“Lucie Henebelle, single mother and beleaguered detective, has just about enough on her plate when she receives a phone call from an ex-lover. Lucie’s old friend has developed a case of hysterical blindness after watching a mysterious film from the 1950s.

Embedded in the movie are subliminal images so heinous that Lucie, with the help of brooding profiler Inspector Franck Sharko, is determined to get to the bottom of it – especially when nearly everyone connected to the film starts turning up dead.” 

What a novel!  On the face of it (from the blurb) you get the impression that this is just another run of the mill detective novel but it is so much more than that.  This book has so many different layers to it.  I was hooked from the end of the first chapter!

Originally written in French and translated by Mark Polizzotti it has a real international flavour taking you from France to Belgium, from Cairo to Canada.

You instantly like Lucie Hennebelle, a long suffering single mother doing the best she can for her children whilst trying to work emotionally intense cases and long hours.  The same cannot be said for Inspector Franck Sharko who is standoffish and secretive.  The twists and turns were fast paced and as a seasoned crime fiction reader I didn’t see the ‘whodunnit’ climax coming.

I wasn’t particularly taken with the romance aspect of the book where, it felt to me, that a strong independent woman was suddenly fawning over her love interest.  But then I want blood, guts and gore, intrigue and suspense in my books….not love and cuddles *censored for any younger readers out there*!

Lots of wonderful content.  I have an interest in psychology so this was right up my street.

Four out of five stars (it would have been five but for the romance *yuck*).