Wow, wow, wow! This book is thrilling from start to finish, constantly evolving and twisting and so brilliantly written. Bursting with details and depth and unusually for Louise Penny, a continuation of The Grey Wolf. I’m so excited that I received an advance reader copy, thank you Netgalley!

I’ve always loved the Inspector Gamache books, and The Black Wolf was no exception. Penny’s writing is as literary and elegant as ever, and as usual this book packs the punch of a heart-stopping thriller. Honestly, it felt even more exciting than the last.

The twists and turns just kept coming - I genuinely didn’t know which way it was going to go. At first, the plot felt a bit outlandish, but the more I thought about what’s happening in the world right now, the more it started to feel uncomfortably close to reality.

This is a continuation of The Grey Wolf, so I’d definitely recommend reading that first. Even better to start at the beginning of the series, and become well entrenched in the Three Pines community, before reaching these books which play at a much larger scale.

If you’re into well-written thrillers with a literary twist - and especially if you’ve enjoyed Penny’s books before- this one’s well worth picking up.

Thank you to the publishers for this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed are my own.

6 stars if I could. To say I adore this series, is an understatement. With that, comes the excitement of a new book but also the worry of will it live up to the previous books? And I apologise for ever worrying that, Louise, because somehow you manage to raise the bar every. single. time. I don’t know how you do it, but I am in awe of your genius in creating a plot that staggers you, your skill in writing such beautiful prose (and humour), and your heart for creating such wonderful characters. This was one of those times where as I got to the gripping end, I had to prise myself away to go to my volunteer shift at the library. I was thinking about it the whole shift. And then I sat in the library when I finished, and read the last few chapters. Once I did, I had to just sit for a while and process the feelings and book.

If anyone thinks the idea of war that is raised in the book, is too preposterous - Louise refers to this in an author comment at the start of the book, explaining that after she submitted the book in 2024, the headlines in real life seemed ripped from the plot…

And while I do love Three Pines and the characters, I completely understand why Louise needs to set the occasional book in another location (which she mentions in the afterward). I agree it’s necessary for the health of the series, to step away and return. For one thing, it’s a small village; by book 20 you’d have run out of characters to be victim or killer, unless you clearly make every new character one or the other!

What I would say to anyone considering this book, is that as a bare minimum, you need to read the preceding book The Grey Wolf, because this is the only two parter in the series. A lot won’t make sense if you’ve not read TGW. You could drop in with that book, and you’ll pick things up - but if you read right from the beginning, it will be so much richer an experience. So many of the characters undergo such huge evolution and development, and there are past events such as an ambush situation years before, that are still affecting the characters now. Without having read those events, you can’t fully feel the impact in the later books. And because I hope for everyone else to love and experience this series as much as I do, I beg you start at the beginning the spend the journey with Gamache, his family, friends and colleagues.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers Hodder & Stoughton, in return for an unbiased review. I’ve ordered a signed copy for release date, from my local indie ❤️