Review: The Long Way Home (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #10)
Gaby Meares
This is easily my least favourite book in this series which I have, up to this point, loved. It is overly long at 368 pages, and that would not be a problem except that not a lot really happens and there is a decided dip in the middle of the book, where it just drags. Definitely too much gazing at art, analysing art and talking about art. Without being able to see the art in question, it wears very thin very quickly.
I think part of the problem is our beloved Armand Gamache has retired with his long-suffering wife to the idyll that is Three Pines. That doesn’t leave much scope for him to be involved in an active investigation, so instead he feels impelled to help his friend Clara find her missing husband. Not the most riveting of plots, and as the book approached the conclusion it got more and more convoluting and it totally lost me for a while.
I do hope that this is just a glitch - Louise Penny is usually so reliable. Let’s hope the next instalment picks up the pace again. Although having Gamache retired could be a major stumbling block.