Louise Penny made me do something today, I never dreamed I would be doing in a million years: abandon her latest novel, The Black Wolf, at the eighty-page mark with no intention of ever picking it up again. Now I only wish I could get my $30 back.
I have been reading Penny for years, and have read eighteen of the nineteen novels she’s published prior to The Black Wolf, enjoying them so much that she became one of my go-to authors a long time ago. But maybe I should have seen this coming because I did struggle at times with The Grey Wolf, the novel preceding this one. I hoped, however, that since I read that one during a period in which I was struggling to concentrate on just about everything I read, that the problem was with me and not with the book.
Penny quickly nipped those hopes in the bud by kicking off The Black Wolf with a fifty-page rehash of The Grey Wolf plot - a plot that tended to bore me the first time I was exposed to it. It’s all a too fantastical conspiracy theory in which those at the top of Canadian politics conspire with American businesses to allow millions of Canadians to be poisoned for corporate profit. In the process, Canada’s pristine forests and lakes will also be destroyed, and it is only a “Hail Mary” moment from Inspector Gamache that saves the day. Making it all read even worse, the tone is at times overly preachy and condescending, and the book’s pacing is dreadfully slow. But I made it through, and kind of dreaded the promised sequel.
Well, that sequel is The Black Wolf. And this one doubles down on everything wrong with The Grey Wolf.
I made it through the fifty-page Grey Wolf recap, albeit all the while getting grumpier and grumpier as I read on. And now I’ve waited another thirty pages for something new to happen, only to read numerous times that “something bad is coming.” Well enough of this. The last two books have made for such slow reading that now I’m not even sure that I’m willing to take a chance on book twenty-one in the series when it is eventually published.
Penny has become so political in her messaging that her books are not fun for me anymore. The Black Wolf has just enough of an anti-American tone and global warming hysteria to it that I find it more irritating/boring than entertaining. And I spent my money to be entertained, not preached at. From what I understand, Penny even canceled her American book tour launch of The Grey Wolf after Trump was elected, effectively, I imagine, sacrificing a few thousand book sales in the process. While I may admire her dedication to her principles, this is not the kind of “escapism" that I want to spend my time or money on.
And that makes me sad because Inspector Gamache has been one of my favorite fictional characters for twenty years - and Three Pines one of my favorite fictional settings.
I'm so sorry! It's always sad when authors disappoint like that, especially when it's in one of your favorite series. I've only read the first few books in this series, though I did really enjoy them. But it sounds like I don't need to rush to read these latest two.
ReplyDeleteI don’t care to know the politics of my favorite authors or actors, but so many of them end up thinking that I do. And that’s a shame. Penny’s mysteries tend to get a little deep and philosophical sometimes, but she’s gotten so heavy-handed in these last two that I feel she’s lost her way now. She really needs to lighten up - or run for office up in Canada.
ReplyDeleteI am with you 1,000%. I used to love these books. But I put this one down and have zero regrets. I don't care about her politics. Like not at all. I don't mind some politics in a book, but she's gotten so heavy-handed with it that I can't take it anymore. Her world has become black-and-white. Anyone who disagrees with her (via Gamache) is automatically evil. Screw that. And, if she dislikes the US as much as she seems to, then this American has a perfect right to stop spending her hard-earned money to buy those books. I'll find something else to read.
DeleteJulie, I find it sad that so many writers and other artistic types have become this consumed by politics. When that happens they lose the edge that made them special in the first place., and then I don’t have any use for them because all they do is disappoint and annoy me. I’m still hoping that Penny sees what she’s letting happen to her soon because I’m going to miss the “real Gamache” if he’s gone for good.
DeleteSo many series do fade away after this many books. Another of my favorite series, "Gaslight Mysteries" by Victoria Thompson, seems to have disappeared after 27 books. For me, they were still fun reads, but I can understand if the author just doesn't want to do them anymore. But Penny is letting her personal politics take over her Gamache books (if she wants politics, maybe she should just continue writing with Hillary Clinton), and I, for one, find it boring. Just give me good mysteries with interesting characters. Is that too much to ask?
DeleteI was intrigued about the Thompson books, so I Googled her and found out why the series ended. Ms. Thompson has, alas, died. I had not known this, and am sorry to hear it. I loved those books. May she rest in peace.
DeleteI’m not familiar with the Gaslight Mysteries, but I know how terrible it feels to loose a favorite author, especially one you’ve been reading for a couple of decades or more. When Larry McMurtry died a few years back, it felt to me as if I’d lost a member of the family. By then, I’d been reading him for around 50 years - that number looks unreal to me.
DeleteThey are a lot of fun. They are murder mysteries that take place in late 1800s Manhattan. Main characters are a midwife and a NYPD detective. I love them.
DeleteThey sound like fun; I’ll take a look. Thanks.
