The Moment Before Drowning

Within this murder-mystery, we follow Jacques le Garrec, a French resistance hero and former detective who has just returned to his hometown village in Brittany to await his trial for a crime he is being accused of during his work with the Algerian police. Once he arrives, he is asked to aid in the murder investigation of a young woman whose body was found mutilated and left for the public eye the previous winter. Le Garrec has just over a week to dig up information that has been forgotten, lost, or not found from the previous year to solve the murder and bring closure. Within that time, he must also prepare his own case for the trial that awaits him regarding another young woman. Le Garrec must keep from merging the two women in his mind during the investigation and be able to bring peace to himself with his personal issues as well. The text in this novel flowed smoothly, yet I found the ending to lack all the information it needed to feel complete. This novel is not for the light-hearted; there are graphic, descriptive scenes of torture that can cause uneasiness.