Review : Blood Wedding by Pierre Lemaitre

Published by : MacLehose Press

Date : 7 July 2016

Copy : Received from Real Readers for honest review

The Blurb

Sophie is haunted by the things she can't remember - and visions from the past she will never forget.

One morning, she wakes to find that the little boy in her care is dead.  She has no memory of what happened.  And whatever the truth, her side of the story is no match for the evidence piled against her.

Her only hiding place is in a new identity.  A new life, with a man she has met online. 

But Sophie is not the only one keeping secrets...

The Very Pink Notebook Review

Billed as 'The New Noir' - this book is certainly noir...

From the very first pages Lemaitre had the hairs on my neck standing up and I raced through this novel.  I was taken on a journey of murder, revenge, obsession, mental illness and battle of psychological wits.

I am not usually a lover of very dark plots, and this one certainly is, but Blood Wedding is so well written and balanced I didn't feel it was ever superfluous in its death count or details.  It is just so very clever... and chilling.

Lemaitre has created amazing depth in the two main characters, Sophie and Frantz.  Both damaged and devious it is difficult to either like or hate them because they are so well presented to the reader.  Written in three parts; Sophie, Frantz and then a combination of the two, the book is well structured and what could be a very complicated plot is deconstructed very clearly.  The pacing of the plot is excellent, with key and significant discoveries made often enough to keep you satisfied, but never so much that it spoils the mystery.

I think what makes this novel work well, because at times some of the bigger events could be seen as a little far-fetched, is that for the most part the things that happen are so very believable, subtle and real.  Sophie calls herself 'mad' but as you start to unravel why she started to think this, it is quite un-nerving - I mean who hasn't mislaid a birthday card or present, or sworn you put something in one place for it to turn up in another...

This book is nothing short of brutally brilliant and the ending of this book, for me, was satisfactory. However, it did pull at my moral conscience somewhat after I put it down.  Although some form of 'justice' is served on the perpetrator in one respect, I was left knowing the trail of victims and their families would never know the truth or have closure.  On the other hand it is made very clear why this can not be so.

I highly recommend this book if you want a gritty, twisted and dark psychological thriller and as such I award Blood Wedding :