Седьмая жертва

Paris Homicide #1

by Frédérique Molay, Фредерик Молэ

Париж, набережная Орфевр, 36, - адрес парижской криминальной полиции - благодаря романам Жоржа Сименона знаком русскому читателю ничуть не хуже, чем Петровка, 38.
В захватывающем детективе Фредерики Молэ "Седьмая жертва" набережная Орфевр вновь на повестке дня. Во-первых, роман получил престижную премию Quai des Orfevres, которую присуждает жюри, составленное из экспертов по уголовным делам, а вручает лично префект парижской полиции, а во-вторых, деятельность подразделений этой самой полиции описана здесь на редкость компетентно. 38-летнему комиссару полиции Нико Сирски брошен вызов. Серийный убийца разработал план: семь дней - семь убийств. Жертвой каждый раз становится молодая женщина, у которой есть все: красота, любовь, материальное благополучие, карьера. Маньяк-хирург, практически не оставляющий улик, действует с невиданной жестокостью и дерзостью. Удастся ли комиссару Сирски, пусть даже с помощью всей полицейской рати, сделать невозможное и остановить монстра? Время неумолимо истекает, а седьмой жертвой должна стать его любимая...

Genres: Mystery, France, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Fiction, Procedural

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2006

About the author

Writing has always been a passion for Frédérique Molay, author of the international bestseller The 7th Woman. She graduated from France’s prestigious Science Po and began her career in politics and the French administration. She worked as Chief of Staff for the Deputy Mayor of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and then was elected to the local government in Saône-et-Loire. Meanwhile, she spent her nights pursing a passion for writing she had nourished since she wrote her first novel at the age of eleven. AfterThe 7th Woman took France by storm, Frédérique Molay dedicated her life to writing and raising her three children. She has five books to her name, with three in the Paris Homicide series.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Paris Homicide series. I have already read and enjoyed two books in the series. Nico Sirsky is the head of "La Crim", the elite Paris police criminal investigation department. There are about a hundred officers charged with solving crimes. They are called to the scene of a horrific murder on Monday. Then another murder on Tuesday. There is a message in the victim's blood: "Seven days, Seven Women."
The police do find the killer, but not before more women are murdered. Solving this case is the result of police team work. If you are squeamish, you might want to pass on this book. If you watch the TV series Criminal Minds, you will enjoy this book. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.
It was a best seller in France. The translation is excellent.
One quote: "But nothing could keep a cop grounded better than going home to a family and reconnecting with day-to-day life."

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 7th Woman by Frederique Molay is a Le French Book publication. Originally published in 2006, this book was made available in digital format and translated into the English language in 2012. The translator is Anne Trager.

Set in France, Nico Sirsky is the thirty-eight year old chief of police. He is one of the youngest men to have this position. The job is taking a toll however, and he is the doctor's office having his stomach examined for possible ulcers.

In the meantime, a serial killer begins his reign of terror. A young woman is murdered in a most gruesome fashion. It is discovered in the autopsy that she was one month pregnant. When a second girl is murdered the same way and she also is one month pregnant it becomes obvious the police force had a HUGE problem.

The killer begins making it rather obvious that Nico is really his target and begins to mess with Nico's family, putting anyone that Nico cares about in danger. That includes the doctor he has fallen head over heels in love with.

Nico must also deal with his son and his ex-wife's depression, all while trying to out wit this diabolical killer.

This is a very graphic, even gory serial killer crime novel. It is certainly not for the faint of heart. The blurb compares the story to the movie "Seven" and the forensic TV show CSI. I can see where someone might be reminded of the movie. The forensics were very interesting and added a scientific angle to the story.

This is a very grim story, with very little comic relief. The only humor is in watching Nico behave like a teenager as he falls in love.
Otherwise the book is none stop crime solving. You will find yourself suspecting everyone imaginable. I enjoyed this one. I like reading crime stories written by authors from other countries, set in a country or city that I have never been to. I enjoy seeing how the police force and crime units to things as opposed to the way thing are done here in America.
If you like gritty, forensic, and dark crime mysteries this one is for you.
This was a really good crime novel. I highly recommend it. Overall this one gets an A.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Rating: 3.75* of five, rounded up

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: What makes me feel like a putz is that I haven't read this since 2014. I needed to revisit it, clearly. In the meantime, I'll offer some comments about the clear memories the story has left me with, then come back if I have more to say.

I'll tell you what I *do* remember, the way Author Molay renders the crime scenes. It's very very grim, and don't think for a second you're ready for it! I remember the way they were slaughtered vividly. The sensitive are forewarned.

Nico Sirsky, our PoV cop, is a surprisingly vivid character. I was, given the women's-body-parts nature of the killings, expecting him to be less than fully realized in the 250-ish pages we're granted. I was wrong. His ex-wife, Sylvie, has just dumped their teen son Dimitri onto his doorstep at precisely the moment Nico is falling in love with the (annoyingly perfect, if I'm honest) Caroline. The cases are all demanding his attention...the evident serial killings are urgently necessary to solve, to stop, to explain somehow...and the threats aren't just to random women.

Thanks, Sylvie, for the well-timed breakdown. Not surprisingly, this adds a lot of stress to Nico's madly stressed life. I'm pretty sure a lot of the bad stuff in the dénouement is exacerbated by Sirsky's stunningly high stress levels.

