You may find that backstory, and the description of the family’s contemporary situation slows down the action at the start.
The opening chapters explain Armand’s relationship with Stephen and their shared history in the French capital when Armand was a boy. Jean-Guy Beauvoir, an ex cop and Armand’s son-in-law is also being treated like a fool, by his number two at GHS Engineering in Paris, where he is a department head. Now it’s obvious he was up to something momentous and he hadn’t trusted his closest associates.Īrmand is treated like a bumpkin for his Québecois accent by the Parisian police’s second in command, who also suspects him to some degree. Why did Stephen book and stay in a mind-blowingly expensive suite in the George V Hotel, rather than stay in his own rooms? Despite their closeness and Armand’s ability to read most people, it is clear that Stephen had always remained an enigma. What ensues is the swift realisation that his godfather has been keeping secrets from his past hidden from his family and each discovery brings with it many unsettling questions. What’s more, someone is still in the place so Armand gives chase but loses the possible killer. Any doubts that the hit and run wasn’t intentional are swept away when Armand discovers the body of a murdered stranger, shot in Stephen’s ransacked apartment. But what could be the motive? Sure, he had probably had enemies, people he had pursued, but why now, in Paris?Īrmand calls his friend Claude Dussault, who happens to be the Prefect of Police in Paris. As they leave the restaurant, Stephen is mowed down in a hit and run by a stolen van and the family’s hospital visit switches from preparing for a birth to expecting a death.Īs Armand sits by the comatose 93-year-old man’s bedside and tells him he loves him, he’s sure that this was no accident, but a deliberate attempt on Stephen’s life. On that first night in Paris they meet for a family dinner with Armand’s billionaire godfather and mentor, Stephen Horowitz, a businessman who is ruthless in hunting those who do wrong. They’re eagerly awaiting the birth of Armand’s third granddaughter. He’s in the City of Light with his wife Reine-Marie, son and daughter, and their spouses and children. Like this book’s author, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is revisiting Paris – a place that haunts him with shadows of the past – from his home near Montréal in Canada.
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