Book Tamers| book reviews

Leviathan is a water monster originally appearing in the Bible and then in Tomas Hobbes’ philosophical work where it represents the State, in opposition with the new ideal organization form suggested by the author. In our book, Leviathan is the name of a very big cruise ship that makes the connection between France and India. It is the point between the crimes that already happened and the criminal’s final target.
This is a detective book where the story is not that important, but the way it is presented is.
To get started, we read about ten crimes, all done in the same night, at the house of a collector of Indian antiques. A Shiva golden statue and a shawl were stolen. These are the facts Commissar Gauche is confronted with. Also, he has to deal with the fact the golden statue was found days later in a lake nearby …
The relation between the crimes’ scene and the Leviathan is made by a golden emblem that was found in the collector’s hand, and that was specific to those who bought a first class ticket on the ship. As a consequence, we will watch Commissar Gauche going on a cruise in India, looking for the one that doesn’t have his emblem anymore, nor an alibi …

Up to now, one can easily figure out that this a script that any other detective story would use. The interesting stuff is, as I said before, the way the story is told.
For among the suspects there are French people, a Russian, two English men and a Japanese, the author will come up with elements from each other’s culture, judging them through it. He will emphasize especially the divergences between Englishmen and French and the specificity of the Japanese culture in opposition with the European one. For the crimes’ purpose was an Indian shawl and the criminal is in his way to India, the author will come up with some moral stories specific to the Hindu mysticism. As a sequel, the story will be put both in a political context and in a cultural and philosophical one.
The way events are linked to one another is as interesting as the manner in which the story is told. Generally, detective stories are supposed to be unpredictable, but this time I actually couldn’t get used to the fact that nobody is what they seem to be and that at the end, even the Commissar, who should have found the killer, steps aside of the law becoming a criminal himself …
I won’t reveal any other details of the story so that I couldn’t spoil the surprise for those who want to read it; I will add though that the one that will untie the crimes’ mystery and the killer’s motivation is the Russian, the one that reveals himself as the most clever of all characters. His name is Erast Fandorin and he is present in the author’s other books and he is an atypical character, very rational and smart, stammering a little, ironic, determined and though shy.

Written by Gia