Review for The 7TH. Woman by Frederique Molay

The 7th Woman

By Frederique Molay

Paris Homicide, Book 1

Publisher:  Le French Book

Release Date: November 25, 2013

Genre: Police Proceedural/Crime Thriller

Length:  254 Pages

ISBN:  978-0-9853206-6-9

ASIN:  B009ED24VC

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About the book:

Edge-of-your-seat suspense in the first Paris Homicide mystery.

There's no rest for Paris's top criminal investigation division, La Crim'. Who is preying on women in the French capital? How can he kill again and again without leaving any clues? A serial killer is taking pleasure in a macabre ritual that leaves the police on tenterhooks. Chief of Police Nico Sirsky—a super cop with a modern-day real life, including an ex-wife, a teenage son and a budding love story—races against the clock to solve the murders as they get closer and closer to his inner circle. Will he resist the pressure? The story goes behind the scenes with the French police and into the coroner's office, with the suspense of Seven, with CSI-like details.

AWARDS

2007 Prix du Quai des Orfèvres, a prestigious French crime fiction award, the “Goncourt of crime fiction”

Named Best Crime Fiction Novel of the Year

An international bestseller: over 150,000 copies sold

What People Have Said About The 7^TH Woman

"Frédérique Molay is the French Michael Connelly" – Jean Miot, former head of Agence France Presse (AFP). 

"A taut and terror-filled thriller with a lightning-quick, sinister plot." – Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author

"Ratcheting tension won't let you put the book down." – Cara Black, bestselling author of Paris mysteries

  

A fan of books set in Paris, I looked forward to reading The 7Th Woman by Frederique Molay, the first book in her Paris Homicide series, and was not disappointed.  A tightly paced police procedural/crime thriller, Ms. Molay takes us into the heart and mind of her main character, Nico Sirsky, the Polish/Russian Chief of Police, who is in charge of the Criminal Investigative Division or La Crim to the locals (I just think is sounds sexy to say La Crim instead of police).  While his ethnic heritage isn’t French, his father was Polish and his mother is Russian, and he doesn’t really resemble your typical Frenchman, he’s over six feet with blond hair and blue eyes, he is the quintessential Frenchman in behavior and thought (suave and sophisticated). 

Ms. Molay does a wonderful job introducing the members of Nico’s teams, he’s in charge of at least 4 teams of special investigators, and the support groups that help the police investigating crimes.  She also does a wonderful job introducing us to Nico’s family, a very colorful group of people including his ex-wife and his only son Dimitri, who happens to look just like his father.  We also meet Dr. Caroline Darly, who will become an important person in his life and a target of the serial killer he is pursuing in this book.

The villain of the story is also well developed and is pretty depraved; he’s intelligent, sadistic and knows things about Nico and police procedure which make his capture difficult.  Since this is a story told in first person, we get both Nico and the killer’s perspectives on everything that is taking place.  As the victim’s pile up, one woman every day for seven days, the killer taunts the police and Nico personally.  We get to see the victimology up close and personal.

Will Nico be able to catch the murderer before the seventh day and seventh woman dies?  Will the seventh woman be someone personally important in Nico’s life?  You’ll have to read The 7^th Woman to find out, I loved it and can’t wait to dive into Crossing the Line, which takes place several months after the ending of this book.  It’s easy to see why Ms. Molay received several awards for this book and I look forward to reading many more books in her Paris Homicide series.

My Rating:  5 out of 5 Crowns   

FTC Disclosure:  Book reviewed was purchased by blog owner.