What do you think?
Rate this book
The Anvil Chorus
This brilliant novel of obsession and revenge from the author of the bestselling By Reason of Insanity is one of the most darkly compelling stories of evil ever written. "I recommend it unreservedly . . . but only (to) readers with strong stomachs and even stronger nerves".--Stephen King.
THE HUNTER: a brilliant French police inspector seeking revenge.
THE HUNTED: an elusive killer whose savage style links him to a frightening history.
THE CONNECTION: a woman whose passion is as lethal as any deadly weapon.
THE HUNTER: a brilliant French police inspector seeking revenge.
THE HUNTED: an elusive killer whose savage style links him to a frightening history.
THE CONNECTION: a woman whose passion is as lethal as any deadly weapon.
370 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
6 people are currently reading
341 people want to read
About the author
Shane Stevens
16 books65 followersAka J.W. Rider
was an American author of crime novels. He was born in New York, New York to John and Caroline (Royale) Stevens. His novels include Go Down Dead (1966), Way Uptown in Another World (1971), Dead City (1973), Rat Pack (1974), By Reason of Insanity (1979), and The Anvil Chorus (1985). Stephen King has claimed to being a huge fan, and gave tribute to him in his book "The Dark Half", which features violent crime novels starring a character named 'Alexis Machine,' a reference to a character of the same name from the novel "Dead City." Appropriately Stevens was an intensely private person who avoided the limelight during his lifetime and has left many questions unanswered with his death.
was an American author of crime novels. He was born in New York, New York to John and Caroline (Royale) Stevens. His novels include Go Down Dead (1966), Way Uptown in Another World (1971), Dead City (1973), Rat Pack (1974), By Reason of Insanity (1979), and The Anvil Chorus (1985). Stephen King has claimed to being a huge fan, and gave tribute to him in his book "The Dark Half", which features violent crime novels starring a character named 'Alexis Machine,' a reference to a character of the same name from the novel "Dead City." Appropriately Stevens was an intensely private person who avoided the limelight during his lifetime and has left many questions unanswered with his death.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 25, 2012
http://lectures-petit-lips.blogspot.f...
Dieter Bock, ancien commandant SS est retrouvé mort, pendu, le 6 avril 1975. L'inspecteur César Dreyfus écarte presque immédiatement le suicide et est persuadé qu'il s'agit d'un meurtre. Afin de savoir ce qu'il s'est réellement passé dans cet appartement, Dreyfus va devoir fouiller le passé de Dieter Bock. Il met alors les pieds dans un bazar incommensurable et s'oriente alors vers une enquête très complexe.
L'intrigue policière est dense, complexe, elle se perd en détails. A côté de cela nous nous retrouvons dans des complots politiques, dans l'espionnage et les trahisons multiples. Si bien que l'on se retrouve facilement perdu dans ce dédale. C'est vraiment dommage, car les cent premières pages sont très intéressantes, et posent les bases d'une intrigue policière qui promet d'être intense et originale.
Le personnage de César Dreyfus ne m'a pas convaincue. Je ne l'ai pas trouvé antipathique, mais je n'ai pas spécialement accroché non plus. C'est un homme assez banal, plutôt neutre sur le papier. J'ai eu du mal à suivre ses raisonnements, qui m'ont parus pas si logiques que ça.
La profusion des personnages (politiques, policiers, victimes...) empêche toute possibilité de s'attacher à l'un d'eux. La relation entre Dreyfus et Bock est certes intéressante, pas trop peu exploitée à mon goût.
En plus d'une histoire peu passionnante, l'écriture n'est pas vraiment fluide. Je n'ai pas adhéré à la plume de l'auteur et par conséquent j'ai vraiment eu du mal à terminer ce livre. C'est trop long, et j'ai fini par m'ennuyer ferme.
Dieter Bock, ancien commandant SS est retrouvé mort, pendu, le 6 avril 1975. L'inspecteur César Dreyfus écarte presque immédiatement le suicide et est persuadé qu'il s'agit d'un meurtre. Afin de savoir ce qu'il s'est réellement passé dans cet appartement, Dreyfus va devoir fouiller le passé de Dieter Bock. Il met alors les pieds dans un bazar incommensurable et s'oriente alors vers une enquête très complexe.
