Never Forget

December 23, 2019
French Canadian author Michaud makes his English-language debut with this raucous crime thriller, the third in the series, featuring his brilliant but perpetually overwrought Montreal cop, Victor Lessard. First, Lessard and his abrasive partner, Jacinthe Taillon, must figure out how the torture murders of two elderly people are connected with the suicide of a homeless man who possessed both victims’ wallets. They must then unravel a tangled history of clandestine mind-control experiments stretching back to the 1960s, when a brainwashed hit man may have taken part in the JFK assassination. Finally, they need to locate the last victim of a hideous revenge plot before it’s too late. Meanwhile, Lessard’s love life is in turmoil, and his son has apparently become enmeshed in a violent anti-Semitic gang. Glimpses into events unknown to the police raise the tension as readers wonder whether Lessard and Taillon can work out how the various clues fit together. Subtle he isn’t, but Michaud does provide good, pulpish fun. Agent: Abigail Koons, Park & Fine Literary and Media (Canada).

January 1, 2020
This chilling Quebec-set thriller opens with a grisly murder worthy of a Saw movie. That sets the tone for a hard-edged, brutal story about a pair of Montreal detectives, Victor Lessard and Jacinthe Taillon, whose investigation of a homicide leads them deeper into darkness. It begins with the apparent suicide of a homeless man in Old Montreal, but why were two wallets?one belonging to a murdered psychiatrist and the other to a lawyer who has disappeared?found in the man's pockets? Michaud is an acclaimed author of mystery fiction set in Quebec, although he is less well known to English speakers, especially in the U.S. This fluidly translated installment in the ongoing series should help him find a wider audience. It's a fine crime novel featuring a cast of well-delineated characters and a plot that demands the reader's undivided attention. The vivid Montreal setting, as well as the noir tone, pairs well with John Farrow's �mile Cinq-Mars novels, particularly City of Ice (1999) and Ice Lake (2001).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)