The crimes are very close to home indeed, and Nico's entire world is badly damaged by the perpetrator and reason for the killing spree.

I enjoyed very much the details of the French legal system. Author Molay has made a career of creating the procedural tales beloved of American audiences and has gifted us with a lot of our own violent tropes, "perfected" and returned. The differences are plentiful...what's an investigative magistrate when it's at home?...and there are many little moments where it's clear the translator slipped in a tidbit of Paris geography for her US audience. But there are also the deep dives into Nico's thoughts and methods. There are less successful dives into the killer's methods. (Ugh.) All the way around, the story felt to me like a French person's idea of an American procedural, explained for a French audience and then translated for an American one. The details and grace notes that would entertain a French reader do the same job on me, at least.

This is, in fact, the thing I liked best about the read. It worked on a procedural level. It worked on a novelistic level. And it gave the reader the chance to get fully involved in less book-bulk than the typical bloated four-hundred-page overstuffed story-sandwich you can't fit in your mental mouth. And still made me care about Nico, Dimitri, Caroline, and even that wretch Sylvie. One important note, besides the violence perpetrated on women by the plot's demands, is that French gender relations of a decade-plus ago were not anywhere near the levels of pre-#MeToo US gender relations. It's simply not that way, and if that isn't okay with you, don't bother to try.

It's $5 on your Kindle. Risk it! I bet most of y'all won't be a bit sorry.

[Margitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Trager did the world a favor when she decided to translate French crime novels for our pleasure. What a joy!

The blurb points it out very well:
"Winner of France's prestigious Prix du Quai des Orfèvres prize for best crime fiction, named Best Crime Fiction Novel of the Year, and already an international bestseller with over 150,000 copies sold."

Well, dive into the life and world of the French super cop, Chief of Police, Nico Sirsky, when one after the other female bodies appear on their computer screens. What begins as just one murder, change into six others within six days, with the victims being closer in relation to Nico Sirsky. Brutal, ruthless and macabre. That is the only words that can describe the serial murders by someone who knows his stuff. And he has a grudge against Nico Sirsky.

Divorced, lonely, and suddenly in love, Sirsky has his hands full, especially when his ex-wife turns off on her own side track and leaves his teenage son for him to raise. The sources of his emotional pirouettes over the hot coals of doubt and desperation, are lack of sleep, as well as too many people in his inner circle becoming suspects.

A page-turner, a sleep-stealer, a grim adventure! But an excellent addition to the crime thriller genre.

One little glitch though: the quotes from the Bible might be correct, but it is unlikely for non religious people to conjure up instantaneous memory of them. Even devoted Christians might find it a challenge so off the cuff. That was not convincing.

Nonetheless, my first encounter with Anne Trager's translations, was 'The Paris Lawyer' by Sylvie Granotier. 'The 7th Woman' can be regarded as one of the best, but not totally on the same level as far as literary mastery is concerned. It's purely a scientific, investigative tour de force, but equally enjoyable to read though. Enough to inspire me to find the rest of them! Besides, it was written in good taste, not causing the loss of one thunderous drama beat in the highly suspenseful narrative.

This copy was provided through edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com for review.

[Carolien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent start to the series. The plot moves a long at a cracking pace, the details are authentic and I enjoyed the setting. The book is well translated and reads easily. I look forward to more in the series.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serial killer is stalking Paris, his announced plan being to murder a woman a day for seven days. It soon becomes obvious that his campaign has as its target Chief of Police Nico Sirsky, who's in charge of the investigation, and that the cause of the wrath that the madman's so violently expressing lies somewhere in his childhood. Can Nico catch him before the killer makes Nico's new girlfriend his final victim?

I came to this book having been recommended to it and expecting to like it far more than in the event I did. There were various reasons for this.

What the killer does in torturing his victims is unusually and I think unnecessarily sadistic. Yes, obviously, the villain in a piece like this needs to be pretty vile because otherwise there wouldn't be the thriller-chiller effect we desire, but here I felt much of the sadism was gratuitous. There was no reason, in terms of plot, for the mutilations to have taken place before rather than after the victims' deaths. There are limits to which I'm prepared to accept human suffering as a basis for entertainment.

This cavil may seem odd bearing in mind that one of my favorite novels of last year was Pierre Lemaitre's Alex, which is similarly cruel; yet Lemaitre's novel appears to me to be about the consequences of human cruelty, which is a reasonable object of study, whereas here I felt the cruelty was just an undesirable garnish set atop a thriller.

Second, I was concerned about the importance of profiling to the plot. From the opening moments the cops were taking seriously, and acting upon, the detailed deductions of their profiler. Yet everyone (I'd have thought) knows that profiling is a very inexact art; real cops may take the views of profilers into account and find them useful, but they're not going to assume they're spot-on accurate.

Concerns like these were constantly niggling at me as I read, and they made it very difficult for me to settle properly into the flow of the tale. It was as if I were being told that the tension was mounting and so on while not actually experiencing it for myself. An allied concern was that some of the characterization didn't, at least so far as I was concerned, extend beyond skin-deep.

Overall, then, there seemed a sort of amateurishness to the proceedings. This isn't, let me hasten to add, the fault of the translator (or, at least, I don't think so): the translation, although it doesn't float on wings of song, has a nice crispness.

The US publisher, Le French Book, seems to be a brave venture, and has other titles on its list that look to be absolutely mouthwatering. I've no doubt I'll be reading more of them.

[Sanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I have been to France a number of times over the years and know quite a bit about French culture, I admit to not knowing almost anything about their judicial and police system(come to think of it, I am kind of grateful for not having any first hand experience with the french police). Even though this is my favorite genre and I am frequently drawn to works of the authors from non-English speaking countries, again it dawned on me that I have not read much in terms of French crime/murder mystery novels. These are just some of the reasons I still feel the thrill of discovering this series by Frédérique Molay.

Chief of Police Nico Sirsky, may very well be one of my favorite male protagonists, right along with Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache. Though I had to wade my way through the complex (or simply new to me) police system (and Molay did a fantastic job explaining it), intricate and intriguing story in combination with fascinating characters completely won me over. Nico is a dedicated and brilliant policeman under a lot of stress and with a lot to prove, having become the Head of his unit at the age of 38. While juggling the never ending demands of his professional life and at the same trying to be there for his son, ex-wife and his family, Nico ends up having to play the game of cat and mouse with a devious and determined killer. The killer is on a mission to torture and in a gruesome way kill (not for the faint of heart) 7 women in 7 days. Nico and his team (my favorite being the criminal psychologist Dominique Kreiss) are forced to race against the clock to stop him.

This book is a must read for true lovers of psychological thrillers/murder mysteries/police procedurals, especially the ones who look to broaden their horizons past the north American writers and the predictability of the bestseller lists. The only drawback of this series (besides the fact that Nico is too dreamy to be 'true') is the fact that the English speaking market (a.k.a. me) will be continuously forced into patiently waiting for the translation of each new book published in France. Book #2, Crossing the line, is already on my "to read" list.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC read via Netgalley. I should note that I read it via Kindle, and the ARC format for kindle was really bad. I have no doubt that this is corrected in the final version.

When I request books from Netgalley, I try to request books that I know with as much certainty as I can, that I will most likely enjoy. If the publisher is going to be kind enough to let little me read an ARC, then I should at least request only those I have a strong interest in. My interest in this was lukewarm, but since it was a READ NOW option and an international mystery, I tried it.
It isn’t for me. I don’t like the sudden lust the book starts with; I don’t like over the top violence shades of Girl with Dragon Tattoo. I don’t. I know many people do. If you loved Larson, I’m pretty sure you will like this book. To be fail to Larsson, even all the women seem to be victims, some of them are avengers, and that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
I didn’t love Larsson. So I didn’t like the book and the formatting really didn’t help.

Crossposted at Booklikes.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the end of my review for The Prone Gunman by Manchette, I mentioned that I have been choosing things “French” over all others since watching the TV series Spiral on Netflix streaming. This latest read was Winner of France's prestigious Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for best crime fiction in 2007 and has won slightly higher marks on Goodreads than other winners of that prize in recent years. It is also one of the few that have been translated into English.

In this novel we are treated to a crime that looks remarkably like the one featured on Spiral, the TV series. The French are far more graphic on TV and perhaps in literature than is usually acceptable in America, so one has overcome one’s shock at the material before one can relax into the central mystery: who is doing such vicious things to women and why?

On the TV series I’d already learned the close relationship between prosecutors, investigating judges, and lawyers in the French system and how a victim must often face the perpetrator in the magistrate’s office so I could seamlessly enjoy the way Molay described the characters for each piece of the justice system and how they worked together. Any one of the above personages could be a stumbling block in reaching a just outcome, if they did not have the same goals.

And of course, in the TV movie we are treated to brilliant overhead and street shots of Paris and its neighborhoods, so when Molay mentions Place de la Bastille, the Place de la Republique, and the Cathédrale Notre Dame with its galerie des chimères, it is all a little easier to imagine.

That having been said, I don’t think the French are accustomed to police procedurals the way British, American, or even Scandinavian authors, screenwriters and audiences are since we would see many more of them if they were more commonly found. One writer on French cinema, however, says that there is a long tradition of gritty French police dramas that rival what we have in America. And of course, there have been great French crime writers like Dominique Manotti who have managed to create crime stories distinctly French, but I cannot understand why crime books are not more translated, if they are written at all. I sense Molay is trying something in the American style.

One observation I would make regarding this style is that American police procedurals have advanced to the point where detailed explanations of a policeman’s choices in handling a case are rarely given. The reader is allowed to follow on behind the cop a step or two, catching up when they can, working out clues to police decisions as well as the murderer’s as they race along behind the writer. The reader actually learns on the job. Sadly, Molay’s book ignores these useful methods for involving the reader, and we are told, in greater detail than perhaps necessary, every thought and instinct of our investigator and our killer. We don’t really need to know that much. We should be able to intuit these things by watching what the figures do.

Additionally, French men and women have a sexual way of interacting all the time, even in polite society and business situations, which might be refreshing but is certainly unique and perhaps even somewhat mystifying. American, Canadian, and British men are so much better trained in sexual politics by 2013. Women in these countries almost never hear a sexist putdown any more. It is considered the depths of gauche, and I believe most men find it now distasteful (and positively dangerous to their careers) to acknowledge agreement with such ideas. It would almost certainly doom the man to non-hetero coupling unless they wanted to pay for it. The author acknowledges the retrograde nature of these ideas, but that they are still heard in the law offices (even in fiction) is shocking.

