T;LDR: The sixteenth novel in a well-written series, All The Devils Are Here managed to bring the cozy mystery feel to Paris in yet another fabulous Armand Gamache thriller mystery tale.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
I loved a lot about this book, but especially that the Gamaches’ are more at the heart of the story than many of the others from the same series. I especially liked how cozy Louis Penny made Paris feel. For that, and the interesting mystery, I gave this book 4.5 stars.
The Plot
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is in Paris with his wife in preparation for his daughter, Annie’s, impending birth and to visit his son, Daniel, as well. While there, they have dinner with his billionaire godfather, Stephen Horowitz. After leaving the restaurant, Stephen is hit by a van. Armand is positive it was deliberate.
What follows is an investigation that impacts his son-in-law and ex-colleague, Jean-Guy, his son Daniel, and the secrets his godfather kept hidden for many years. Once a dead man is found in Stephen’s apartment, Armand must question everything he knew about his godfather, his friends, and his family to get to the truth.
Can Armand unwind a secret so large in a town where, while he has friends, he has little power? Or will he be too late?
What I liked & liked less
When I first found this series, I read it voraciously. But after the 12th or 13th book, I found myself tiring of it. Finding it routine, pat, over the top with its intricacies and conspiracies. But I recently read a review (brief, no spoilers) for the latest book in the series and it wasn’t just the usual raving, but specifically talked about how this book was the best in a long time.
And I wanted to read it, but knew I needed to catch up first. Enter All The Devils Are Here. I didn’t want to read a book set in Three Pines, which is the small town the series is centered around, so I didn’t pick up the book that came after the last one I read. But this one, set in Paris, would put me in a different place, with different villains and secrets. And it focused on Gamache’s family and showed one of his biggest flaws – his relationship with his son.
That’s my biggest issue with this character. He is almost godlike in the loyalty he inspires, the confidence he carries, the surety in his actions and decisions. But his son does not see him that way. Daniel sees him as someone to shut out, not confide in. Push away, not pull closer. And that, and the setting, fascinated me enough to read this book.
And I’m glad I did. I remembered why I inhaled the previous volumes in the series. Louise Penny has a way of describing things, of making a scene full of head hopping feel natural and smooth. She is very good at the omniscient third person, even though many writers and editors would say how she hops from one person’s POV in a scene is too much or goes against ‘good writing rules.’ I’ve always liked it, which is potentially why I included it in my own book… and then drastically edited most of it out.
Back to this particular volume, however. I liked how she turned Paris, a thriving metropolis, into a small town, by having her characters visit their favorite locations again and again. Much like you do when you base yourself in a foreign city time and again, you find your favorite restaurants and coffee shops, only daring to venture further afield if something interesting tempts you. And so has Louise Penny used this to create an intimate setting in a large city. And it works really well.
The plot is her usual twists and layers upon layers. Well-written, well-laid out. The clues are all there, if you know what to look for. I read this novel knowing how it ended (couldn’t help myself), so I knew what to look for and still missed a few. It is again a large conspiracy plot, one thick in history and industry. There’s a small part of me that would love for some of her mysteries to be a bit smaller, a bit more mundane, but I guess that wouldn’t fit with the intricacy of the series she’s built up around her characters.
I love the characters, I always have, so I have little to say about them. In fact, this is a great entry into the long-running Three Pines series, but a nice shift from the people of Three Pines to the family at the heart of it all – the Gamaches.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
A strong, complex plot. A cozy feel in the heart of Paris, complete with a lot of food being eaten and making a reader hungry as she reads. And the Gamaches, with Armand and Reine-Marie at the heart of it. If you love a descriptive, layered, character-driven thriller/mystery, then the Three Pines series is for you. If you want to pick and choose your books instead of reading the entire series, this particularly book may be for you.
There are moments of previous books referenced, but most are well-explained and/or not relevant to the story unfolded here. I think I started the series in book three and missed very little, but still chose to go back and read those before I moved forward.
In short, I really liked this book and may just – slowly – finish it to the latest entry. After all, good books and good food have one thing in common: they should be savored and enjoyed slowly so that the memory of them lasts longer than the moment in time you enjoyed them. For all this and more, I gave this book 4.5 stars.
About the Author
LOUISE PENNY is the author of the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling series of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels. She has won numerous awards, including a CWA Dagger and the Agatha Award (seven times), and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. In 2017, she received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. Louise lives in a small village south of Montréal.
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Originally published on Feedium.