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An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas (view source)
Revision as of 15:57, 27 March 2012
, 15:57, 27 March 2012Created page with "{{infobox |title=An Uncertain Place |sort= Uncertain Place |author=Fred Vargas |reviewer=John Lloyd |genre=Crime |rating=4 |buy=Yes |borrow=Yes |isbn=9780099552239 |paperback=..."
{{infobox
|title=An Uncertain Place
|sort= Uncertain Place
|author=Fred Vargas
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Crime
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9780099552239
|paperback=009955223X
|hardback=
|audiobook=B004VS0MEG
|ebook=B004SOYWKS
|pages=416
|publisher=Vintage
|date=April 2012
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009955223X</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>009955223X</amazonus>
|website=
|video=
|summary=Two bizarre crimes combine bizarrely in the bizarre world of Commissaire Adamsberg. You get the picture.
}}
Only Adamsberg could be involved in these crimes. While innocently on a stroll through London he and his colleagues, there for a conference, get told of nearly two dozen disembodied feet, and their shoes, left outside Highgate Cemetery. Some of them are decades old. Much fresher are the ridiculously demolished remains of a legal journalist, in his rural French home. Only Adamsberg can approach either, and do it partly through the urban myth of a bear hunter, a wardrobe-eater and more, and only in his world could they ever be linked. It's a good job too, that Adamsberg is the one to solve them, for they have a much greater bearing on him, his colleagues and his life than he would ever expect.
There will be people who find these books a little too odd. Vargas, showing a little odd in her name by being a female Fred, has a brilliant creation in Commissaire Adamsberg, however, and if one sticks with it you get a very intriguing, dark mystery. He's a man of few utterances, and seems to prove himself great at his job by being intrigued by all the off-kilter sides to the world - hence people eating wardrobes. He goes through everything by learning from all the minutiae of life, even when his routine is interrupted by his neighbour demanding he nurture a cat in giving birth.
He is quite a catchy character, and once into the swing of his way of solving crimes one can settle back with Vargas and enjoy the ride. There is a noticeable drop-off, however, in how obscurantist his mental exercises are, as what he focuses on becomes something a bit more ordinary - the inside conspiracy. Vargas certainly seems to flood the beginnings with the unusual - only to be expected perhaps when we see where the plot takes us, and what it covers, come the end.
Without giving anything away, there is a little of the gruesome, a little of the macabre, and a lot of the unexpected here. There is also, at one juncture, a surprise intervention by a returning character, which makes this perhaps not as self-contained as the others I have read, such as [[This Night's Foul Work by Fred Vargas|This Night's Foul Work]]. So if this volume appeals more to the returning readers, then it's a good thing Vargas has built up so many of them with her previous half-dozen titles. She packs her world with a well-rounded spread of unusual characters - here there is almost comic fun to be had with the naive assistant, and the food-stasher and heavy drinker among Adamsberg's crew return. Her style is always definitely her own, and if she seems to be breaking genre rules and stretching things a little too far with this volume, then all well and good.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
The first in this series chronologically is [[The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas]]. If you prefer your crimes more northerly, but appear to have 'done' all the Scandinavian ones, we recommend [[Nights of Awe (Ariel Kafka Mystery) by Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator)]].
{{amazontext|amazon=009955223X}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8656958}}
{{commenthead}}
|title=An Uncertain Place
|sort= Uncertain Place
|author=Fred Vargas
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Crime
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9780099552239
|paperback=009955223X
|hardback=
|audiobook=B004VS0MEG
|ebook=B004SOYWKS
|pages=416
|publisher=Vintage
|date=April 2012
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009955223X</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>009955223X</amazonus>
|website=
|video=
|summary=Two bizarre crimes combine bizarrely in the bizarre world of Commissaire Adamsberg. You get the picture.
}}
Only Adamsberg could be involved in these crimes. While innocently on a stroll through London he and his colleagues, there for a conference, get told of nearly two dozen disembodied feet, and their shoes, left outside Highgate Cemetery. Some of them are decades old. Much fresher are the ridiculously demolished remains of a legal journalist, in his rural French home. Only Adamsberg can approach either, and do it partly through the urban myth of a bear hunter, a wardrobe-eater and more, and only in his world could they ever be linked. It's a good job too, that Adamsberg is the one to solve them, for they have a much greater bearing on him, his colleagues and his life than he would ever expect.
There will be people who find these books a little too odd. Vargas, showing a little odd in her name by being a female Fred, has a brilliant creation in Commissaire Adamsberg, however, and if one sticks with it you get a very intriguing, dark mystery. He's a man of few utterances, and seems to prove himself great at his job by being intrigued by all the off-kilter sides to the world - hence people eating wardrobes. He goes through everything by learning from all the minutiae of life, even when his routine is interrupted by his neighbour demanding he nurture a cat in giving birth.
He is quite a catchy character, and once into the swing of his way of solving crimes one can settle back with Vargas and enjoy the ride. There is a noticeable drop-off, however, in how obscurantist his mental exercises are, as what he focuses on becomes something a bit more ordinary - the inside conspiracy. Vargas certainly seems to flood the beginnings with the unusual - only to be expected perhaps when we see where the plot takes us, and what it covers, come the end.
Without giving anything away, there is a little of the gruesome, a little of the macabre, and a lot of the unexpected here. There is also, at one juncture, a surprise intervention by a returning character, which makes this perhaps not as self-contained as the others I have read, such as [[This Night's Foul Work by Fred Vargas|This Night's Foul Work]]. So if this volume appeals more to the returning readers, then it's a good thing Vargas has built up so many of them with her previous half-dozen titles. She packs her world with a well-rounded spread of unusual characters - here there is almost comic fun to be had with the naive assistant, and the food-stasher and heavy drinker among Adamsberg's crew return. Her style is always definitely her own, and if she seems to be breaking genre rules and stretching things a little too far with this volume, then all well and good.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
The first in this series chronologically is [[The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas]]. If you prefer your crimes more northerly, but appear to have 'done' all the Scandinavian ones, we recommend [[Nights of Awe (Ariel Kafka Mystery) by Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator)]].
{{amazontext|amazon=009955223X}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8656958}}
{{commenthead}}