Review: "The Brutal Telling" by Louise Penny

Quick Summary

Type: Novel, book 5 of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache

Genre: Crime, mystery

Back Cover: "Chaos is coming, old son. 

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. Everybody goes to Olivier's Bistro--including a stranger whose murdered body is found on the floor. When Chief Inspector Gamache is called to investigate, he is dismayed to discover that Olivier's story is full of holes. Why are his fingerprints all over the cabin that's uncovered deep in the wilderness, with priceless antiques and the dead man's blood? And what other secrets and layers of lies are buried in the seemingly idyllic village? 

Gamache follows a trail of clues and treasures--from first editions of Charlotte's Web and Jane Eyre to a spiderweb with a word mysteriously woven in it--into the woods and across the continent, before returning to Three Pines to confront the truth and the final, brutal telling."

Read Time: 2 days

Rating: 4.25 stars

Review

This was quite good. The mystery was properly confounding with a simple solution. It was brave of Penny to make the murderer someone so beloved in both Three Pines and by readers.

Unfortunately, that's part of why I felt I couldn't give the book five stars. I know it's petty, but I really, really didn't want Olivier to be the killer. I was hoping for something more complicated, that didn't see a beloved character become a villain both in terms of murder and personality.

There are obviously books after this, and maybe they find out that Olivier isn't the monster this book turned him into. I hope so because I really, really loved Olivier and Gabi's dynamic.

Still an excellent story, even if the end disappointed me.