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alice_horoshev's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
stacy_es's review against another edition
challenging
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
klischka's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
filipa_maia's review against another edition
3.0
This book was quite good. Was very interesting and captivating, kept me hooked up till the end. For me, the only part that I considered less good was, indeed, the end. I was kinda hoping that, in the end, the bad guys were caught and paid for their misdeeds, but that doesn't happened. Nonetheless was a good book in it genera.
furfff's review against another edition
4.0
A complicated one for me. On the one hand, it's certainly Simenon firing on all cylinders. It manages to communicate the ever-shifting complexities of the political life and yet couch it in a format that feels far more police-procedural than the other Maigret novels I have read thus far. There are small nice nods to the lives and emotional landscapes of those around Maigret (less his wife this time around and more so his colleagues and reports).
On the other hand, one of this novel's focuses is politics, and it's 2020 as I write this, and I just can't anymore with the politics. It's all so gross, even when it's fictional. Also, one of the characters criminality is suggested more or less to be a result of his homosexual lifestyle which is just... stop. I know this book was written a long time ago, but again, just no tolerance for reading that.
So I would never recommend this as the first one for someone to read in the series, and yet I recognize it as probably one of Simenon's greater achievements in some ways, just for the sheer numer of plot details and thematic concerns that are up in the air.
On the other hand, one of this novel's focuses is politics, and it's 2020 as I write this, and I just can't anymore with the politics. It's all so gross, even when it's fictional. Also, one of the characters criminality is suggested more or less to be a result of his homosexual lifestyle which is just... stop. I know this book was written a long time ago, but again, just no tolerance for reading that.
So I would never recommend this as the first one for someone to read in the series, and yet I recognize it as probably one of Simenon's greater achievements in some ways, just for the sheer numer of plot details and thematic concerns that are up in the air.
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