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A review by cwt88
Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Like both Adamsberg books before it, this one isn't your standard murder mystery. The intrigue for the first half of the book, like with Chalk Circle Man, is what the weird, ominous goings-on mean. There's no murder for quite some time. Vargas has a great skill of making us empathise with Adamsberg's misgivings about events that more logical characters write off as silly pranks. And like Seeking Whom He May Devour, there's more focus on other characters for at least the first few chapters (although it's not quite so disconnected from Adamsberg as that novel). This novel also has an interesting ending that's very at odds with your standard 'eureka' moment or climactic action scene where the criminal reveals themselves, which kept it feeling fresh compared to the two previous books. There's a really interesting mix of mystery elements, from backstories to literature and history to the murders themselves.
I did struggle to really care about most of the characters, especially Adamsberg, in this one. I liked him in Chalk Circle Man, in a kind of weird, eccentric way, and Seeking Whom He May Devour gave him quite a heroic entrance where he swooped in and showed his genius. He just seemed a bit unlikeable here. The interplay of methodology demonstrated between him and Danglard, which is what separated Chalk Circle Man from other oddball detectives like Columbo, also felt quite absent, with Danglard basically being relegated to menial tasks while Adamsberg wandered around musing. I thought it was also quite odd that Vargas had gone to such lengths to introduce Camille as a character in the previous book (to the point of seeming like she might be a new main character, after the 8 year gap writing about other detectives after the first Adamsberg novel) to give her basically no voice in this one, despite being present.
There were glimmers of interesting new characters in some of Adamsberg's new team and other colleagues, and I liked some of the characters involved with the mystery (who were generally explored well), but there wasn't a lot of time to develop all of the different things going on: mystery-adjacent cast, new department, Three Evangelists (who seemed like interesting and well-rounded characters, but I haven't read those books so was a little confused), and Adamsberg's personal life. Certain things felt rushed and others felt like they were dwelt on too long and I wanted to get back to the mystery.
To sum up, the mystery bits of the book were great: weird, twisting, intriguing, slightly gothic, interesting cast, and well-paced and structured in an interesting way that isn't just 'murder, investigation, reveal'. But the 'umberella' character work and B-plots that Vargas sets up felt all over the place in quality and pacing.
I did struggle to really care about most of the characters, especially Adamsberg, in this one. I liked him in Chalk Circle Man, in a kind of weird, eccentric way, and Seeking Whom He May Devour gave him quite a heroic entrance where he swooped in and showed his genius. He just seemed a bit unlikeable here. The interplay of methodology demonstrated between him and Danglard, which is what separated Chalk Circle Man from other oddball detectives like Columbo, also felt quite absent, with Danglard basically being relegated to menial tasks while Adamsberg wandered around musing. I thought it was also quite odd that Vargas had gone to such lengths to introduce Camille as a character in the previous book (to the point of seeming like she might be a new main character, after the 8 year gap writing about other detectives after the first Adamsberg novel) to give her basically no voice in this one, despite being present.
There were glimmers of interesting new characters in some of Adamsberg's new team and other colleagues, and I liked some of the characters involved with the mystery (who were generally explored well), but there wasn't a lot of time to develop all of the different things going on: mystery-adjacent cast, new department, Three Evangelists (who seemed like interesting and well-rounded characters, but I haven't read those books so was a little confused), and Adamsberg's personal life. Certain things felt rushed and others felt like they were dwelt on too long and I wanted to get back to the mystery.
To sum up, the mystery bits of the book were great: weird, twisting, intriguing, slightly gothic, interesting cast, and well-paced and structured in an interesting way that isn't just 'murder, investigation, reveal'. But the 'umberella' character work and B-plots that Vargas sets up felt all over the place in quality and pacing.