However, there is here still that Paris magic that makes one want to read French crime novels that elucidate and explain in some small way the great ‘je ne sais quoi’ of Parisian living. Molay has published at least two other novels in this Nico Sirsky series, all of which appear to be available in French if not English, on Amazon. Tooth for a Tooth was published by Fayard in 2011, and Lunch in the Grass was published in 2012. The author did publish another mystery entitled Welcome to Murderland, published in 2008, but it does not appear to be part of the Nico Sirsky series.

I would love to see more French police dramas, in book form or on the screen, and find that the publisher for this translated novel, Le French Book, has a whole list of translated titles for the Francophiles among us. So click on the link above and find your new favorite. I received the galley of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Marla Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book for people who can tolerate gore. I am weary of serial-killer stories that try to outdo one another on creative ways of mutilating people as they are being killed. If you are a reader who enjoys that and also finds a confusing plot line interesting then you will enjoy this book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy mysteries and recently I have been trying to read mysteries from different parts of the world and have found it very interesting to see how these types of stories play out in different cultures.  Cotteril’s Dr. Siri Paiboun series set in 1970’s Laos is full of self deprecating humor and a distrust for authority figures.  Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series set in Sicily is dry with an interesting disdain for any sort of procedural method in detection.  Crimes are solved, and the detectives are equally effective and skilled in their own distinct ways.



It seems to me that the British and American crime solvers are similar.  Often times, going all the way back to Sherlock Holmes, they are either completely outside the criminal justice system (amateurs, private detectives, or retired police officers) or if they are actually police officers, they are either damaged in some way or have their own code and procedures that they follow.  We like the free agent, the rebel, the detective who puts his moral code above the letter of the law.  At least we do in novels because that type of behavior in a police officer would most likely be a nightmare in real life.  Harry Callahan is fine on the movie screen, but we don’t want to see him walking up to our vehicle when we blew that red light trying to get to work on time.

Molay’s Nico Sirsky series is set in Paris and they love their rules.  They have tremendous respect for their bosses.  Everyone is supremely skilled and devoted to their jobs.  Even being well dressed and physically fit and attractive is important enough to be mentioned as a sign of success and competence.  The French are a bit different I guess.

The Seventh Woman is a very well done “race against time” type thriller.  The killer has promised to kill seven women in seven days and we are off at 90 miles per hour from the start.  I read it in two sittings and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I have already read the second in the series and have put the third on my TBR if that tells you anything.

[LadyTechie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received The 7th Woman from Netgalley where I am really due to review this quite some time ago. Boy do I regret waiting. But, when my reading gets extremely fickle I back off of reviewing because I tend to start and stop books that I normally would love when I am in this kind of reading slump and I have been in one for over 6 months. I am glad I finally got into this book. One of the interesting things is I expected it to be more like armchair travel but I realize now that if the author lives in France then they would write about it as something they see everyday as opposed to making it more attractive to those who want to picture everything. There was good description of where things occurred but I didn't get the feeling of an armchair traveler. I had more of the feeling of this is where "we" live so things occur on this street or that street. But, it was great to have that feeling of living in Paris and not sightseeing there.

The 7th Woman was an intense mystery/thriller which I am happy to say I guessed correctly, not because it was easy but mainly because the bad guy just rubbed me the wrong way so I blamed it on that person. One thing that was harder for me to grasp was the emotional struggle that Nico was having between getting his behind back to finding the killer instead of worrying about a lady. I kept wanting to yell at him and say get back to work. But, I guess when people start falling they get a bit of tunnel vision. There were some great surprises and some pretty good character development also. The 7th Woman also jerked on the emotions because we start to learn about the other police officers and we start becoming invested in what happens to them. I have to admit that I did not notice that the French police carry weapons but I'm so glad they do because they really needed weapons with this kind of evil to handle. I look forward to reading Crossing the Line!

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frédérique Molay's The 7th Woman introduces us to Nico Sirsky, chief of Paris's elite Criminal Brigade, as he battles wits with a serial killer who has vowed to kill a woman each day for seven days (hence the title). While Molay's story was entertaining, to call her the French Michael Connelly is overgenerous. Some of her writing was awkward (does anyone refer to women as "chicks" anymore?), which may be attributable to the translation from French to English. More importantly, her red herrings were simply too obvious; her misdirection as to the identity of the fifth victim was entirely unsuccessful, and I identified both the killer and the seventh woman before the halfway mark.

Some significant questions were never resolved; for example, we never learned how the killer knew that the first four victims were a month pregnant, nor did Molay explain why the killer abandoned that part of his victimology with the last three women. It's difficult to believe that a serial killer would abruptly change an apparently key part of his ritual, particularly when Molay subsequently explained his reason for targeting newly pregnant women. Finally, Nico and Caroline's relationship, which went from strangers to eternal lovers in the space of a single week, made it hard to take Nico seriously in his professional role.

I have agreed to read and review the next two Nico Sirsky novels, so I will hold my final judgment until I see how Molay develops her characters. Based on The 7th Woman alone, however, I would not continue to follow this series.

I received a free copy of The 7th Woman through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Linda Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

A serial killer is loose in Paris with the intention of killing seven women in seven days. It falls to the elite squad of investigators, "La Crim", headed by Nico Sirsky. Nico is a rising star and as the investigation continues and the bodies pile up, it becomes apparent that the killer also has Nico in his sights. False clues are laid, incriminating and targeting his family.

The 7th Woman is very suspenseful and fast moving. Mme. Molay does a great job of getting us inside the mind of the killer, but not so much Nico and the other characters. I don't know whether this is a translation problem but I never had a real sense of Nico, other that he is a likable sort with a lot of integrity. His immediate attraction to Caroline seems overdone and somewhat unbelievable.

On the whole, I think The 7th Woman is a fascinating look at the methods of investigation in France and one that would appeal to many readers. Personally, the level of violence was way out of my comfort zone. I admit to skimming over all the killings after the first three deaths. I would give the book 2.5 stars tending towards 3 but it was not a book for me, no matter how well executed.

Thanks to netgalley.com and Le French Book for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Vicki - I Love Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book i have read by this Author. Frédérique Molay.

This is the first book in the Paris Homicide series and has been translated into English.

We meet Nico Sirsky head of Chief of police fresh from a Dr's appointment for a suspected ulcer and instructions to rest.
Obviously in his line of work rest isn't an option for him and as he is called to the scene of a murder rest is not something he's going to get.
Marie Helene Jory - 36 assistant professor of history at the Sorbonne has been killed, murdered in her own home.
A particularly shocking scene awaits the officers.
It's soon clear after body number 2 shows up that the first killing was not a one off and we have a serial killer on the loose. 
A message left at one for the scenes States 7 Days 7 Women. Can the team figure out who is behind the killing and why before any more bodies turn up.
It soon becomes clear that the killer is leaving personal messages for Nico, but why and can he figure out why before it becomes to personal.

Overall the book was an enjoyable read and I would probably read more in this series to see where things head.

[Francis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The interesting part of this book was the process used by the police during the investigation. Unfortunately the dialog was pretty much cliche driven and the characters lacked depth.

[Leslie Blanco · Rating 4 out of 5]

No te despegas desde la página 1... Muy buena historia! 🤯

[Gaele · Rating 4 out of 5]

While admittedly not my first go-to reads, I am obsessed with ‘how things work’ in other countries so Frédérique Molay’s The 7th Woman was a must grab for me. Both my aunt and cousin recommended it to me in the original French, mine’s not solid enough to attempt that, so this translation by Anne Trager was the perfect compromise.

The first in the series featuring Nico Sirsky, and the quality and pace of this story were second to none. Seven women killed in seven days: the hunt is on to find and stop this killer. With multiple twists and turns, and the killer taunting Sirsky with messages left with each body, the tension is enough to make you look over your shoulder, frequently.

Nico is a quality character with depth and a solid feel of the weight of the world: ulcer from work-related stress, a depressed ex-wife, a teenaged son and the killer taunting him. With that going on, there shouldn’t be time for a relationship or love interest, but one is added to the mix with a fair level of believability, if the insta-love is slightly grating and oddly romantic for a novel of this style. His woman isn’t nearly as well defined or developed as the other females in the cast of characters, and perhaps that is just to suggest more to come, but her lack of depth was glaringly evident when contrasted to the medical examiner or the psychologist: both of these women were solid, defined, and felt real and necessary. While the addition of Caroline was not as relevant to the story, it was not a great distraction: the action moves far too fast for her to play more than a minor side note.

Mystery wise, several twists and red herrings are added into the plotting, keeping both characters and readers guessing and wondering. I will take a moment to warn here for gruesome: some details in scenes are quite descriptive and gory, while that does not exemplify all of the murder scenes, there are some moments that easily, for this reader, could have been omitted. Translation for this story feels logical and proper, the story is easy to read and demands you turn each page. Little sociological asides mentioning the limited number of women in the police in France, as well as descriptions of the area and arrondissements throughout the story are well placed to give the reader a sense of the city without being a travelogue.

I was engaged and interested through each moment of this fast paced story: fans of procedurals will certainly appreciate the availability of this author’s work in translation. I enjoyed it so much, I bought a copy!

I received an eBook copy from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Paris Homicide mystery series, first published in 2006, and it won Frances most prestigious crime fiction award. The author has written five novels, three in this series, but this is the first that has been translated into English.

Set in Paris’s top criminal investigation division, LaCrim’, it has a good cast of investigators, psychologists and pathologists, who make up the members of the task force. The head of the division is Chief of Police Nico Sirsky, just thirty eight, divorced and with a teenage son. We first meet Nico when he visits Dr Caroline Dalry, professor of medicine for stomach pains, and is instantly smitten. Much is made throughout the book of Nico’s dislike of sexism, his respect for women and especially his support of his female colleagues. Obviously, this is laudable; yet despite his attempts to be fair and supportive, you still sense his impatience with his needy ex-wife. Caroline Dalry is everything that ex-wife Sylvie is not and yet his desperate and overwhelming love for her is somehow unconvincing. Perhaps it has to do with some of the speech being a little stilted, which could be down to the translation, but I found that part of the storyline quite hard to accept.

Nevertheless, this is a crime novel and Nico has little time to worry about his romantic life, because there is a serial killer on the streets and he is targeting women in a series of horrific murders. Before long there is a message, “seven days, seven women.” Can Nico stop the murders before more women are killed and why is the murderer leaving messages aimed at him?

I enjoy European crime fiction and this had a nice setting, with the beautiful city of Paris as a backdrop. The author has done a good job of building Nico a cast of interesting characters to interact with, including a rather interfering sister and a number of work colleagues. There were a few twists and turns in the plot and some viable suspects, which made the storyline move quickly. The only real issue for me was the romantic part of the book, which did not seem to work at all – it might have been better to have built up the love story between Nico Sirsky and Caroline Dalry over a few books, rather than have had such an overwhelming instant attraction. However, I would certainly read on in the series and would be interested to see whether the next book had a greater sense of crime investigation, rather than emotional issues, at the centre of the plot.

Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley.

[Larraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim paperback packs a lot. It shows that a writer doesn't have to be overly wordy to get his/her point across. The story introduces the read to Nico, son of immigrants from Eastern Europe to France. Nico has risen to Chief before the age of 40. He is divorced with a son he had with his former wife at a relatively young age. Dmitri is growing up and has been living with his mother who suffers from depression and anxiety. When the book opens, Nico is seeing a doctor for a stomach ailment. it turns out to be minor, but he falls for the doctor like a ton of bricks. However, he doesn't have a lot of time to pursue his lust and growing love for her because a serial killer is killing women. They are all in their low to mid 30's, beautiful, successful brunettes who are a month pregnant. The killer is also, apparently, a computer genius who manages to implicate Nico's brother-in-law. I actually had my suspicions about 1/3 of the way through the book, so the unveiling of the murder wasn't a surprise. However, what WAS a surprise was how well written and translated this book is. There is no spare verbiage, and the translation is very smooth. This is the author's first book translated into English, but she has written several. I'm looking forward to reading more of her books to see where she takes her characters.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5 stars -- First in a new series (Paris Homicide) set in Paris, France, and featuring Nico Sirsky as Chief of Police in the criminal investigation division or La Crim.

The first victim is found in her own home, tortured and mutilated. The second woman is killed in the same manner. A serial killer has promised 7 victims in 7 days and seems to be taunting Nico. The teams are working around the clock to try to find and stop this sociopath as the victims keep being discovered on schedule.

A very interesting and fast paced police procedural with all the forensic details that I love. If you enjoyed the three {Irene, Alex, and Camille} novels by Pierre Lemaitre (translated by Frank Wynne), you will probably want to read this series as well. The only off note for me was the romance aspect (way too much too fast). I'll continue in the series with #2 and #3 next up on my Kindle.

Library book.

[Carolyn Injoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 7th Woman, A Paris Homicide Mystery by Frédérique Molay is a riveting book about a serial killer who is tantalizing the police.

He has targeted Chief of Police Nico Sirksky who must race against the clock to solve this as the serial killer gets closer to his inner circle, including his son and a potential new love.

Because it kept me guessing, I gave it five stars.

I received a complimentary kindle copy from Le French Books and NetGalley. That did not change my opinion for this review.

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193...

[Marina Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great pace, good solid procedural, some promising characters. I think this is the start to what could potentially be a corking series. This first one, however, did feel a little bit like it was trying to hard to tick all the serial killer boxes.

[Dee]

ebook loan from library expired, waiting on it to be available again

[Kathy]

later for this - requires strong stomach off the bat and right now I am still weak after fighting off high fever, nausea, etc. Wait for a serial killer mood.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 2 out of 5]

First in the Paris Homicide mystery/police procedural series revolving around Chief of Police Nico Sirsky.

In 2007, The 7th Woman won the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for best crime fiction and Best Crime Fiction Novel of the Year from Lire Magazine.

My Take
I was underwhelmed, and The 7th Woman is the second French translation I’ve read within a month which has not impressed me. I’m beginning to think it’s a case of writing style: French versus American. American style places an emphasis on show, pulling the reader into the story by appealing to the reader’s five senses of taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing with an emphasis on integrating background information into the story. The French style — and do keep in mind that this opinion is only based on my having read two French thrillers! — keeps it clinical with “just the facts” and, oh lordy, lots of info dumps.

Not being pulled into the story makes it much easier to remain detached from the fate of the characters, to not feel the tension. That’s not to say that Molay didn’t create tension. Instead of show, Molay uses chapter headings and pacing with shorter, almost staccato-like sentences to create a sense of worry and fear. I don’t feel this is as effective as show, but again, this is just my opinion.

Info-dump-wise. I hate them. They pull me out of the story. I feel as though I’m being lectured at. Molay also tends to write “lists”. I don’t know if it’s Molay’s style or if it’s a result of Anne Trager’s translation, but I cannot believe that real-life characters would offer up this much information in one paragraph. In paragraph after paragraph after paragraph. Perhaps, again, it’s a style issue. A difference between American and French, but an exchange such as the following simply doesn’t ring true.

”’I’m sure that is true, Thank you for seeing me. The coffee was excellent. That’s rare in a public institution.’

’I buy it myself. That’s my secret. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything else…’”

Huh. That’s my problem. It’s robotic. Of course, there are other conversations that are simply dorky, such as the scene in which Nico is trying to find out when Dr. Dalry finished work and the nurse has such a nasty comeback.

Don’t get me wrong, Molay was quite clinical in her descriptions of the autopsies, making the details sound quite accurate, and it was interesting to read how Parisian investigations differ from how American ones are conducted.

Argh, a touch of the stupid trope in which one of the potential victims gets stir crazy and knows she’ll be just fine…! I hate those. And, yup, another example of why parents need to be licensed! Yeah, I know, you can make a child’s background anything you like in fiction, but I’d be curious to know if statistics bear this out.

I liked her characters; however it was a detached appreciation. I don’t feel any great urge to read on to the next in the series, Crossing the Line , to find out what happens to them, how their lives continue. Nico is very real with personal family problems, although his interaction with Dr. Dalry felt stiff, and lol, no! That is not what I meant!

Molay did keep me guessing until the end, partly by keeping me in suspense as to which character she was writing about. I hate having to backtrack to figure out who might be the principal character in a scene. I can see where in some instances it adds to the suspense, but there were others where it was merely irritating.

Molay raises a good point about our current time and our lack of attention to our surroundings. We are too preoccupied with our own lives. How many of us even know our neighbors these days? Who gets involved in finding out if people are hurting? Of course, it doesn’t help that governmental regulations are getting tighter and tighter. That we’re terrified to “interfere”!

The way this guy gains entry. Each instance is different, but it all boils down to the same things, he’s invited in, in circumstances I can see myself inviting someone in. We’re raised to be too polite. To be too concerned with how others see us. It’s not a bad thing, but it does need to be tempered by commonsense. Beware the good Samaritan!

What’s with the comment about the Barteses having this big table so obviously they like to entertain? No. Put some thought into this. Ease it in naturally. Then there’s the statement Vilars makes before she even starts on the third victim about the extra body parts belonging to the second victim. Cops and forensics people are supposed to stick to the facts, get proof, which would lead me to believe that, sure, Vilars suspects those parts do indeed belong to the second victim (god knows I think so too), but she wouldn’t state it as fact! Arghhh. Oh, please. It takes Dr. Robin noticing that the knots are the same from the first victim to the second to determine that, hmmm, these crimes may be connected, when they’ve already figured out that the killer is using the first victim’s body parts on the second? And, he’s using the exact same techniques? I’d be worried about the ability of the police to detect. Oh, boy. I can see where Sylvie found Nico a problem. He actually “cared about her well-being”, *eye roll*. Then there’s Becker’s own eye roll about “barstool psychology”. How long has he been in charge of investigations, and he’s never seen this technique before?

This one is in response to being asked if the character has children:

”No, I have dedicated my life to medicine, studying for many years and fighting my way up the ranks.”

I feel like I'm reading a communist tract...

Nice bit about the history of the French police.

Why didn’t Becker come forward when they got the article? What’s with Vilars getting so angry simply because Fiori chose to stay late to catch up on paperwork? Now, wait just a minute. Vilars believes she should tell the families of the victims the “tiniest, most horrible details” of how their loved ones died? Nico spends time trying to catch the last victim’s eye when she’s provided a distraction? How professional is this guy?

I’m with Molay on this one: “Your past does not excuse or justify your actions. All it does is explain them.”

The Story
A brutal murder has Nico Sirsky and an increasing number of teams on the go, struggling to beat the killer to his next victim, for he has promised “seven women in seven days”. La Crim’ is desperate to find him. Stop him.

The Characters
Nico Sirsky is a divorced professional, a young chief of police heading up the most prestigious criminal investigation unit in France, La Crim’, more formally known as the Paris Criminal Investigation Division. He shares custody of his son, Dimitri, with his wife, Sylvie, a very depressed, delusional woman. His solicitous younger sister, Tanya, is married to Dr. Alexis Perrin, and they have two children. Anya Sirsky is their Russian émigré mother.

Dr. Caroline Dalry is a professor of medicine, a gastroenterologist, and a former Paris Hospitals chief resident.

La Crim’
There are twelve squads with six men each. Commander David Kriven is the head of one of the twelve squads; his boss is Deputy Chief Jean-Marie Rost. Pierre Vidal is on the squad. Commander Jöel Théron heads up another team. Commander Hureau took the call on the third. Captain Amélie Ader is a bright, up-and-coming police officer; she’s married to Maxime.

Police Commissioner Nicole Monthalet. Deputy Police Commissioner Michel Cohen appears content with his current position with law enforcement; Nico is his protégé. I’m not sure I like him. He seems to be a bit of a jerk with his comment about “the lesser sex”, which he follows up with that lame apology.

Dominique Kreiss is a criminal psychologist, a profiler specializing in sexually related murders; she’s seeing Rémi, a veterinarian. Lieutenant Schreiber is on the ball. Alexandre Becker is the magistrate in charge of the case. Bastien Gamby is their best computer specialist.

The Institut Médico-Légal is the morgue where Professor Armelle Vilars is in charge. Dr. Eric Fiori is one of the assistants under Vilars. Marc Walberg is a forensic specialist in handwriting. Dr. Tom Robin will examine the knots. Professor Charles Queneau is in charge of the forensics lab. Erwen Kellec is a botanical specialist in phanerogams, who works at the National Natural History Museum.

Marie-Hélène Jory was an assistant professor of history. Paul Terrade, her partner, works in a bank. Dr. Jacques Taland is Jory’s doctor. Françoise Pasquier is the dean at the Sorbonne. Anne Recordon and Chloé Bartes have been friends forever and have a comfortable lifestyle. Gregory Bartes is Chloé’s husband. Florence Glucksman has picked up a lovely negligee that matches her eyes. Valérie Trajan is married to Daniel. Isabelle Saulière is a nurse at the hospital who is married to Victor. Arnaud Briard was seven years old when he killed his mother, Marie.

The Élysée is the equivalent of our White House.

The Cover
The cover is a stormy mix of blues with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The author’s name is in black at the top while the title is in a textured red just beneath. Under the title a yellow crime tape is angled across with winter-white hands cupped and facing upward. I’m not sure what the iridescent effect is meant to be just under the crime scene tape. I’m wondering if the crime scene tape is a metaphor for the police’s emphasis on how pristine their crime scenes are in this?

The title is the most crucial victim of all, The 7th Woman.

[Alice Alexandre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hier, dimanche (je précise pour celles et ceux pour qui les lundis sont plutôt difficiles… histoire de bien retourner le couteau dans la plaie ! mouahahahaha !), je partageais avec vous mes derniers achats livresques. Comme si xxx livres (je préfère garder le silence sur le nombre de livres qui attendent sagement dans ma bibliothèque, au cas où Monsieur A. passerait par ici, car, comme le disait Charles Aznavour, à quelques mots près, je vous parle d’un nombre que ceux qui n’aiment pas lire ne peuvent pas connaître) n’étaient pas déjà suffisants, il se trouve que ces deux dernières années j’ai également acheté une ribambelle de livres numériques à petits prix, profitant pour cela de l’opération All Stars, et que je n’ai toujours pas lus non plus. Enfin, si, un seul, celui-ci !
Pas de repos pour Nico Sirsky, ni même le septième jour, puisque son équipe et lui disposent exactement d’une semaine pour mettre fin aux agissements d’un tueur en série et, si possible, identifier et sauver la prochaine victime de cet être vil qui tue chaque jour, laissant derrière lui le corps sans vie d’une femme sauvagement torturée et les seins coupés. Pour ce faire, Sirsky ne dispose que de maigres indices, ou plutôt des messages laissés sur chaque scène de crime et qui s’adressent à lui.
Malgré une certaine lenteur due à l’énumération des différents services de l’administration policière, l’intrigue nous attrape petit à petit dans son filet et les personnages n’y sont pas étrangers. Dotés d’une grande humanité, on s’y attache ; semblables à vous et moi, leur vie personnelle prend le pas sur le professionnel et vice-versa. Bon, on ne va pas se mentir, Sirsky m’a parfois un peu tapé sur les nerfs : pour un célibataire endurci, il est quand même sacrément fleur bleue ! Une vraie tête à claques à certains moments…

Quoiqu’il en soit, l’écriture est très fluide et même si le récit répond à un schéma somme toute des plus classiques, le style de l’autrice est entraînant et l’intrigue pique la curiosité. Par ailleurs, si vous aimez les romans policiers mais que vous vous rangez dans la catégorie des « poules mouillées même face à des histoires inventées », sachez que malgré les descriptions des scènes de crime, la narration verse dans la légèreté, nappée de sauce au polar à l’ancienne. Un régal!

Bref, un roman policier qui se dévore avec envie, même si un doute persiste une fois la lecture terminée : pour quelle raison ce tueur en série s’en prend directement à Sirsky ?

https://www.instagram.com/aliceintheo...

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐
El género policial es mi preferido. Dame a un policía o un detective y un asesino, un secuestrador, o similar y, por muy sencilla que sea la trama, a mí me va a gustar. Más aún si es una historia práctica y corta.
Y aunque "La séptima mujer" cumple con todos los requisitos no me llegó al corazón. ¿El motivo? Su protagonista.
La historia es fácil. Se hallan el cuerpo de dos mujeres, asesinadas de manera violenta, y el homicida anuncia que habrán más en los sucesivos días. Con ésta información el detective Nico Sirsky deberá encontrar al asesino y evitar las posteriores muertes.
El libro es corto, es entretenido. Vemos las ópticas de varios personajes, del asesino incluso, pero poco más. A mitad de la historia, en mi caso, al menos, el homicida se hace muy evidente, (o yo estaba muy perspicaz.), y le da otro matiz a la situación porque empiezas a atar cabos con más información.
Pero su protagonista se me fue de la realidad desde el vamos. No tenía ningún defecto. Buen padre, buen policía, buen exmarido, buen hermano, buen hijo... Todo lo hacía bien. Jamás se equivocaba. Sus problemas personales no eran de una índole que le dieran un poco de condimento a la historia. Ahí ya me bajó un poco la moral. Un protagonista más realista hubiese sido muy apreciado.
Y el final me bajó aún más la predisposición. Me dejó descolocada, con la sensación de haber leído un mero ensayo, un borrador... No lo sé. Fue un poco decepcionante.
¿Lo recomiendo? Sí, por supuesto. Para pasar el rato es bien recibido.

[Laqua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo que me gustó y me pareció interesante de la novela es toda la descripción del trabajo policial y forense. Me pareció acertada y creo que aprendí algo. En lo personal, no consideré que las descripciones sean tediosas o que exageren.
En cuanto a lo demás...
* El asesino, medio artificial. Y esa obsesión con Nico que no tiene ni pies ni cabeza y que la autora no sabe explicar. Además, tiene una evolución súper rara: de metódico y calculador a tarado sin remedio. Ese personaje quedó raro y todo mal. Como que arrancó con una idea y la autora se perdió a mitad de camino en cualquiera. Y se nota.
* La hermana del protagonista. ¿Es tonta o qué? Comportándose como una adolescente caprichosa y sin nada de seso... nonono.
* La "historia de amor". Un gigantesco WTF?? aquí. Es tan artificial todo que me dio vergüenza ajena. Ni en el animé pasan estas cosas. Un gran NO-NO.

Están advertidos: bajo su propio riesgo.