first they seem small – a missing coat, a note for Gamache reading “this might interest you”, a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list – but then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching. A threat unlike anything they’ve seen before.

My thoughts

Penny sets out at the centre of the book a tense and terrifying scenario of a crime that combines the lust for power with the use of terrorism in the form of a threat targeting Québec’s water supply. It is truly horrifying to consider the terrible consequences such a crime would have. This gripping narrative alongside the investigation into the murder of a man who, under some rather peculiar circumstances, Gamache had just met with, the other investigative threads that the wider team are working on and the ongoing character storylines simply reel you in and immerse you in a beautifully complex, compelling and engaging story.

As always the Gamache/Three Pines series gives the reader plenty of information into what Gamache and his team are doing, how the investigations are being conducted and what is happening with each of the three main characters in this story – Gamache, Beauvoir and Isabelle – and does this clearly and succinctly. There is a wonderful sense of place to all of the Canadian, Italian and French scenes with Lacoste spending much of her time in Europe tracking down witnesses. There is a real sense of urgency and fear in what becomes a race against time whilst the three of them are having to overcome difficulties which, especially when besides each other they have no idea who can and cannot be trusted, feel almost insurmountable.

In amongst the investigations the community of Three Pines, the wonderful characters that readers have come to know and love are integral to that part of the book which alludes to the overarching themes of love, family, honesty, of good and evil bringing a much needed sense of comfort to both the characters and the reader as each realise the enormity of what is happening and the consequences should Gamache, Beauvoir and Lacoste fail.

The Grey Wolf draws to a close with the investigation providing dramatic scenes of mayhem and death. Other investigators and the prosecutors are left to arrest and charge those responsible for and involved in the political machinations, the diabolical plans and the murders. So Armand, Jean Guy and Isabelle are left to recover both physically and emotionally. However, even with the conclusion to the investigation in The Grey Wolf and much to Gamache, Beauvoir and Lacoste’s dismay the ending is a real cliffhanger. Whether that means the next book will continue on with this storyline or it waits to resurface in a later book we will have to wait and see!

Louise Penny has the ability to draw you into the world of Three Pines and Armand Gamache with her lyrical style which, for those who have read the previous books, captivates you almost before you begin to read. The Grey Wolf is no exception to this. Indeed, the anticipation is as alluring as the reading experience becomes.

Louise Penny, unusually, took two years to write The Grey Wolf and the resulting book has made the wait well worthwhile. I truly enjoyed The Grey Wolf and I’m very much looking forward to reading the next book.

Thanks

Huge thanks to the publishers Hodder & Stoughton, for providing an ebook of The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny via NetGalley.

Information

Published: Hodder & Stoughton | 31st October 2024 | Hardcover £20 | ISBN-13: 9781399730525 | 432pp

Buy: AmazonSmileUK | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Bookshop.org (USA)| Hive.co.uk | Your local bookshop | Your local library

Author

Louise Penny is an international award-winning and bestselling author whose books have hit number one on the New York Times, USA Today and Globe and Mail lists. Her Chief Inspector Gamache novels have been translated into thirty-one languages and have sold over 18 million copies worldwide. She has received the Ordre National du Quebec and the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. In 2021, she co-authored the standalone thriller State of Terror with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Louise Penny lives in a village south of Montreal.

Further information/follow

Louise Penny: website | on Facebook

Books

Key characters from the Three Pines community

Armand Gamache head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec. Reine-Marie Gamache librarian and archivist, and Armand’s wife. Jean-Guy Beauvoir Armand’s second in command at the Sûreté du Québec, and his son-in-law. Annie Armand and Reine-Marie’s daughter. Isabelle Lacoste co-second-in-command at the Sûreté du Québec. Clara artist, Ruth poet, Myrna bookstore owner, Olivier bistro co-owner, Gabri Olivier’s partner – runs the B&B. Monsieur Beliveau runs the General Store and Sarah runs the Boulangerie.

Still Life | A Fatal Grace | The Cruelest Month | A Rule Against Murder | The Brutal Telling | Bury Your Dead | A Trick of the Light | The Beautiful Mystery | How the Light Gets In | The Long Way Home | The Nature of the Beast | A Great Reckoning | Glass Houses | Kingdom of the Blind | A Better Man | All the Devils Are Here | The Madness of Crowds | A World of Curiosities

Hangman (Chief Inspector Gamache and set in Three Pines – literacy novella) published by Grass Roots Press (Amazon)