The Long Way Home: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Paperback)
September 2014 Indie Next List
“Penny's 10th novel shows us a different side of Armand Gamache. He has retired from the Surete du Quebec, and he and his wife have moved to Three Pines so he can recover both mentally and physically. Not one to be long without a mystery to solve, Gamache agrees to investigate the disappearance of Peter Morrow, a neighbor and friend. Once again, Penny provides an intriguing puzzle but more importantly she offers another installment in the lives of those characters that I and countless other readers have come to love so well.”
— Sharon Nagel, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI
Staff Reviews
— Hank is a retired TC staffer, who now serves up book reviews as a TC book bloggerLouise Penny has proven that she can write engrossing police procedurals in her first nine books. The previous installment, How the Light Gets In, brought to a conclusion the sophisticated plotting of a story arc of corruption dating back even to before the action of Still Life, the first novel featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. As a reader, I was left wondering what direction Gamache's life would next take, though it seemed fairly clear that Penny was not finished telling his story, or those of the inhabitants of the village of Three Pines. What follows is a profoundly unconventional story--not at all a murder mystery, and I would hesitate even to call it a mystery, although it's certainly mysterious. The story line of artists Clara and Peter, their troubled marriage, and their trial separation returns to the forefront in the aftermath of Gamache's audacious and shattering stand against many years of persecution for trying to keep his honor intact. As he tries his hand at peaceful retirement in Three Pines, Clara finds herself struggling with the central question of "What became of Peter?" when he fails to check back in as agreed. No longer in authority, and perhaps against his better judgment but true to his nature, Gamache soon finds himself investigating on her behalf, assisted by his former subordinate Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Clara, and the other civilians of the village who feel the absence, and possible loss.Penny cites both The Odyssey and Heart of Darkness as inspirations for the genesis of The Long Way Home, and, without saying too much, I can only recommend going along for the journey the characters take, veering close to the metaphysical, with a mythical, larger-than-life feeling in the story's treatment of the experience of the creative impulse, and the role of its destructive counterpart. Art has always played a major role in these books, and it's fascinating to "see" visual art only in terms of the written word. The Long Way Home has more real-life art world content than previous books, which concentrated on the differing approaches and styles Clara and Peter take to their painting. Readers will find it well worth taking a break to explore unfamiliar references as they may arise. I learned things to which I hadn't been exposed, and the story became richer for that knowledge." ~ Hank
A #1 New York Times Bestseller, Louise Penny's The Long Way Home is an intriguing Chief Inspector Gamache Novel.
Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, "to make the wounded whole."
While Gamache doesn't talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home. Failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache's help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines. "There's power enough in Heaven," he finishes the quote as he contemplates the quiet village, "to cure a sin-sick soul." And then he gets up. And joins her.
Together with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Myrna Landers, they journey deeper and deeper into Québec. And deeper and deeper into the soul of Peter Morrow. A man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist, he would sell that soul. And may have. The journey takes them further and further from Three Pines, to the very mouth of the great St. Lawrence river. To an area so desolate, so damned, the first mariners called it the land God gave to Cain. And there they discover the terrible damage done by a sin-sick soul.
“Ms. Penny's books mix some classic elements of the police procedural with a deep-delving psychology, as well as a sorrowful sense of the precarious nature of human goodness, and the persistence of its opposite, even in rural Edens like Three Pines.” —The New York Times
“Again and again, Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series is Exhibit A for how to write a great crime novel, with each installment improving on the previous.” —Sarah Weinman, National Post
“A counterintuitive and absorbing mystery from a superb author.” —USA Today
“Penny, as always, creates a complex story about people dealing with complex emotional issues. And she does so with deeply drawn and ever-evolving characters, a sense of place that leaps from the pages and prose that invites multiple re-readings…A story that examines the making of art and the struggles of artists, The Long Way Home is itself a work of art, a novel that transcends genre, engages heart and mind and, like all of Penny's work, leaves the reader awestruck by the depth of her skills and the decency of her spirit.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Penny tells powerful stories of damage and healing in the human heart, leavened with affection, humor and – thank goodness – redemption.” —The Charlotte Observer
“As with all the author's other titles, Penny wraps her mystery around the history and personality of the people involved. By this point in the series, each inhabitant of Three Pines is a distinct individual, and the humor that lights the dark places of the investigation is firmly rooted in their long friendships, or, in some cases, frenemyships. The heartbreaking conclusion will leave series readers blinking back tears.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Penny dexterously combines suspense with psychological drama, overlaying the whole with an all-powerful sense of landscape as a conduit to meaning...Another gem from the endlessly astonishing Penny.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Perceptive . . . perfectly paced . . . Penny offers real insight into the evolution of artistic style as well as the envy that artists feel about each other's success . . . . The prose is remarkable fresh, filled with illumination and delightful turns of phrase.” —Publishers Weekly
“Penny develops the story behind Peter's disappearance at a slow, masterful pace, revealing each layer of the mystery alongside an introspective glance at Gamache and his comrades, who can all sympathize with Peter's search for purpose. The emotional depth accessed here is both a wonder and a joy to uncover..” —Kirkus Reviews