Blood Wedding

June 27, 2016
Like an ingenious long con, this devious psychological thriller from Prix Goncourt–winner Lemaitre (The Great Swindle) promises a satisfying eventual payoff—but only to readers willing to persevere through a depressing first half centered on a protagonist who’s pretty hard to root for, despite the many tragedies in her young life. Down-on-her-luck Parisian Sophie Duguet becomes the subject of a nationwide manhunt, accused of cold-blooded murders—including the strangulation of the six-year-old she was caring for—which she has no recollection of committing. From there things swiftly worsen for the fugitive, who seems to be struggling more with paralyzing nightmares and other manifestations of what she interprets as mental illness than with evading capture—until a second main character, the mysterious Frantz, bursts onto the scene. His arrival turns everything you think you know about Sophie and the story so far on its head, setting up an intensely suspenseful, if wildly unbelievable, cat and mouse game.

July 1, 2016
Lemaitre introduces a cast of characters who would be right at home in the Bates Motel in this thriller about a disturbed woman and the chaos that follows her.Sophie is little Leo's nanny. Or she was. Sophie suffers from memory lapses, and when she awakens from her latest one, she finds that the boy has been strangled with one of her shoelaces. Leo's death is only one in a long list of tragedies that the young woman has suffered. She lost her husband following a series of terrible events precipitated by a car accident and her mother-in-law's death after she fell--or was pushed--down a staircase. But though Sophie is convinced she's lost her mind, she's smart enough to know that Leo's death will send her to a prison cell, so she takes off. Soon, she's the most wanted woman in Paris. Like the rest of Sophie's recent life, even her escape from the law isn't without plenty of drama. Her suitcase is stolen from the train station when she asks a woman to watch it while she goes to the bathroom; then Veronique, another woman who had been sitting nearby, invites Sophie to lunch at her place because she feels guilty. After having some wine with lunch, Sophie awakens from her latest blackout to find Veronique dead, too. But there is much more to Sophie's problems than meets the eye, and as she careens madly trying to escape the horror her life has become, another narrator, Frantz--whose path crosses that of the seemingly doomed Sophie--takes over. Told in four parts, the story of Sophie and Frantz is creepy, demented, and typical of Lemaitre's crime fiction: unpredictable in a deliciously depraved way. Readers may have a hard time getting through the earliest parts of Sophie's story, which are depressing in the extreme, but if they stick with it, they won't be disappointed. Atmospheric and chilling and packed with Lemaitre's trademark twists and turns.

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July 1, 2016

In Lemaitre's (Camille) adrenaline-charged stand-alone novel, Sophie Duguet is typically a gentle, quiet woman, but an increasing number of forgetful moments and bizarre behavior she can't recall has her doubting her sanity. She's unable to remember where she parked her car the night before, if she had really shoplifted from a local store, or whether she murdered the six-year-old boy in her sole care. The police have noticed that bad things happen to the people around Sophie, and while Sophie desperately tries to figure out what's happening to her, she also manages to evade a massive manhunt. In the process, she reveals herself as a great deal cleverer and more resourceful than anyone suspected. VERDICT The narrative is reminiscent of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl with numerous twists and turns as the story exposes layers of motives of the main characters. Highly recommended for all mystery fans.--Deb West, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA

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