Reader Score
80%
80% of readers
recommend this book
The 19th mystery in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Armand Gamache series.
Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning. That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin THE GREY WOLF, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times-bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "this might interest you", a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list--and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching. Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command, and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they're chasing becomes clear. If they fail the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages. Including Three Pines.Praise for The Grey Wolf
"One of the series' best...Penny pulls off the narrative's uncharacteristically epic scope without a hitch, swapping fair-play puzzles for pulse-pounding cliffhangers without sacrificing intimate character moments. Gamache's fans will be eager for his next adventure"--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "The story is complex and intense, and, as always, artfully constructed and lyrically delivered."--Booklist (starred review) "Penny's follow-up to A World of Curiosities plays on readers' fears as she launches a new story arc that is completed in this installment but presents a cliffhanger. It's a frightening novel of duality, of good versus evil, with an allegorical tale for today's world, as only Penny can write."--Library Journal (starred review) ""Penny's most ambitious novel to date... I read it in one sitting, because I could not put it down." --BookPage (starred review) "One of those rare triple-deckers that's actually worth every page, every complication, every bead of sweat."--Kirkus Reviews "A richly complicated, compulsively readable tale that's well worth the two-year wait."--Los Angeles Times "A tense, satisfying tale."--FirstClue ""The Canadian novelist Louise Penny is brilliant, mild-mannered, and the author of one blockbuster after another."--Dayton Daily News "With bursts of wit and warmth, the story exposes the deep fears and hurts - as well as the guiding lights and loves - that drive individuals to act."--Christian Science Monitor