{"id":6765,"date":"2025-10-23T09:22:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T16:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=6765"},"modified":"2025-10-23T09:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T16:22:47","slug":"louise-penny-the-black-wolf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/louise-penny-the-black-wolf\/","title":{"rendered":"Louise Penny: The Black Wolf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Pines #20<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Louise Penny\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>The Black Wolf\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is a very direct sequel to\u00a0<\/span>The Grey Wolf,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>the previous instalment in Penny\u2019s Inspector Gamache series. Much like its predecessor,\u00a0<\/span>The Black Wolf\u00a0<\/span><\/i>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\u2019s familiar cast embroiled in large scale conflict once again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This time, following the water poisoning plot of\u00a0<\/span>The Gray Wolf<\/span><\/i>, 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.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s clear she\u2019ll have ripple effects on the rest of the series in the future.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This instalment is very much about the plot and the puzzle, laid out before the reader. It\u2019s essentially part of a duology that really won\u2019t be enjoyable if you haven\u2019t read\u00a0<\/span>The Grey Wolf\u00a0<\/span><\/i>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.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here the village, and its quirky cast, are just cameos. There are dead bodies, but we don\u2019t get to know much about them before they are off the page. They serve the story. It\u2019s a story with a lot to say, and it says it well. Just know that this isn\u2019t a cozy world beneath the covers – it\u2019s too close to our own to be comforting, even if there is definite comfort to be taken from its harrowing conclusion.\u00a0 —\u00a0Margaret Agnew<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Pines #20 Louise Penny\u2019s\u00a0The Black Wolf\u00a0is a very direct sequel to\u00a0The Grey Wolf,\u00a0the previous instalment in Penny\u2019s Inspector Gamache series. Much like its predecessor,\u00a0The Black Wolf\u00a0is 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 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1868,184,81,100,2322,182,1970],"class_list":["post-6765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-inspector-gamache","tag-louise-penny","tag-margaret-agnew","tag-minotaur-books","tag-the-black-wolf","tag-three-pines","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6766,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6765\/revisions\/6766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}