Un Lieu Incertain

The first five Vargas that I’ve read delighted me so much that I have now seen a few of her interviews on YouTube. They explain my disappointment at this book. Her surrealist father was not thrilled that his medievalist daughter wrote mystery books. Having given her Nerval to read at age 13, he probably expected better of her literary endeavors. Well, now he has reasons to rejoice. Using the much anthologized El Desdichado poem for the second time as a thread in a book, she treats us to a romp in Vampire infested Serbia that might have mildly entertained Bram Stoker if he had had enough Irish whiskey at his elbow. The plot is so loose — purposely, I assume — that it’s difficult not to groan at the third narrow escape from death of Commissaire Adamsberg, who, btw, has now turned from a charming, if a tad overly irresponsible, man into a sad sack. As we say in my native French, ce bouquin-là c’est de la merde, pardon my language.

Encore un Fred Vargas égal aux autres! Lisez mes autres revues! En peu de mots: style agréable et inhabituel (poétique, déconcertant, amusant, etc). Des histoires passionnantes! Le commissaire Adamsberg et son équipe ne déçoivent jamais!

Great author