Alex: 1 (Commandant Camille Verhoeven Trilogy) - Softcover

"An auspicious English-language debut . . . With quiet virtuosity, Lemaitre moves the narrative through its various levels toward a concluding act of retribution that is both ingeniously conceived and immensely satisfying. Tricky, disturbing and ultimately affecting, Alex is a welcome addition to the rising tide of European crime fiction that has followed in the wake of Stieg Larsson's death. Larsson's many readers should take this book to their hearts and should find themselves waiting, with some degree of impatience, for the next Verhoeven novel to appear."--Bill Sheehan, The Washington Post Book World

"An eloquent thriller with a denouement that raises eyebrows as it speeds the pulse."--Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"An original and absorbing ability to leash incredulity in the name of the fictional contract between author and reader... A police procedural, a thriller against time, a race between hunted and hunter, and a whydunnit, written from multiple points of view that explore several apparently parallel stories which finally meet."--CWA International Dagger Award Judges citation

"Before you can say Gone Girl, he discovers the crime is far from random and Alex anything but an ordinary victim. This gritty page-turner, Alex, is the first in a promised trilogy. Plus, s'il vous plait."--Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly

"Fascinating . . . filled with many twists and turns of plot along with a huge surprise."--Connie Fletcher, Booklist

"Lemaitre's impressive American debut . . . unexpected plot twists will keep readers turning the pages."--Publishers Weekly (Starred and Boxed Review)

"Lemaitre's plot is laid out with mathematical precision: a beautiful woman is kidnapped, stripped naked, thrown into a cage and subjected to the systematic torture of a brutal captor . . . Revenge narratives go all the way back to the Greeks, but it's the vagina dentate component that sets a specimen like Alex apart, as Lemaitre adapts Larsson's blueprint with moves of his own."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"Relentlessly gripping . . . Various subtle variations of the crime novel are handled with aplomb . . . By page 200 you may believe that you're moving to a pulse-raising conclusion. But you will be wrong; in some senses, the novel has only just begun."--Barry Forshaw, Independent


"The winner of countless French crime-writing prizes, Lemaitre is far too canny to join the ranks of thriller authors who merely revel in disturbing details and gory crimes. Where another novel would have finished, Alex is just beginning, and the book moves from read-as-fast-as-you-can horror to an intricately plotted race to a dark truth . . . There's humour here, and characters to return to, but really Alex is about thrills. And as the novel barrels triumphantly towards its unexpected but satisfying conclusion, it's in this respect that it deliver."--Alison Flood, The Observer

"Genuinely unpredictable in a way few suspense novels are."--Charles Finch, USA Today

The acclaimed, worldwide bestselling second book in the Brigade Criminelle Trilogy, reissued in a stunning new package to tie in with Lemaitre's standalone thriller Blood Wedding