Cross-posted to: http://light-of-day.net/2012/08/07/bo...

This book has been on my radar since it was optioned for film several months ago, and the ironic thing is, now that I’ve read it, it’s become obvious that the film version will probably be too gory for me to see. Think sawed-off skulls, gouged-out eyes and oh, throw in some animal torture. But hey, in book form, that stuff isn’t too bad. Much like “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, this European mystery thriller is an intense and scary page-turner, but its highlight lies in the two compelling, broken detectives on the case.

Lucie Hennebelle is a single mother of two girls who has clearly lost too much in her young life, due in large part to her dangerous job. And yet, for sometimes incomprehensible reasons, she simply loves her work, and would rather spend time poring over evidence and solving mysteries than spend time at the hospital with one sick daughter while the other is sent off to camp. The drive Lucie has for her work is an obsession, almost a sickness, so it’s probably not surprising she’s drawn immediately to Franck Sharko, the chief Inspector who literally is sick as a result of his work. He’s schizophrenic, a bit OCD, and has nothing left in his life outside of his work, until he meets Lucie. The bond they form – though fast – is believable and tender and almost a relief as more details from both of their tragic pasts are revealed. No one deserves a bit of happiness and security more than these two.

As for the mystery itself, it engages the reader from the very beginning as a friend of Lucie’s goes inexplicably blind after viewing the mysterious film, and it’s all downhill from there as others who come into contact with the reel meet much worse fates. Beyond just a simple murder mystery, the ideas surrounding the case are widespread and draw in various facets of study: film (obviously), neuroscience, politics, war, and Thilliez even manages to tie in real historical events. The manhunt also expands globally in a refreshing fashion, with Lucie and Sharko traveling everywhere from France to Belgium to Egypt to Canada, though there are some horror cliches, such as characters dying just as they get a bit too close to the truth, and a shocking “AH-HA!” moment reveal of who the killer is.

One final footnote: This novel is apparently the convergence of two series that Thilliez has written in French about Lucie and Sharko, respectively, though the two are meeting for the first time in “Syndrome E.” Because those books are similar in tone and scope, yet I never read the books themselves, it did come off a bit overly dramatic as Lucie and Sharko confided in each other about their pasts. It’s kind of amusing to think about how much fictional characters go through over their lives when it’s told not over several books but in just a few short paragraphs. On that note, Penguin USA, we must talk about when Thilliez’s next two novels about Lucie and Sharko are going to be translated into English because I’m dying over that cliffhanger!