The Grey Wolf

Cam quickly in perfect condition!

What a riveting read! I’m glad I read it when I had time to get through it quickly and when the next in the series which will pick up where this left off will soon be released. I’ve already pre purchased it! I would have hated to wait a year for it.I am constantly impressed with what an exceptional writer Louise Penny is. Her plots are intricate, interesting, and not predictable. One becomes entirely immersed in the wonderful cast of characters she has created. Each book is like a delicious course of a meal to be savored and leaves you in anticipation of what delight will come next. I’d have said this book was so wonderful, it had to be the dessert, but I know the next one continues the story. Could it be we are going to have two desserts in a row?! What a delight! Callooh Callay! Bring it on!

One of my favorite authors. She never disappoints.

I have been following Louise Penny since the first Gamache story and from the onset, she has me hooked and Grey Wolf does not disappoint at all. The plot is another tangled web of deceit, corruption and evilness personified that involves a major catastrophe that could kill millions.. Penny has developed an incredible storyline that has you on the edge of your seat as you walk each step with Gamache and team as they figure it all out and save the day.

I really like this series. Can't wait to get the next one. A perfect way to spend my retirement days.

This book , like all of Penny’s books captured me at the very beginning! She is a master at developing a plot that moves through characters… trying clues together and foreshadowing what is coming. Read and be ready to hold your breath to the very last sentence!!!

Really enjoyed. Am a fan of the Chief Inspector, and this novel didn't disappoint. I would recommend this book. Louise is a great author.

Louise Penny keeps you riveted to her story and the challenge is to be able to put the book down before reading every last word.

This was my first detective novel. I had read by this author. I had seen the TV series which was based on this series of books. I have not been so engrossed in a long time. Louise Penny has a wonderful way of crafting a story, luring you in slowly, then galloping away at high speeds.I plan now to read her others, happily.

Always enjoy the Gamache books…This story line was quite advanced and I had to reread a couple times to keepAll the players in the right spaces.Will be looking for the Next one in the series..,.

I've read at least 10 novels in the Chief Inspector Gamache series over the years. This one was especially good, full of threats and adventures. I'm glad this book didn't focus on the citizens of Three Pines: That topic is well worn.

Louise Penny has once again written a beautifully composed novel about our favorite people, especially Gamache, who are given 10 pieces of a 1000 piece puzzle. Excellent writing, intelligent sentence structure, compelling plot and a shocking twist.

This was not my favorite novel of the Gamache series. It seemed choppy in style and didnot display smoothly the intended plotline. I am still, however, devoted to the series!

Excellent book in an excellent series. The characters are engaging & the author never disappoints.

Louise Penny continues to intrigue and enthralled in The Grey Wolf. Chief Inspector Garmache and his team follow a tangled web to uncover and forestall a terrorist attack. I found it hard to put this book down. It is well written. The characters are believable and the plot intriguing. I highly recommend, whether you are a long time Penny fan or just looking for a good mystery, you will not be disappointed.

Another wonderful Gamache book! But much more intense and complex than Louise Penny’s earlier books.All the main characters are still wonderful - thank goodness! But the plot is massively complex - with lots of characters, which I found a bit confusing during the middle of the book, but that didn’t impact my enjoyment. To me, the complex plot was a new experience, though more realistic for our current political and international reality.And … the ending of this book might potentially lead into another book. Altogether a great read! Don’t miss it!

I did not feel this is one of Penny's best Gamache series novels although I am glad I read the book. Too many characters and she didn't use the loveable, quirky characters from the village of Three Pines enough

This was Louise Penny at her best. I love Three Pines and the cast of characters that her words have drawn so vividly in my mind. The storyline caught my attention from beginning to end. I want to read it again. A great read to be sure!

I was a bit perturbed when a review of this latest Penny book said that it ended on a cliffhanger. I don’t like cliffhangers. I’m someone who often won’t start a mystery series on TV unless all of the episodes are already up. And then I will binge watch. I haven’t always been like this although I’ve never been good at waiting. When I was growing up, though, that’s what you had to do, wait until the next installment. I’ve been spoiled.Anyway. I read The Grey Wolf and the cliffhanger isn’t as frustrating as I was worried it was going to be midway through. Enough is solved in the book to make it satisfactory even if I don’t read the next Louise Penny. Which I will as long as things are still in one piece in this world in a year.The plot in this book is searingly close to the bone for many of us who were on the losing side of the US election this year. Gamache stumbles across a plot, at the very highest (Canadian) government level, to kill thousands of people in Montreal. In order to foment unrest, to pave the way for authoritarian takeover of the government. Who is involved, who can he trust? When will the terrorists strike and where? This is a theme that Penny has often used in her books—she doesn’t have a very high opinion of politicians and who can blame her—but although I’ve read all of her other books, her plotting always seems fresh. She intersperses moments of high tension with our unique Canadian brand of twisted humor, strange characters.She also brings back a theme from a previous novel about monasteries and monks. Gamache returns to a monastery he visited in a previous Penny novel, The Beautiful Mystery, and he and Beauvoir discuss things about their relationship that, if you haven’t read that book and the one that follows, you won’t understand. But that’s true of all of the Penny books. You can read a Penny book without reading the others but you won’t really understand how and why the characters are the way they are. What I’ve found in discussing her with friends and book club people, you either like her or you don’t.I like her although I agree that she often goes on and on in describing things in minute detail. It gets wearing. And her twists also sometimes get tiring. Funny enough though, even though this book is 421 pages, I didn’t find it too long. Maybe that’s because I alternated between listening to it and reading it. And, because I come from Quebec, I loved the narrator, who is a Quebec actor by the name of Jean Brassard. He is her first Francophone narrator and, well, to me listening to him was like coming home. Really enjoyed it.

Have loved the Gamache series, every book up until this one. Since I "read" by listening, great narration is a huge part of why I've enjoyed the books. Both prior narrators were exceptional at giving life and individuality to the characters. A new narrator, Jean Brassard, takes over in this book and fails at creating personality for the different characters. They all sound about the same and a bit whiney. That makes it harder to follow this Grey Wolf plot, which has a lot of characters. Also, and perhaps more importantly, Three Pines and its inhabitants have gone missing. There's a mystery that Gamache should focus on...not acts of terrorism, but what happened to Myrna and why Clara isn't painting. In this book Three Pines residents pop up here and there for oddly brief cameos, as if the author thought, "Oh, I haven't mentioned the village. I'll throw in two sentences about it here." There are boatloads of mystery and adventure writers out there. The reason I've come back to Louise Penny all these years is for her talent in character development, the humor that typically runs throughout her books, and her great sense of pacing a story. This book falls short in all of those. The end is clearly not the end, so obviously this is part 1 of an on-going story. Not sure I'll bother with the next installment.