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Irène cover art

Irène

By: Pierre Lemaitre, Frank Wynne - translator
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Summary

For Commandant Verhoeven life is beautiful: he is happily married, expecting his first child with the lovely Irène.

But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder of unprecedented savagery. Worse still, the press seem to have it in for him - his every move is headline news. When he discovers that the killer has killed before - that each murder is a homage to a classic crime novel - the fourth estate are quick to coin a nickname: The Novelist.

With both men in the public eye, the case develops into a personal duel, each hell-bent on outsmarting the other. There can only be one winner - whoever has the least to lose.

©2006 Pierre Lemaitre et Editions du Masque (P)2014 WF Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Last year, I was not alone in hailing Pierre Lemaitre’s Alex as one of my top crime books of 2013 . . . Irène, now published in an excellent English translation, is just as gripping, frightening, intelligent and brilliant" ( Marcel Berlins, The Times)
"Quirky, brutal and not for the faint-hearted, it is crime fiction of the highest class . . . Superbly constructed and executed, it puts Lemaitre very close to Ellroy’s class. If you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down" ( Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail)
"A page-turning race to a grand-slam finish" ( Laura Wilson, Guardian)

What listeners say about Irène

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

Compulsive listening. The story was powerful and unique though extremely distressing but told with compassion and disturbing beauty

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not for the faint hearted

Well written and thought out but horribly brutal. Some memorable characters and plot lines. More horror than detection.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, just ok narrator

I don’t like the way the narrator reads all the woman with a high pitch. There is no caracter in the way he portrays them, only an annoying voice. As if woman talks like that.

I struggled a bit to get in to the book. It gets better, and the story is good. But if it weren’t for the fact that I have heard great things about the next book Alex, I probably wouldn’t finish this one

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A clever book

I don’t use clever in a pejorative way. This is a clever, tricksy book. To say how would give away too much but a serial killer using scenarios from crime novels is a perfect plot for fans of crime novels.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

One of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to in the dark genre! Listen at your peril. Highly recommended if you dare.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

audible at its best.

loved it, gripping and sinister. excellent narration. this was audible at its best. characters came to life.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

French mystery

What did you like most about Irène?

The French accent of the narrator reading the story,really added to the listening experience, and gave it a French atmosphere, and you could imagine you were there

What did you like best about this story?

The clever twists and turns, and the way the killer was goading Camille.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

When Camille and his team worked out where Irene was being held,and they arrived on the scene and found her.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I found it hard to turn it off.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Brilliant writing but gory

An unusual crime novel with a great idea - hood there are no copycats! Difficult to follow who's who as there are a lot if characters right at the beginning. I would have given 5 stars but there was too much gore.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The narrator kills the book!

Any additional comments?

I've just listened to all 3 books from this author. And the narrator chosen kills book 1 and 3, where as Alex has a good narrator.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Horrifying and compulsive

I've never read or listened to thrillers of this nature before and was slightly horrified that despite the very detailed and gory nature of the writing I could not stop listening
I'd already listened to Alex (accidentally misreading the order these books were written in) so knew the outcome already. But still wished Irene to be saved. This book has character voices whilst Alex does not - I preferred the later performance.
Will move onto book 3 with anxious anticipation

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1 person found this helpful