A Mysterious Review of …
Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez.
Review summary: This is a fast-paced thriller but a lengthy and rather complicated one all the same. (Some of the subject matter is based on historical fact.) The title refers to a "violent mental contamination starting from a catalyst … a rare, random phenomenon that can strike anywhere, at any time" … and what makes it all the more unsettling to the reader is that it can also strike anyone. (Click here for text of full review.)
Our rating:
Syndrome E
Franck Thilliez
Viking (August 2012)
Publisher synopsis: This is the story of beleaguered detective Lucie Hennebelle, whose old friend has developed a case of spontaneous blindness after watching an extremely rare — and violent — film from the 1950s. Embedded in the film are subliminal images so unspeakably heinous that Lucie realizes she must get to the bottom of it — especially when nearly everyone who comes into contact with the film starts turning up dead.
Enlisting the help of Inspector Franck Sharko — a brooding, broken analyst for the Paris police who is exploring the film’s connection to five murdered men left in the woods, Lucie begins to strip away the layers of what is perhaps the most disturbing and powerful film ever made. Soon Sharko and Lucie find themselves mired in a darkness that spreads across politics, religion, science, and art while stretching from France to Canada, Egypt to Rwanda, and beyond.
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