The Black Tower
by Louis
Bayard
A must read for
detective fiction and French history lovers
Publisher:
William Morrow (August 2008)
Louis Bayard's The Black Tower
is an intriguing blend of several genres: literary historical fiction,
detective suspense and "what if" fiction. Fascinating characters,
history and a murder mystery, combine to make this book a thrilling
read for fiction lovers and a must read for detective fiction history
lovers. Louis Bayard creates a thrilling mystery while also combining
history and the personal in a people and culture who have been
conditioned to erase history.
Hector Carpentier, a Parisian medical student recounts his strange
unexpected encounter with Vidocq, a former convict turned head of a
mysterious police force and unusual informants known for its unusual
luck in capturing some of Paris's most elusive criminals. When a
murdered man shows up blocks from Hector's home with the name Dr.
Carpentier on a slip of paper, Vidocq intends to do everything within
his power to ferret out the truth. As the trial of clues unfold, the
past comes back to haunt Hector and indeed Paris itself. Working
together yet perhaps also trying to hide the truth, Hector's
examination of medical records unveils a mystery ---- what if the young
dauphin Louis-Charles, son of Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI had
not died and somehow survived or even escaped from his imprisonment in
the notorious Black Tower? In the meantime, a mysterious man with no
memory has surfaced, a man with mysterious links to Hector and the
past. Could he be the dauphin? Who might want this man dead badly
enough to commit murder?
Louis Bayard's The Black Tower
gives the reader a fascinating look into the Bourbon Restoration as
well as the French Revolution's violence and excess that haunt his
characters. The journals of the assistant to the doctor attending the
dauphin surface, detailing the brutal results of abuse forced on a
child in the anti-monarchy fervor of the Revolution. Louis Bayard gives
reader a fascinating glimpse into characters and indeed a culture that
seeks to erase the past and the origins in the name of justice, a
historical glimpse that some readers might find eerie and
thought-provoking for relevance to modern times, all the more so
because The Black Tower does not pretend to analyze politics but rather
gives a portrait of historical and fictional characters of a different
time and culture. History and its effects are seen in the lives of his
characters, a city and a country that struggles with its past origins.
The changes in the lives of his characters as the past glory fades to a
shadow of the past, a more sparse detached life creates a beautiful
insight into the way history might have been experienced by people
living it. The Black Tower
brings forward the figure of the dauphin,
not just as a tie to the monarchy, but as a little boy and a hope in
the hearts of those who have lived through the Revolution.
With this beautifully crafted portrait of the times, Louis Bayard adds
a riveting tale of suspense and mystery. Picking up in the character
some credit as the inspiration for Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin, Louis
Bayard takes the reader on a journey to discover the historical and
literary origins of detective work itself in the enigmatic Vidocq, a
man who would later found the first known private detective agency in
1833. Vidocq is a man with amazing cunning, a man who can twist a
confession out of anyone and strike fear into the most hardened
criminals. As Hector and Vidocq make a thrilling hunt for the truth,
the confrontation of their personalities, the emerging suspects, and
plots of conspiracy merge to create a mystery that keeps readers
guessing to shocking conclusion. Louis Bayard's The Black Tower is a
delightful mix of literary and detective historical fiction blended
with an exquisite fictional imagination, creating a historical “what
if” suspense tale that thrills while it also moves the heart. The Black
Tower is a must read book for all lovers of historical fiction
and
suspense! The Black Tower is
the kind of book that that demonstrates
the best of literary fiction, a book that continues to elicit even more
after the last page is read in the hearts and imagination of avid
historical readers.
The Black Tower
in and of itself is a great read for suspense and
historical fiction lovers on many levels from an enthralling pleasure
read to those looking for something deeper. However, I feel that its
beauty and exquisite craftsmanship will be most thoroughly enjoyed by
readers willing to explore inside and outside the book in terms of
history and literary history rather than readers wishing to quickly
consume the book.
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