I am finally over How The Light Gets In (although looking back on my review, it seems a bit understated compared to how the book still makes me feel) and so I finally borrowed the next book in the Inspector Gamache series: The Long Way Home. This book is different from the rest of the books because Gamache is no longer with the Surete – after the events of the last book, he has finally retired to the village of Three Pines.
If you’ve been following the story of Peter and Clara Morrow, you’ll know that the couple have split in the previous books. Peter was always the successful artist, so when Clara’s paintings eclipsed his, he doesn’t deal with it well. The two agreed on a trial separation where Peter would leave for one year, and then he would come back so they could re-evaluate their relationship. Well, the one year is up, but Peter isn’t home. After weeks of thinking over it, Clara told Gamache about what happened and the search for Peter begins.
To be honest, I’ve always liked Clara over Peter (and I think most of the characters in the book feel the same). But this is the book where my feelings about Peter begin to change. And the thing is, Peter isn’t even in the book for most of it. It’s through the trial he left, from figuring out how he has changed through his new paintings, that my opinion of him started to change. By the time we reached the ending and finally met Peter, I already knew what to expect. His entire journey can be summed up in this quote that appears throughout the book:
“I’ll pray that you grow up a brave man in a brave country. I will pray you find a way to be useful.”
Speaking of quotes, the entire book is full of lovely ones. Perhaps it’s because they are looking for Peter through his art, which leads to reflections on what art is, but I thought there were a lot of lovely lines about human nature, sin-sick souls, and how art comes to be. Of course, you also have Ruth in this book so sometimes the lovely moving lines are followed by something so characteristically Ruth that it makes you laugh.
The mystery itself was, as usual, excellent. It goes into Clara and Peter’s past (we finally find out more about how they met) and the people that they’ve met there. It’s not as big as case as How The Light Gets In, but it’s a mystery that still touches upon jealousy and the worst of human nature. I also liked that the mystery brought the Surete into the picture a little more – it’s pretty interesting to see how Gamache is seen after the events of the previous book.
When I started this book, I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to the last – after all, How The Light Gets In felt like the perfect, triumphant, ending to Gamache’s career in the Surete. How could any case compare to that? But Louise Penny has shown that she doesn’t need a big, exciting case to write a great mystery. I’m now even more excited to continue reading the Inspector Gamache novels.