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    A Climate of Fear
    A Climate of Fear
    A Climate of Fear
    Audiobook15 hours

    A Climate of Fear

    Written by Fred Vargas

    Narrated by Chris MacDonnell

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A woman is found murdered in her bathtub, and the murder has been made to look like a suicide. But a strange symbol found at the crime scene leads the local police to call Commissaire Adamsberg and his team.

    When the symbol is found near the body of a second disguised suicide, a pattern begins to emerge: both victims were part of a disastrous expedition to Iceland over ten years ago where a group of tourists found themselves trapped on a deserted island for two weeks, surrounded by a thick, impenetrable fog rumored to be summoned by an ancient local demon. Two of them didn't make it back alive. But how are the deaths linked to the secretive Association for the Study of the Writings of Maximilien Robespierre? And what does the mysterious symbol signify?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    TranslatorSian Reynolds
    Release dateMar 7, 2017
    ISBN9781681685922
    A Climate of Fear

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    Reviews for A Climate of Fear

    4/5

    155 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      3 interesting "worlds" involved in a twisty involving mystery - Feel of Iceland & historical re-enactment groups & times of the French revolution. I enjoyed this book quite a lot - additionally the narrator used a number of different accented voices which distinguished between characters without being at all intrusive. Terrific listen!
    • 5/5
      If you like complex plots, quirky characters, colorful dialogue, and misdirection, "A Climate of Fear," by Fred Vargas, beautifully translated from the French by Si̢n Reynolds, will entertain, enlighten, and bedazzle you. The cast of characters is large, but three individuals stand out: Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, a gifted sketch-artist whose wool-gathering, oblique reasoning, and impulsiveness irritate his colleagues; Commandant Adrien Danglard, a walking encyclopedia of arcane facts on a wide variety of subjects; and Violette Retancourt, a tall and muscular woman who is agile, strong, and quick-witted. Adding a note of whimsy, there is a domesticated boar named Marc who is fiercely protective of his mistress.

      The bizarre and tangled case that Adamsberg and his Serious Crimes Squad investigate begins with the apparent suicide of an elderly woman, Alice Gauthier. The detectives, assisted by the proficient H̩l̬ne Froissy, a computer expert and research specialist, come to suspect that Alice's wounds were not self-inflicted. Subsequently, others are targeted for death, and at each crime scene, the killer draws the same strange symbol. Adamsberg has two potential avenues of inquiry. One is to look into an expedition to Iceland ten years earlier that ended tragically; the other is to find out everything he can about a society whose bewigged and elaborately costumed men and women reenact the infamous assemblies conducted by Robespierre and his fellow revolutionaries.

      If this sounds like a hodgepodge, it is. However, there are rich rewards for those who manage to go the distance. Readers will learn fascinating minutiae about the Reign of Terror; take a trip to Iceland with a trio of police officers, one of whom is eager to find out what really happened to the ill-fated travelers who visited there a decade ago; and spend time with offbeat individuals who often speak in riddles. Thanks to Adamsberg's brilliant instincts, ability to spot anomalies in people's behavior, and passion for justice, those under his command are motivated to do whatever is necessary to uncover the truth. "A Climate of Fear" is a challenging, literate, mind-bending, and darkly humorous tale of madness, vengeance, intimidation, and retribution.
    • 4/5
      An excellent murder mystery featuring Captain Adamsberg and his team of Parisian detectives. A murdered woman, a strange family with secrets, a trip to Iceland where something happened that no one talks about and a weird group devoted to Robespierre provide the material for Adamsberg to unravel. The Captain must thread his way through the tenuous interconnections between the characters while battling his team who see the obvious solution and want to close the case.Who did it comes as a bit of a let down, but for an international audience the thrill is more in getting that view inside French everyday life and how people interact than in capturing the killer.
    • 5/5
      I love the crime novels of Fred Vargas and particularly the Adamsberg ones. I don't know why they work but they do. Everyone is eccentric and the plots are always convoluted with some hint of the supernatural. But I gobble them up and A Climate of Fear was no exception. Lost Iceland tourists, Revolutionary France societies and wild boars - as crazy and fascinating as they always are. If you've never read one, go back to the beginning and do so - you won't be disappointed.
    • 4/5
      By bringing in a reference to Iceland at an early stage, Vargas tricks us into thinking that this is going to be some kind of "Adamsberg meets Nordic Noir" novel, but in the event it turns out to be a very solidly French crime story, with Robespierre, Danton, Fouché and their revolutionary contemporaries playing a significant role. Of course, Adamsberg does get his trip to the North, and there are some archaeological in-jokes (clues in post-holes!), an animal story involving a not-so-wild boar, a restaurant that serves fabulous pommes paillasson, and plenty of tensions within Adamsberg's team of determinedly eccentric detectives. As usual in Vargas, the serial-killer plot is extravagantly subtle and implausibly complex, but it's great fun.I do hope we don't have to wait too long for the next one!
    • 5/5
      A Climate of Fear – Brilliant French Crime ThrillerUp until I started reading A Climate of Fear, I had not heard of Fred Vargas, and then thought Vargas was male, and I had never heard of the Commissaire Adamsberg series. Now I know Fred is an award winning writer and the Commissaire Adamsberg, even if this is the ninth in the series, it could be read as a standalone thriller.A Climate of Fear has been written by one of the truly original crime writers, which is different from the usual formulaic crime fiction of today. This really is a clever, slightly quirky and highly original crime thriller that keeps the reader hooked from beginning to end.A woman is found dead in her bath and at first it is thought she has committed suicide, but a strange symbol is found near the body. Then a second body is found, once again, thought to have committed suicide, but once again the same strange symbol is found. The only link on the surface is that ten years earlier they had been on a doomed trip to Iceland, where two of their number were murdered.As Commissaire Adamsberg begins his investigation, on the surface seems to be straightforward until he starts to dig further in to the murders. What makes things even more confusing is that the deaths also seem linked to a secretive Association for the Study of the Writings of Maximilien Robespierre. How this secret society fits in to the whole scheme seems to be in to the murders is not obvious and like a game of chess Adamsberg really has to take a step back and look at the chessboard and anticipate probably moves.When he flies out to Iceland to investigate what went on ten years previously, he is sure the demonic island where two French people were killed holds secrets that might help to open up his new murders. While his team think he has finally gone mad and is off on a tangent, Adamsberg proves to his team, he does occasionally know what he is doing.This is a totally absorbing and enjoyable read that has been excellently translated by Sian Reynolds, and is a crime fiction at its best. As a reader you are drawn in and like Adamsberg team at times you wonder about the tangent he is going in. But it slowly opens your eyes to what he is doing, and when he reveals who has done what it still takes your breath away.An excellent addition to translated crime fiction and shows why French Noir while being slightly quirky is highly original, clever and even slightly cool.