Have Mercy on Us All

Fred Vargas excels at enveloping a crime with layer upon layer of illusion. The author's imagination is so wild and whimsical, I never manage to foresee how the mystery will end. This book brings us to an obscure neighborhood in Paris peopled by eccentric ex-cons. They include a scholarly old man who lets rooms at compassionate rents, a gorgeous retired black prostitute, a gentle simpleton who runs a skateboard shop and a blackballed sea dog named Joss who has revived the ancient profession of town crier. Three times a day Joss takes his position in the square and, in his sonorous voice, analyses world events, forecasts the maritime weather, reports any shipwrecks, and reads out neighborhood news and ads submitted to him by the locals. Joss won't generally read out nasty messages, but he decides to accept an incomprehensible message about filth, vermin and beasties. The weird messages keep coming, and the local landlord-bookworm finally figures out that these messages are predicting the return of the Plague to Paris. Meanwhile big black number 4s are starting to appear on apartment doorways in various neighborhoods. These symbols, it seems, were used to protect against the Plague centuries ago. Chief Inspector Adamsberg gets interested in these goings-on before anyone dies. Wooly headed as he is, Adamsberg is good at sniffing out evil intentions behind symbols. Adamsberg has just been promoted to the murder squad, and he now has 28 officers whose names he can't remember to help him track down killers. Vargas presents us with loveable characters grievously damaged by life, and criminal activity so convoluted that even Adamsberg, with his love of illogic, is bamboozled through most of the book. There's nothing like learning something while you're being entertained, and this book is a real education on the Black Death. Fred Vargas is a historian and archeologist specializing in the Middle Ages.

Although I read this mystery in a German translation I just love the style Fred Vargas writes in, and want to highly recommend it. The mystery is complex and spell binding, and the characters are convincingly realistic. All the irrationalities and contradictions of the different personalities are presented in a fascinating but not boring detail. I also just finished reading another Fred Vargas novel 'Sous les vents de Neptune', and I am looking for more, to find out, how the American translation is done. However, it seems that not all of her mysteries are translated into English, which is unfortunate

Both my wife and I really enjoyed this book. Very interesting characters and a bit of a history lesson thrown in we highly recommend it for a change of pace.

Over fourteen years ago, Joss Le Guern complained to the ship owner that the vessel he captained Nor'easter was unsafe. He was told he is to do his job or someone else will. The ship breaks apart; an angry Joss survives and breaks the leg of the owner. Joss is convicted of assault and battery and attempted murder; he spends nine months in prison and his sailing career is over. After spending the next seven years as a drunk, Joss becomes a Parisian town crier. For the past seven years, three times a day he collects messages from his box and calls out the news. However, the message he finds this time claims the Black Death is coming. He takes the note to Chief Inspector Adamsberg, who assumes a hoax is being played on the crier; that opinion changes when he and his subordinate Danglard notice "hex" signs used during the Middle Ages to ward off the disease appearing on doors and a corpse that displays the symptoms of the Plague. Adamsberg takes the threats seriously hoping to stop the Black Death from devastating Paris. HAVE MERCY ON US is a strong translation of a French police procedural thriller. Once Adamsberg realizes the biological terror is potentially real, the pace never slows down. Joss is a terrific character struggling as all whistleblowers seem to dio when they act courageously and challenge authority for behaving illegal or amoral, but in his case guilt leaves him a shadow of himself until now. Adamsberg and Danglard are terrific cops confronting a lethal unknown enemy with no time to spare. Fred Vargas writes a strong thriller that translates quite nicely into a one-sitting adrenalin read. Harriet Klausner

Ayant découvert ce roman de Fred Vargas par recomendation d'un ami, je l'ai lu avec entière plaisir pendant mes deplacements au travaille aller et retour. Sans etre grand fan des romans policieres en particulier, je lis pour le première fois de ma vie un "polar français" (je croyais la chose impossible) et c'est excellent en plus! L'histoire est tellement bien racontée qu'on la vit plutôt, on est dedans, intelligent, rebondissements en tous genre, et ça se lit très vite, on reste accroché à l'histoire. C'est bourré de rtrouvailles et d'histoire, la criée de Joss, il fallait y penser, c'est érudit-sans-trop-le-montrer, et en la lissant, ca m'a empeché de aucune moment enuyant, et on aprend beaucoup de choses sur la peste de l'Europe médiévale. Je le conseille vivement !!!