The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

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The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

Author: Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns to Three Pines in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny’s latest spellbinding novel

You’re a coward.

Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.

It starts innocently enough.

While
the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of
the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro
and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his
family interrupted by a simple request.

He’s asked to provide
security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting Professor of
Statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.

While
he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec
would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is until
Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an
agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.

They
refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and
intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start
seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and
fact, reality and delusion are so confused it’s near impossible to tell
them apart.

Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.

Abigail Robinson promises that, if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.

When
a murder is committed it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command
Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as
this extraordinary popular delusion.

And the madness of crowds.

[highlight color=”green”]Goodreads users review :[/highlight]

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again- If Louise Penny writes it, I’ll read it (and love it), and if Three Pines was real, I’d move there in a heartbeat. Mary Louise                                                                                            rated it: 5.0 from 5.0

Definitely one of Louise Penny’s best. Contemporary in that she doesn’t shy away from the current pandemic, although when she wrote it, she probably figured it would be a thing of the past and not ongoing as it is in real life, but with the addition of highly controversial subject matter as personified by a mathematics professor with a shocking agenda and a Sudanese refugee up for the Nobel Peace Prize, there are elements above and beyond even her usual excellence. In this one, she examines the nature of familial love and its challenges. Kasa Cotugno                                                                                          rated it: 5.0 from 5.0

5 stars for the gripping story! The topic was definitely uncomfortable and kept me trying to figure out the author’s agenda… I love these characters though and loved going on another crazy mystery ride. Marina                                                                                                    rated it: 5.0 from 5.0