L'intrigue policière est dense, complexe, elle se perd en détails. A côté de cela nous nous retrouvons dans des complots politiques, dans l'espionnage et les trahisons multiples. Si bien que l'on se retrouve facilement perdu dans ce dédale. C'est vraiment dommage, car les cent premières pages sont très intéressantes, et posent les bases d'une intrigue policière qui promet d'être intense et originale.
Le personnage de César Dreyfus ne m'a pas convaincue. Je ne l'ai pas trouvé antipathique, mais je n'ai pas spécialement accroché non plus. C'est un homme assez banal, plutôt neutre sur le papier. J'ai eu du mal à suivre ses raisonnements, qui m'ont parus pas si logiques que ça.
La profusion des personnages (politiques, policiers, victimes...) empêche toute possibilité de s'attacher à l'un d'eux. La relation entre Dreyfus et Bock est certes intéressante, pas trop peu exploitée à mon goût.
En plus d'une histoire peu passionnante, l'écriture n'est pas vraiment fluide. Je n'ai pas adhéré à la plume de l'auteur et par conséquent j'ai vraiment eu du mal à terminer ce livre. C'est trop long, et j'ai fini par m'ennuyer ferme.
May 6, 2021
Libro che ho voluto leggere sull'onda delle parole entusiastiche sul lavoro successivo "Io ti troverò".
Confusionario, una specie di spy story, legal thriller, noir, stanza chiusa, tutto insomma.
Sul piatto già dalle prime pagine viene buttato di tutto, servizi segreti, dipartimenti, guerra in Algeria, Germania, Austria, biglietti di zoo, tutto.
Pian piano la confusione si impossessa di me, tento di scacciarla ma per quanto cerchi di fare ordine se ne aggiunge sempre di nuova. E no ciccio, l'indagine è la tua e mica posso stare a prendere appunti e lavorare di notte e poi mi sa che non andremo granchè d'accordo.
L'ispettore infatti è una figura incolore o scolorita a cui ogni tanto l'autore fa dire cose tipo "lei se n'è andata" o che quell'altra "mi vuole ancora", diciamo perfettamente nei clichè e ma almeno approfondisse, no, anche li magari devi aspettare altre 100-200 pagine.
Siccome inizio a confondermi di nuovo e devo essere lucido a lavoro la mollo qua chiedendomi se quelli che hanno messo da 3 a 5 stelle hanno letto lo stesso libro, che ho mollato dopo averne letto 1/5 e che nel caso specifico rappresenta una grande concessione del mio tempo (perso)
Confusionario, una specie di spy story, legal thriller, noir, stanza chiusa, tutto insomma.
Sul piatto già dalle prime pagine viene buttato di tutto, servizi segreti, dipartimenti, guerra in Algeria, Germania, Austria, biglietti di zoo, tutto.
Pian piano la confusione si impossessa di me, tento di scacciarla ma per quanto cerchi di fare ordine se ne aggiunge sempre di nuova. E no ciccio, l'indagine è la tua e mica posso stare a prendere appunti e lavorare di notte e poi mi sa che non andremo granchè d'accordo.
L'ispettore infatti è una figura incolore o scolorita a cui ogni tanto l'autore fa dire cose tipo "lei se n'è andata" o che quell'altra "mi vuole ancora", diciamo perfettamente nei clichè e ma almeno approfondisse, no, anche li magari devi aspettare altre 100-200 pagine.
Siccome inizio a confondermi di nuovo e devo essere lucido a lavoro la mollo qua chiedendomi se quelli che hanno messo da 3 a 5 stelle hanno letto lo stesso libro, che ho mollato dopo averne letto 1/5 e che nel caso specifico rappresenta una grande concessione del mio tempo (perso)
August 24, 2025
Ho letto tanti libri su questo genere nella mia vita, ma mai ho faticato a finirne uno come in questo caso. Questo libro è un po’ figlio del suo tempo, è vero, ma ciò non giustifica i suoi difetti (che sono tanti).
Fin dall’inizio ti presenta sacco di personaggi senza una vera personalità, ci sono stacchi continui da una scena all’altra, senza capire come il protagonista possa spostarsi da una nazione all’altra nell’arco di un paragrafo. Oltre alla storia sulla ricerca dei nazisti c’è un mescolotto di tutto e di più: c’è la parte storica, c’è la parte delle guerre, della Palestina, dei genitori del protagonista, dell’amante e poi ci sono dipartimenti e servizi segreti popolati da personaggi che sembrano tutti la stessa persona per quanto siano descritti in modo superficiale. Davvero un romanzo molto confuso, caratterizzato da un linguaggio che passa dall’essere forbito all’essere quasi volgare nell’arco di poche righe. Ma soprattutto veramente troppo lungo e prolisso per la storia che vorrebbe raccontare.
