Irene (Verhœven series)

Irene

Cover of Irene
Author	Pierre Lemaitre
Original title	Travail soigné
Translator	Frank Wynne
Country	France
Language	English
Series	Verhœven series
Genre	Crime fiction
Publisher	MacLehose Press
Publication date	March 6, 2014
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	398
ISBN	978-0-857-05288-9
Followed by	Alex

Irene (Camille Verhœven Trilogy #1) is a crime novel written by French novelist Pierre Lemaitre. The novel, though originally published in French in 2006, came to be translated to English by Frank Wynne ^[1] in 2014. It is the first book in the Camille Verhœven series by publication order but the second to be translated in English after Alex.

Daily Mail^[2] in a 2014 issue, referred to it as part of a 'new wave of crime fiction taking the world by storm'.

It was shortlisted ^[3] in the CWA International Dagger award 2014 and received positive reviews internationally.

Plot

Commandant Verhoeven is happily married, expecting his first child with his lovely wife Irène.^[4] . A series of unsolved murders start to put a strian to his relationship. With his personal life in shambles, he further has to deal with the press. Then Verhoeven makes a breakthrough discovery: the murders are modeled after the exploits of serial killers from classic works of crime fiction and that the killer has killed before. With time running out, Verhoeven realizes that all along he's been the unwitting dupe in The Novelist's plans to create an original work of his own.

Reception

• "Irène gets off to a fast start and races pell-mell to a jaw-dropping conclusion . . . Mr. Lemaitre fires away in a prose style that's like a flurry of short jabs to the solar plexus."―William Grimes, The New York Times ^[5]
• "Verhoeven is a one-of-a-kind detective . . . Not for the faint of heart, this gritty thriller will appeal to fans of Chelsea Cain, for the grisly details, and Fred Vargas, for the French setting and iconoclastic sleuth."― Kirkus Reviews
• "French literary sensation Lemaitre earned comparisons to Stieg Larsson (and a 2013 CWA International Dagger Award) with Alex, a gruesome and twisty mashup of police procedural, thriller, and psychological horror. Its newly translated predecessor might be even better . . . [Irene is] hardly predictable, as [Lemaitre] pushes the pulse-quickening plot toward an ingenious-and shocking-finale."―Library Journal

References