Three Pines #20
Louise Penny’s The Black Wolf is a very direct sequel to The Grey Wolf, the previous instalment in Penny’s Inspector Gamache series. Much like its predecessor, The Black Wolf is firmly in the political thriller genre, not usual for most of the series, and dives deep into themes of environmentalism, Canadian and American politics, and the current state of our corner of the world. It is, in other words, incredibly topical and sees Gamache and Penny’s familiar cast embroiled in large scale conflict once again.
This time, following the water poisoning plot of The Gray Wolf, Gamache and his team are left with few allies and few answers. He and his two most trusted officers, Jean-Guy and Isabelle, know there is something else coming on the horizon – something even worse than what they faced before. However, they have little to go on and ever fewer people they know for sure they can rely on. The main victim of the last book, a biologist who risked his life to get what little information they do have to Gamache, still looms large in this instalment. His cryptic notes and the search for his missing laptop are all they have to go on.
The plot itself builds slowly, complicated and threading many characters into the action, many that have been only minor before. Though it truly takes off when a body is found, the book earns those building blocks. Each clue laid down pays off down the line, and each character introduced has a reason to be there. Of these, the caustic reporter Shona is a favorite – her history with Gamache and no-nonsense attitude pulled him in from her first moment on the page. It’s clear she’ll have ripple effects on the rest of the series in the future.
This instalment is very much about the plot and the puzzle, laid out before the reader. It’s essentially part of a duology that really won’t be enjoyable if you haven’t read The Grey Wolf first. And, much as I enjoyed this book, it may not be for all Penny readers. Much of the series charm comes from these well loved, lived in characters – the gruff, but good hearted Jean-Guy, the resilient Isabelle, the relentlessly kind Gamache. Three Pines, too, is a village that is also a character in itself.
Here the village, and its quirky cast, are just cameos. There are dead bodies, but we don’t get to know much about them before they are off the page. They serve the story. It’s a story with a lot to say, and it says it well. Just know that this isn’t a cozy world beneath the covers – it’s too close to our own to be comforting, even if there is definite comfort to be taken from its harrowing conclusion. — Margaret Agnew