Saturday, 25 November 2023

The Darkest Season (from #Noirvember to Christmascrime)

 It is still #Noirvember, but there is only one month left until Christmas, so I have decided to find a novel that bridges both events. I am going from Noirvember into Christmascrime, in a way. As I discovered last year R.J. Ellory and enjoyed him quite a lot, I thought I would carry on this year with another of his novels. So I went for The Darkest Season. When I saw that it was set in Québec, I knew I had to read it. So far it is a pleasant read, suitably Noir, but it is rigged with inaccuracies: the protagonist smoking in a bar (there has been a smoking ban years before the events of the novel), some geographical references that are meaningless for a Quebecker but sound very British, I could go on. It doesn't spoil the read, I just find it funny, as if Québec is this really exotic place the writer does not quite understand. But hey, I have seen worse and at least the novel is as Noir as they come.

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