DeleteI am sorry Sam. I am on book 13 with Penny and I may read one or two more but I wonder if an author can continue a series for too long. As much as I love Gamache 19 books in a series is a lot. And while I understand Penny's anger at Trump and how he has treated Canada there is a way to thread politics through a novel. It has to be subtle and not overwhelm the story
ReplyDeleteI do think that most series go one or two books too long…at least. But not all of them do, and I always hope for the best. I’ve not, for instance, found this to be a problem for Michael Connelly’s Bosh series. But James Lee Burke has come dangerously close to that point, IMO, with his Robicheaux series.
DeleteI think Penny has become too obsessed now with politics. She’s rapidly turning into a one trick pony.
I have not read this series ... but it sounds like the last two books have been tedious and repetitious from what you say. Apparently Penny is not against her American reader fans with her canceling her U.S. tour but more against the real rhetoric bashing and tariff wielding done against Canada (a very longtime close ally that had a trade deal) by the White House occupant, which I think is fine for her to do. Canadians have left the U.S. in droves since the crackdown against the country.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Penny is against her fans as such, and I admire her for sticking to her beliefs if she thinks the cancellation made the point she wanted to make. I doubt that anyone in government noticed it at all, but that’s beside the point. And it’s not what I was trying to say. I understand her anger because I would certainly feel the same way if I were in her shoes.
DeleteWhat I’m unhappy about is how she’s now become so obsessed or caught up in some perpetual state of anger that it shows in her work and has taken all the fun out of reading what was one of my favorite series of all time. I figured that The Grey Wolf was just a one-time slip, but now with The Black Wolf she’s established a bad pattern.
It’s hard to explain the difference, but I’ll try. It’s one thing for characters to say things about controversial political issues because that’s just who they are in the context of the story being told. It’s quite another when those same sentiments come out of the author’s mouth as part of general background statements in the set-up of the story. I know I’m making a hash of trying to explain the difference, but it’s a fine line I hate to see anyone cross. In a way, that’s the point that tells me that the reader is being taken for granted, that the author is assumes that everyone out there agrees with them because they are so obviously right in their opinion.
Bottom line for me is that these last two books are just mediocre books - and that puts them way below the standard that Louise Penny has reached for so many years. And I really believe the reason it happened is that Penny has become obsessed with politics to the point that she sees Inspector Gamache as a tool to push her point of view. These two don’t read like the mysteries her fans are so fond of. They are almost James Bond parodies now.
I am two books behind - sorry to hear this!
ReplyDeleteIt’s my personal reaction, and I’m sure I'm in the minority on this one. You may very well find that these are as good as anything else in the series. In fact, when you get to these two, I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts on them.
DeleteSam, I have been a big fan of Louise Penny's work since her very first book. And I agree that sometimes a series can go on for a little too long or certainly that there are books in a long-running series that the reader (me) might not like as well. I have not read The Black Wolf yet. I did read The Grey Wolf and it was not a favorite. Part of why I've been hesitating to pick up the next. Penny has a new book coming in the fall, but so far this new book does not have a blurb or description they are releasing yet. I'm very curious what that story will be. I agree that sometimes the world's events are not something I want to read about in the fiction that I experience. Many readers struggled with reading about the pandemic times in books. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Sometimes, an author just doesn't work for us anymore. I got that way with Patricia Cornwell a long time ago. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteKay, funny you mention Cornwell; I feel the same about her but on literary gripes rather than what’s happened for me with Penny. In fact, I could probably come up with at least half a dozen others who finally repeated themselves in their books more times than I could stomach.
DeleteYou’ve got me curious about the new book coming this fall. I will definitely research that one closely before daring to put another thirty dollars on the table. I will never have that degree of trust with her work again - and it’s that feeling of trust that tells me that an author is at the top of my list for the long run.
I am sad that Penny, once a favorite author, has disappointed you so much. And it's awful that you spent thirty dollars on a book that you DNFed.
ReplyDeleteWhat really gets me, Deb, is that I see this as kind of a self-inflicted wound on her part. She still has the talent, but she’s made an emotional decision not to use it the way it works best. Actually, I regret the wasted time more than the wasted money.
DeleteAs you know, I'm with you wholeheartedly on the subject of authors bringing poilitcs into their books too much. It's why I refuse to read Val McDermid, excellent author that she is, her constant right-wing bashing gets on my nerves. I'm so sorry this has happened with Louise Penny. I'm way behind you with this series. Haven't actually picked up one of her Gamache books in several years as I got tired of the background intrigue which I was finding unlikely. But I know she was a favourite author of yours, so I'm sorry it's come to this, Sam.
ReplyDeleteI’ve gone off a bit on McDermid myself, despite how much I enjoyed her earlier books. It’s a shame that so many let their politics intrude on their true talents this way, Cath.
ReplyDeleteDarn! I love the Gamache series, even though I'm WAY behind in it. Too bad these newer novels aren't up to that par. At least I've still got lots of Gamache books to read...
ReplyDeleteI’m hoping it’s me who has soured on her writing tone, but I’m still stumbling on people out there on the net griping about how politically hysterical she’s become so there seems to be something quite a few others are noticing and talking about. I hope that doesn’t ruin them for you.
ReplyDelete