I recently finished Pascal Garnier’s The Eskimo Solution, a noir novel. It is Garnier’s eighth novel to be published in the U.S. Garnier, who died in 2010, was a leading writer in contemporary French literature.
A bit about the plot from the publisher:
The book is about a crime author who while writing during his stay on the Normandy coast, finds that reality and fiction are beginning to overlap. The main character in the author’s latest book, Louis, dispatches his mother and goes on to relieve others of their burdensome elderly relatives.
I usually stray away from noir-themed books due to their very nature, but this book intrigued me based on the plot. Like all noir novels, this is a bleak and depressing story. Despite the very dark nature, Garnier writes beautifully. He captures the scenes in the book perfectly by allowing the reader easily visualize the scenes.
The characters are realistic. Although Louis is a deplorable human being, he is very realistic. Louis is insane, but he thinks he is doing a genuine service to his friends by murdering their elderly relatives. Garnier captures Louis’ insanity and his sincerity in “helping” friends.
The book is a quick read at 136 pages. One final note, the title was confusing to me at first, but made sense once Garnier explains the back story in the book – very clever title.
A dark-themed, but easily readable book.
