A Spoiler Free Review Of The Grey Wolf By Louise Penny

I stayed up well past my usual bedtime to finish reading The Grey Wolf yesterday. Well, actually, this morning. Louise Penny‘s 19th book in her Chief Inspector Gamache series is easily one of my favourites in the series. I will be reading this one again, perhaps even before the official release date on October 29th.

The Grey Wolf is the first of its kind in the series. In what way? I’ll leave that as a surprise for you to discover. But The Grey Wolf is not unique in many other characteristics of the Three Pines books. There are intimate moments with our favourite characters, insightful observations on human behaviour, scenes that reach out and hug readers with the warmth and spirit of Three Pines and a healthy sprinkling of humour throughout the book. There are heartfelt moments that took my breath away and heart-stopping scenes that elicited the same response. New characters jumped off the page and left me curious to know more about them. So many scenes seemed so alive that I could see, and hear, and smell, and taste the events as they unfolded. The Grey Wolf touches on past themes introduced in earlier books and adds more colour and depth to characters and relationships.

If Louise Penny is a new author to you, I would definitely recommend reading the series in order from the start before reading The Grey Wolf. This book references past events and characters. To fully appreciate the plot and how the characters interact in The Grey Wolf, reading the entire series beforehand is an absolute must. For readers who love to reread the Gamache books, I would recommend reviewing The Beautiful Mystery and All The Devils Are Here as priorities. There are references to other books as well, so a refresh of State of Terror and A World of Curiosities wouldn’t hurt as well, although I don’t feel that remembering either of these two books in great detail is as important or necessary as the first two books mentioned above. Yes, politics do play a role in The Grey Wolf, as they have in other books in this series and in the State of Terror standalone.

Read Louise Penny’s Books Before Starting The Grey Wolf

The Grey Wolf

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Although The Grey Wolf starts off slowly, it is full of intrigue and suspense from the first scenes. Then, in one unexpected moment, the story explodes and as the plot develops, so does the intensity. This was a page turner from the first scene until the last. A thriller, a mystery, a masterpiece.

To celebrate the release of The Grey Wolf, we will be hosting another first of its kind: The Three Pines Art Gallery A collection of art inspired by Gamache and Three Pines, created by friends and members of our 89k member book club. The art gallery will open on October 29th. Please feel free to share your inspiration, come and visit the gallery and tell your friends and family about our celebration.

This review was written by one of our group admins. As we pass our one copy of the book around, you can expect that more reviews and reactions will be posted. We have also seen reviews and comments from members who have read advanced copies of The Grey Wolf. You can keep an eye on all discussions on this book in our Discussion Guide for The Grey Wolf.