Irène, the first of Pierre Lemaitre’s award-winning Verhoeven Trilogy (which was recently translated into English by Frank Wynne), is the novel which marks the beginning of Camille, a troubled, cynical and extremely short detective determined to rid France of a crazed psychopath re-enacting famous fictional murders. While the motive for murder in this fiction is unique, the main protagonist should be all too stereotypical: the classic maverick investigator, brilliant but disliked by his superiors for his unconventional methods. It is testament to Lemaitre’s skill that Camille appears a totally original construction, the development of whom is both subtle and prolonged, and despite continued reference to a size that in other scenarios would appear almost comic you never once feel inclined to take the liberty to find Camille humorous. Lemaitre creates a dark character for a darker world, a world he takes great pleasure in describing all too graphically.
The plot of Irène is a chilling one. The strange nature of the murders committed leads to an interesting contrast in dynamic. There is the high pressure, fast moving race to catch this killer, alongside the slower-paced, more methodical search for previous crimes this man committed which went unnoticed. By focusing on fictional murder scenes, Lemaitre reveals a true passion for the crime fiction genre, shifting his references from the very well-known to the much more obscure. He does, through this extended description and incorporation into his plot, heap praise on books one can assume are favourites of his. This leads to a novel one realises Lemaitre has used to explore the very genre he writes in. Such an intriguing underlying message to the book means that the novel is significant, not just as a fictional read for enjoyment, but also a crucial novel for understanding the genre as a whole.
It can be said with some certainty you will never come across a more mind-boggling twist than the one which features in Irène. I wanted to end on this, as it is this masterful revelation which catapults Irène, and in all honesty the whole Verhoeven series, from a recommendable read to the work of a genius. I have never had my perception of a story shifted so utterly by one line of text, and it saddens me to know I’ll never experience the feeling again, such is the skill of Lemaitre’s craft. It is one of those moments you can’t quite believe is happening, and it is evidence of the bravery of the writer to attempt a denouement that, had it not been executed as skilfully as it was, would undoubtedly have doomed the book to mediocrity.
Even before the twist, I would rank this book as worthy of reading due to skill and expertise Lemaitre shows in creating a grisly world so in-line with works of the past and yet seemingly so new. With the twist, this is a masterpiece, incomparable with other novels of a similar subject.
Words by Jonah Elvidge