Fin dall’inizio ti presenta sacco di personaggi senza una vera personalità, ci sono stacchi continui da una scena all’altra, senza capire come il protagonista possa spostarsi da una nazione all’altra nell’arco di un paragrafo. Oltre alla storia sulla ricerca dei nazisti c’è un mescolotto di tutto e di più: c’è la parte storica, c’è la parte delle guerre, della Palestina, dei genitori del protagonista, dell’amante e poi ci sono dipartimenti e servizi segreti popolati da personaggi che sembrano tutti la stessa persona per quanto siano descritti in modo superficiale. Davvero un romanzo molto confuso, caratterizzato da un linguaggio che passa dall’essere forbito all’essere quasi volgare nell’arco di poche righe. Ma soprattutto veramente troppo lungo e prolisso per la storia che vorrebbe raccontare.
December 12, 2020
Read in 1990. A novel of obsession and revenge.
October 7, 2022
Showed promise but ran out of steam and into a story of paperwork.
March 30, 2023
It is the 1970s in Paris and Inspector Dreyfus is on the trail of a murderous Nazi whose trying to get a hold of plundered gold from WWII. Not sure why Stephen King found it so compelling. I did not.
August 23, 2021
Here’s a detective novel that flirts with police procedure. In the average police procedure novel, say the Michael Connelly-kind, the ignorant reader is taken loosely by the hand and receives just enough bits of evidence to give him the illusion he’s able to follow – always one step behind, of course – the detectives and inspectors who crack the mystery and solve the crime.
Shane Stevens does not take anybody by the hand. He skips the procedure itself and gives you the conversation overworked detectives, sly commissioners and vague politicians have about the case instead. He dishes out fragments, snippets of dialogue, and inexplicable sidesteps that suggest progress; he leaves you guessing what, who, why?
And most of us are too stupid (anyway, that’s how I felt) to share the thoughts and mind of the books’s archetypical hero: the brilliant French inspector Dreyfus, who’s intelligent, intuitive, stubborn, defiant, a loner, divorced, haunted by his (Jewish) past… you get the picture. Apart from being a genius, he’s even a quite likeable guy. So we take him at his word, even when we never fully understand what’s happening – unless it’s the grand finale, which you can see looming ahead as clear as the Eiffel tower on a fine spring day.
The trouble with this book is not so much the plot’s complexity (which is high) but the fact that crucial elements (like proof someone this did or that, and why) are thrown in quite haphazardly. We have to believe whatever comes our way, we cannot deduce.
Nevertheless, two stars for atmosphere.
Shane Stevens does not take anybody by the hand. He skips the procedure itself and gives you the conversation overworked detectives, sly commissioners and vague politicians have about the case instead. He dishes out fragments, snippets of dialogue, and inexplicable sidesteps that suggest progress; he leaves you guessing what, who, why?
And most of us are too stupid (anyway, that’s how I felt) to share the thoughts and mind of the books’s archetypical hero: the brilliant French inspector Dreyfus, who’s intelligent, intuitive, stubborn, defiant, a loner, divorced, haunted by his (Jewish) past… you get the picture. Apart from being a genius, he’s even a quite likeable guy. So we take him at his word, even when we never fully understand what’s happening – unless it’s the grand finale, which you can see looming ahead as clear as the Eiffel tower on a fine spring day.
The trouble with this book is not so much the plot’s complexity (which is high) but the fact that crucial elements (like proof someone this did or that, and why) are thrown in quite haphazardly. We have to believe whatever comes our way, we cannot deduce.
Nevertheless, two stars for atmosphere.
September 11, 2014
Not a bad book,overall. I'd prefer to give 3.5 rather than 3 stars, really. The prose does seem quite dated. It has a lot of those features of 1980s horror novels: inappropriate metaphors and epithets, the context between a detective and a murderer being referred to as an "embrace", frequent references to "the hunter and the hunted." The ending s quite strong though, and it's clear that a lot of effort was put into the convoluted plot. The Anvil Chorus feels very different to Dead City and By Reason of Insanity: far less graphic and set in a more civilised milieu. I liked this less than those other two.
October 14, 2012
Long, peu intéressant! Je ne suis pas du tout rentré dans ce bouquin!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews