The Back of the North Wind

Henri Castang #7

by Nicolas Freeling

Inspector Henri Castang's investigation into a gruesome, cannibalistic murder leads him to a lovely young prostitute whose activities conceal sinister crimes and to ruthless political machinations, power ploys, and intrigue

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Nicolas Freeling born Nicolas Davidson, (March 3, 1927 - July 20, 2003) was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the Van der Valk series of detective novels which were adapted for transmission on the British ITV network by Thames Television during the 1970s.

Freeling was born in London, but travelled widely, and ended his life at his long-standing home at Grandfontaine to the west of Strasbourg. He had followed a variety of occupations, including the armed services and the catering profession. He began writing during a three-week prison sentence, after being convicted of stealing some food.[citation needed]

Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, and France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.

From Wikipedia

Series:
* Van Der Valk
* Henri Castang

Reviews

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicholas Freeling's "The Back of the North Wind" begins as a police procedural, a roman policier. Bits of a young woman's body are found in a forest and Commissaire Henri Castang is tasked with investigating the grisly case. Several other murders are under investigations as well, yet quite soon it becomes clear that the novel is not a police procedural at all and does not have that much in common with investigating crimes. A political intrigue, connected with the change of French government from Giscard d'Estaing's regime to socialists is the dominating thread of the plot. New power structure is emerging and people are jockeying for positions of influence. The mysterious Monsieur de Biron becomes the most significant character. Parts of the ending are quite violent and cinematic like in standard thrillers, but it still does not change the basic fact that the novel is about the hidden evils of human nature that emerge when people reach for power.

Mr. Freeling once again demonstrates his absolute mastery of writing. "At one time or another she had aroused the lubricity of the entire regiment but was, she said firmly, no company inkwell for pens to be dipped into." Nobody writes quite like Nicholas Freeling. This sentence, quoted from the novel, other than being beautifully phrased, is just funny but thousands of other sentences in Mr. Freeling's novel are not only exquisitely constructed but also carry incredible amount of psychological, sociological, or political insight.

In its deepest layers the novel expresses the human yearning for a "world beyond the north wind, in which people lived in respect for plants, the animals, the people with which they shared it." Such a world is no more. It is just the stuff of dreams. It is now all about power, about what one can get other people to do.

"The Back of the North Wind" is a very difficult novel to read. I haven't struggled so much with a book for quite many years, having to reread many, many fragments of this short book to grasp the meaning. So despite my long-lasting (almost 50 years now) love for Mr. Freeling's work and the beauty of the language and writing, I can only rate the book with

Three stars.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bits and pieces of a murdered young woman, partly eaten, other murders, a deadly young prostitute and a lot of political intrigue and corruption, not an easy read.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical Nicolas Freeling. Various crimes provide opportunities for a small cast of goodies to pontificate pretentiously about the human condition, national character, other stuff... it's often hard to be sure what they're on about, and they all have the same style of self-expression, which are unlike those of any real person ever, but not in a good way. Reading NF is, for me, an occasional and inexplicable impulse. I wonder what he thought he was doing, and I have a feeling it was something much better than what he actually did. Then again, as Castang or Richard might say, that probably goes for most of us, so I'll give him a couple of stars for having a go.

[COL(ret.) Frank J. Stech, PhD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freeling is stepping in the Simenon footsteps. Being English, Freeling writes with a French complexity that exceeds the continental Simenon's English simplicity. But the mirror, ornately framed, is apparent.
And, like a lot of Simenon, there are three stories in the story, all loosely fitted-- a cheap Chinese puzzle box, not a jigsaw puzzle.
Allusions to Hammett and Chandler are that, not models.
At the end, all the wondering is worth it.
Read on.

[Macha]

3 and a half stars/ reread.