All The Devils Are Here

Such mixed emotions... I just finished reading the newest Inspector Gamache novel written by Louise  Penny, All The Devils Are Here.  I could hardly wait to get my hands on the book and dive in.  Then totally absorbed in the world Armand and Rene Marie as they travel this time to visit their children and grandchildren in Paris.  Then I stayed up until one o'clock int eh morning to try and finish the book because I could not wait to find out what happens at the end.  Now I am sad that it is over.. I keep playing over and over the ending scenes in my head, but I am sad that I will have to wait for another book to be written and published before I can visit with the Gamaches again.

As always Penny writes with beauty and a flair for poetry, human closeness and love that is astonishing.  As readers will tell you we have become attached to the characters in this series and feel like we know them personally.  So that toward the end of this book, even though I really thought things would turn out well, I cried as I read the feelings expressed between Gamache and his son, and between Gamache and his wife.

These books are categorized as mysteries and there are murders in each one, but it does not feel like you are reading a mystery when you are in the middle of these books.  They feel more like a great novel, with intrigue, suspense and relationships.

The Chief Prefecture of Police in Paris explains that he attended the funeral of his predecessor and when he went to the man's home after the cemetery and saw how he had lived he had second thoughts about his own future, "  I went back to their apartment.  It's a small two bedroom walk-up in the Eighteenth.  Neat, tidy. Orderly, like the man. And I saw my future. All the sacrifices, Armand.  My own.  My wife's. My children's. What we gave up for people who didn't notice and didn't care.  A two-bedroom walk-up."

These themes are much bigger than just a whodonit and a murder to solve, the plots have been getting more intricate, in each novel, and this time are even more current and relevant with the idea of money, power and lives at stake.  What is the price of a human life?  Would someone in power sell their soul for money?  When does a company need to make sure they are not harming the environment or the lives of the people and should their bottom line be more important than life?
These are not light topics.  This is an intense mystery novel!