Book Review : "La forêt des ombres" (F.Thilliez)

In French in the text! This thriller titled "the forest of shadows" from Franck Thilliez is crazy. Really! It takes you deep into a strange story where a writer has been asked to write a special story for a rich eccentric man about a murderer active 25 years ago . When they arrive with his wife and daughter in the cabin in the middle of the Black Forest, the atmosphere is definitely the one of murder scene in an idyllic place (everything is there: snow, chalet in a no man's land in the middle of the German lack Forest, feared lynx coming at night, dead porks hanging for a strange experiment... well, you dream of getting away from this place really!)

Throughout the book the author makes us share this singular daily life of his character and the action is so intense that I devoured this book within a few hours! The fact that the book is in French may help to read it quicker. Moreover the thriller action is really smooth and breath-taking from the beginning to the end. Some hints here and there make the reader guessing a bit of the following story. However the action behind closed doors shows every single character becoming more and more crazy by this situation. During most of the story, the author goes deeper and deeper in the psychology around the characters and their special place in the story. Except for a few quite gory description, well this thriller is pretty much in the heads of each and one of them (and yours as well!). You may need to watch your back a few times after reading this (and checking if you have numbers tatooed on your skull...).

Well, I really loved it, for the ease to be read, the strong red line throughout the book, the detailed falling down of the characters, the crazyness of the story in itself... a good 8.5 out of 10 and WELL RECOMMENDED (if you like thrillers...).