Under the winds of Neptune

Novel of Fred Vargas putting once more in scene the Adamsberg police chief and his team, as well as characters met in the preceding novels.

This opus announces difficult moments for the police chief Jean Baptiste Adamsberg who essuie more and more of hostility on behalf of its assistant Adrien Danglard, and also a certain antipathy of other colleagues such as Favre or Retancourt.

Invited to Quebec for “a two weeks formation targeted on the treatment of the genetic prints”, Adamsberg tries to join again the dialog with Danglard, but it is victim of a faintness which will still surprise it in the course of the day, inexplicably.

Adamsberg finishes however, with the assistance of Danglard which comments to him with its request a table of Neptune, by seizing what encloses it as follows: the reading of an press article, announcing assassination of an young girl of three stabs, has just made re-appear in him atrocious memories: those of his/her brother accused a few thirty years before for the murder of its been engaged to which it could save the prison by falsifying even the file with load, but that it forever successful to innoncenter, in spite of its unquestionable identification of the assassin.

The young police officer whom it was forever successful to make hear its voice, because the murderer is not other than a respected judge. In cause of despair, it all the same continued its hunting, according to the murderer step by step, until the death of this last. Adamsberg had thus seen to fly away forever the hope of innoncenter completely his/her brother. However, fourteen years after and against any logic, it launches out again on the traces of this phantom with the intention to dislodge it of its attic, to wedge it, finally.

However, this time, it deals with true enemy who will have and take the means of making it sink, in addition to him escaping; an enemy who will force it to endorse another life: that of a prey and not of a hunter. Adamsberg will have to accept the assistance of those of which he hoped less, and to be wary of the others.

Extract

“This time, its hands are reflected to tremble, this time its heart accelerated. Nothing commun run with the four tornadoes which it had undergone, but a violent emotion, amazement and terror. The Trident. Now that alcohol had engourdi its muscles and alleviated the beats of its heart, it could reflect, start, test. To try to look at the monster which the evocation of Neptune had, finally, makes emerge its own caves. The clandestine one, the terrible intruder. The invincible and proud assassin whom it named the Trident. The impregnable killer who had made stagger his life, thirty years earlier. During fourteen years, he had pursued it, tracked, hoping for each time to seize it and unceasingly losing his moving prey. Running, falling, current still. And falling. It had left illusions there and, especially, it had lost his brother there. The Trident had been shown much more extremely than him, always. Titan, a devil, Poséïdon of the hell. Raising its weapon with three points and killing out of only one blow to the belly. Leaving behind him its impaled victims, marked of three red holes on line. ”

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