Redheaded Reviews: How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

When we left off in the last book, Chief Superintendent Francoeur had managed to turn Jean-Guy Beauvoir against Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete and gotten him back on prescription drugs. Jean-Guy is filled with hatred for Gamache for leaving him behind in the factory raid and for other things that Francoeur has created out of thin air. Gamache has been investigating not only who released the attack on the factory recording but also what Francoeur is really up to and who he works for. They got the Pierre Arnott who was the Chief Superintendent at the time and tried to blow up the dam at the factory that Gamache stopped. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. Gamache is working with Superintendent Therese Brunel and her surgeon husband, Jerome, who is an amateur hacker to dig into the Surete files to find what is being hidden.

Meanwhile, Myrna Landers of Three Pines asks Gamache to look into the disappearance of a friend of hers who was supposed to come down to visit but never showed. Constance Pineault had come down before and made friends within the village, especially the irascible Ruth Zardo the poet who always has a drink in her hand and a barb on her tongue. It turns out that Constance was really Constance Ouellet one of the famous quints born back in 1934 to a farmer and his wife who feared to never have children. Constance was the last of them. And when Gamache goes to check on her at her house he finds that she has been murdered. Who would murder a woman who had no friends and no real family left? A woman who kept to herself and valued her privacy? Was it because of her being a quint or was there another reason? Are all the quints really dead or was one of them murdered?

Detective Inspector Isabelle Lacoste cannot believe that Gamache is letting the homicide department be overridden by people who mock him almost to his face and who don't do their jobs while he seems to not be doing anything about it. Jean-Guy is being sent on one raid after another pushing his nerves to the limit to try to send him over the edge while they are giving him various new drugs to take along with the Percocet. No one knows how much longer he will last. Gamache and his group must now go into their planned hiding in order to continue their work. Gamache will bring someone from the past that no one is sure whether or not they can trust them but they have no choice at this time because they need them.

This one is a real nail-biter. Will they all make it out alive? Can the town of Three Pines be protected as they seek to protect Gamache and his gang? Can Jean-Guy be saved or is he lost forever down a rabbit hole of drugs fueled by hate and anger? What is Francoeur really up to and who is his mysterious backer? Louise Penny finally delivers on something that has been building for many books now and boy does she. The mystery, while a bit incidental is still quite interesting in its story of a life of quints and how things went wrong. This book won the 2014 Left Coast Crime Calamari Award and was a finalist for the Agatha, Golden Dagger, Edgar, and Macavity Awards. Penny really knocks it out of the ballpark with this one not just with the mystery but with the emotional depth of the book. This book is a must read. I give it five out of five stars.

Quotes

“I think you might try leading your life as though it’s just you. If he comes back and you know your life will be better with him, then great. But you’ll also know you’re enough on your own.” Clara smiled. “That’s what Myrna said too. You’re very alike, you too.” “I’m often mistaken for a large black woman,” [Armand] Gamache agreed. “I’m told it’s my best feature.” “I never am. It’s my one great failing,” said Clara.

-Louise Penny (How the Light Gets In p 104)

Fear created its own reality.

-Louise Penny (How the Light Gets In p 113)

“Coach?” asked Gamache, walking beside her. “It’s French for asshole. Coach.”

-Louise Penny (How the Light Gets In p 134-5)

But there wasn’t just kindness there. Armand Gamache had the personality of a sniper. He watched, and waited, and took careful aim. He almost never shot, metaphorically or literally, but when he did, he almost never missed.

-Louise Penny (How the Light Gets In p 207)