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" A Vargas novel is as good as a trip to Paris. The style has the same hyper-real quality as all her writing -- the real world, but filtered through a strange prism -- but it' s the plotting that really hits the spot: ingenious and ecccentric.There' s been much brouhaha recently about the Crime Writers Association' s decision to exclude novels not written in English from its prestigious Dagger award; there may be the consolation of a separate prize for foreign writers. But after reading Fred Vargas, you may feel that she deserves the main trophy."
- "Daily Express"
" Fred Vargas is a wonderful writer. Much of the joy of reading this book lies in Vargas' s wonderful use of language, her subtle characterizations and her superb sense of place."
- Margaret Cannon, "The Globe and Mail"
" Joyous, enchanting, amazing, fantastic, unclassifiable, beyond-brilliant. Readers will not hold back praise for Fred Vargas. With Have Mercy on Us All, the novelist spares no trick in keeping us glued to our seats."
- "Elle" (France)
" On the basis of this elegantly twisted crime novel, Vargas is clearly an author who will rank alongside Henning Mankell. The plot kinks and switches in an utterly compelling manner. Creepy, sophisticated and wonderfully off-beat."
- "Scotland on Sunday"
" The hero of this Parisian crime novel is one of the most fetchingly weird detectives I' ve come across in a while. Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is a bit like Morse, but much more French."
- "Daily Telegraph "(UK)
" Slick, creepy and full of engagingly odd characters, this thriller is a class act."
- "The Independent" (UK)
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Until Sophia disappears. Nobody is greatly worried. Well, at least not until the point when worrying is pretty useless: a few days later her body is found in a burnt-out car. Suddenly, the mysterious tree – though still equally mysterious – seems ever-more sinister. But why? The three historians line up a plethora of mysterious suspects (her husband, her ex-lover, her niece newly returned to the capital with her child, her best friend?) and vow to discover who killed their neighbour.
It’s hard to express how good Vargas’s novels are. At least, without seeming to launch into an overenthusiastic, over-the-top, laudatory rant. Witness one press review: “Joyous, enchanting, amazing, fantastic, unclassifiable, beyond-brilliant. Readers will not hold back praise for Fred Vargas.” A bit OTT, no? Well, no, not really. The Three Evangelists is the best so far, and contains every element that have made critics laud her to the skies: a charming, witty, quirky style, an original and gripping plot constantly fresh with twists, and endearingly eccentric, likeable characters (the three historians – or, “evangelists” are the most quirky and entertaining bunch of protagonists you’ll likely come across; their individual characters and interactions are hugely funny). The best writers are those whose work is incomparable to any other, completely original, and Vargas fits this mould as if she were designed for it.
The Three Evangelists is edgy but humorous, sinister yet light, clever but a huge amount of fun. The characters are odd (sometimes downright weird) but still real. The plots are unlikely but, due to their originality and tone, fascinating to a ludicrous degree. I’ve said this before, but I can’t really describe what makes Vargas’s books so special, so unique. They adhere to loose conventions of a mystery novel, but are unlike any other mystery novels you’ve read, in tone at least, and certainly in style. This might be the crowning feature of Vargas’s work (or maybe just the grounding one, I don’t know), the style, which just bristles with knowing fun, while taking the story itself completely seriously. Too, she garnishes both unusual and everyday events with an itchy sinister atmosphere (the appearance of a tree has never, ever been so unnerving) that, coupled with the quirky fun, puts both in the spotlight in a more pointed, powerful way. You always know when authors had fun writing a book, and this is one of them. Some of the lines, some of the understated ironic asides Vargas offers about her characters, are laugh-out-loud funny in a way more associated with Terry Pratchett
And how is it as a mystery novel? Well, in terms of being a crime novel, The Three Evangelists is the best puzzle, the most well-written and crafted clutch of surprises, that I have read in absolute months. You may think you know what’s going on, guessed what Vargas has up her sleeve, but you are, in the end, wrong. She turns the tables brilliantly several times with a mystery and story that is never as simple as it appears to be. It’s a complete joy to read, and I very much hope you do so. This might, already, be the best crime novel of 2006. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.
Three young historians, Mathias, Marc and Lucian, and Marc's ex-policeman uncle, Armand, buy a ramshackle house, known as the `disgrace'. When Armand sees the three young men standing each framed by a section of a gothic window, he coins them "the three evangelists."
Their neighbor, Sophia, is an former opera singer. When she finds a tree has been planted in her garden, it causes her worry. She hires the young men to dig it up, just to reassure her that nothing is planted under it. When Sophia disappears, the young men, with the help of Armand, are determined to find out what happened.
I particularly like books which are character driven, and this certainly was. I loved the characters. Sophia, the retired opera singer worried about a tree which appears in her garden, the three evangelists, so named by Armand, an ex-flic and uncle to St. Mark (Marc the Middle Ages historian who always wears black), St. Martin (Mathias the Prehistoric historian who dislikes wearing clothes), and St. Luck (Lucian the Great Wars historian who always wears a tie). I felt Vargas really liked her characters and made me like them in turn.
Even the house, in which the four men live, almost becomes a character in the story. The story is wonderfully plotted, escalating bit-by-bit to the final climatic reveal. The reveal itself was particularly well done as it wasn't dry and unemotional, as most are, but filled with pain and disappointment.
Perhaps because she is Parisian and writing about her own city, there wasn't as strong a sense of place as I, a foreigner, might have liked. However, it is her familiarity with place that made me feel comfortable there as well.
This was one of the better translations. The dialogue worked very well, particularly the occasional banter between the principal characters.
Vargas' writing captivates me. It is filled with warmth, humor and emotion. I highly recommend it.
But I really enjoyed this book. The characters were flawed but likeable (if a little familiar) and the plot flowed along nicely. Read more
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