Audiobooks Provide a large catalog of audiobooks with high-quality narration.Mac app Listen everywhere on your computer.Android app Listen on the go on your Android device.iPhone & iPad app Listen on the go on your Apple devices.Chrome extension Listen to Google docs, web articles, Gmail, Twitter, and more.Online Listen and organize your files in your browser.Text-to-speech Listen to docs, articles, PDFs, email – anything you usually read.I have never read a book where one of the main characters transformed before my eyes from victim to protagonist to judge to executioner. (And I’ll still try not to give too much away). Read the last thought only if you don’t want to be surprised. Okay, here are those two cautionary words: spoiler alert. “Alex” is so good you want to say as little as possible. “Alex” is a grisly but when all is revealed the violence is … appropriate? Justified? Just right given the backstory (the part I can’t write about)? I never felt mistreated by the way the plot was structured, even as the game changed and shifted (and I’m biting my fingers now so I don’t type too much). I can’t remember a story line that turned on itself so many times-and pulled it off so well. But the feeling of reading “Alex” is one where you’ll bring the book with you wherever you go in case you get a minute or two to sneak in a few more moments. It’s nearly impossible to write a review of “Alex” without giving too much away. Camille prefers to get out his sketchpad and think. There are bureaucratic issues, fiefdoms, jealousies, egos.

He’s relentless and curious and smart, even given nothing to work with. Camille is a brooding cop, but considering the way he’s treated and what he’s been through, he gets a pass from me. (Can’t vouch for the translation, but loved the cool, unexcited writing style.)īoth Camille and Alex have issues. “Alex” alternates points of view between diminutive (4’11”) Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven and the victim of a kidnapping, Alex Prévost, who is stuffed in a too-small cage and left to die in an abandoned warehouse. I felt like I was reading a mash-up of one of Michael Connelly’s best Harry Bosch works and one of Patricia Highsmith’s psycho-dark stories like “Ripley Under Ground” or that out-of-control scene near the end of “Suspension of Mercy,” the scene with the pills.īut nothing about “Alex” felt derivative, either. I would argue it is both mystery and thriller in equal doses, with plenty of clue-finding (mystery) and more flips and twists than a whole pack of gymnasts (thriller). I’d put “Alex” right up there with the best mystery-thrillers I’ve ever read. I want to type the words “spoiler alert” so I can tell you everything.

Alex by pierre lemaitre