“On the slab”: what is Fred Vargas’ latest thriller worth?

2023-05-16 07:36:05

A new Vargas? Definitely an event for lovers of well-dressed thrillers. This Wednesday, May 17, on the eve of a long bridge conducive to reading, comes out in bookstores “On the slab”, the twelfth opus by Fred Vargas featuring the adventures of Commissioner Adamsberg.

A lunar cop, master in the art of “shoveling the clouds” and making unlikely connections to solve all sorts of murders, each more sordid than the next. A colorful character who frees himself both from red tape and the necessarily narrow mind of his hierarchy.

A ghost around Combourg

In this unpublished novel, the whimsical Parisian investigator heads west, surely the cardinal point that he masters best, he who always seems a little lost, overwhelmed by events until he tames them like by magic.

Supporting the Breton commissioner Franck Matthieu, Adamsberg will have to stop a mysterious serial killer who seems to be following in the footsteps of a very strange ghost reviving ancient local legends around Combourg (Ille-et-Vilaine), stronghold of François-René of Chateaubriand. The main suspect: nothing less than Josselin, a distant descendant of the writer who carries his staggering resemblance to his illustrious ancestor like a burden.

To carry out this enigma, Adamsberg can count on his flair, his meditation sessions on dolmen (the famous “slab” of the title) and, of course, on his faithful team made up of sacred wags. This whole band of more or less fine sleuths takes up residence in an inn managed by a truculent innkeeper named Johan and spends his time eating (and drinking, even in full service…).

Repeated feasting scenes

There’s something puzzling about this new book by Fred Vargas. We certainly find with enormous joy the mischievous storyteller who always sows so many historical and fanciful touches in her story. We are also happy to meet picturesque characters like this innkeeper with a big stomach and a big heart, this Chateaubriand look-alike who goes off to mushrooms when he doesn’t like it or this hunchback who has his hump removed.

But as the chapters go by, the plot turns in circles. The murders follow one another, the police raids too, like two checkers players who tirelessly advance the same pawns. All interspersed, each time, with scenes of revelry to the point that one ends up wondering if the title slab does not rather echo the little hollow that the police always seem to have at any time of the day…

There remains a surprising finale and this fluffy feeling of having found old friends lost sight of for the time of a pleasant reading but nothing more.

Editor’s note:

« On the slab », by Fred Vargas, ed. Flamemarion, €23. Release May 17 in bookstores.