Louise Penny's "The Black Wolf"

 There is so much that I dislike about Louise Penny's work. First, I think the novels are too long. I think a thriller should be around 200 pages; I'm thinking of the kind of book that Ruth Rendell wrote in her prime.

Additionally, the amount of "telling" exasperates me. We are repeatedly told that Armand has a great love for Reine-Marie--but it seems to me that Penny can't make the effort to imagine what this great love actually looks like. Contrast this couple with Guido Brunetti and his wife Paola. We see Guido and Paola frequently disagreeing--with sharp, memorable dialogue. There is no question that Guido and Paola love each other, and that Paola is a three-dimensional character.

Finally, the repetitive use of fairytale "clues" is irksome. I know that Penny isn't trying to be anywhere near the ballpark that could be called Literary Realism. But, in the new book, she has a scientist leave a river rock near a tree so that someone might say, "Strange! We're far from the river!" That someone will then scrutinize the relevant tree and notice weird carvings in the bark--carvings meant to suggest that there is a corpse in the surrounding forest. The intrepid detective will then study the carvings and locate the mysterious corpse. ...What in the world? When storytelling strays so far from my own lived experience, I begin to feel bored.

But I keep reading--I guess because Armand is such a cultural phenomenon. It's nice to stay in touch. Also, in the current novel, there is intermittent interest in a detective with a nonverbal child, Idola. There is a hope that speech therapy might plant a selection of words in Idola's mouth. But, in the interim, there are many other ways of communicating. Idola seems to enjoy spending time with her brother, who can't be bothered with three syllables, and who instead has settled on "Lala." I like reading about this family.

This is like a B-/C+, but I continue to read and read.