I’m not a huge fan of series of all sorts. I think three to four volumes is enough to maintain reader’s interest for after awhile novelty and freshness slowly wears off and I feel rather fatigued. But it’s not the case here. Fred Vargas’ Commissaire Adamsberg cycle is one of my favourite series for last years. I almost everything: erudition and profesional backround of the author, Vargas is an archeologist and historian and the world she created around the main protagonist. Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, I know I keep saying it repeatedly in all my , is such an unconventional detective. Quirky, abstracted, amorous. He wears two watches on the same wrist, but why not, you could ask. Ha, if only they showed correct time! Desk work definitely is not his thing either and his memory seems to work on some other level. Neither good nor bad. Just other. His co-workers are mixed bunch as well. My favourite from them still remains Danglard. Maybe he’s not very impressive in the looks department but he is an inteligent, widely-read and highly reasonable man. Someone on whom you can always rely on. Concededly he drink too much red wine but he is adamant to get rid of that habit. Hmm, in favour of white one. Well, nobody's perfect. And fingers crossed for a romantic affair that seems to be in the air.

An Uncertain Place is set in Paris and London but huge part of the plot takes place in the vampire country. Yes, this very volume concerns dauntless slayers of Dracula & co' descendants. As always Vargas gives a lot of historical details to the story and here quite openly flirts with gothic novel with a special bow toward Bram Stoker. I very much enjoy her sense of humour, sometimes very subtle then again quite gallows so the reading, despite gruesome murders, is a sheer pleasure. I that her protagonists even these peripheral are quite distinguishable and now and then have brief cameo in next volumes. And finally I very much enjoyed another chunk of personal life of our inimitable commissaire. Needless to say Vargas bought me entirely and can’t wait for another scene.2018 crime-mystery-thrillers ebook ...more51 s Ana Cristina Lee713 304

Suspensión de la incredulidad y haber leído otros libros de esta serie: estas son las dos condiciones para disfrutar esta loquísima historia en que Fred Vargas se desata y lleva al extremo su estilo.

A ver, yo si hay vampiros en un policial para mí es bien. Pero, a pesar de mi amor por esta serie, tengo que reconocer que la trama esta vez me ha parecido excesiva, rocambolesca, un desmadre que va desde el cementerio de Highgate en Londres hasta un pueblo de Serbia, feudo vampiril de toda la vida. Pero además algunos miembros de la brigada se ven implicados de manera muy personal en la trama. Coincidencias no, lo siguiente. A favor hay que decir que al final todos los hilos se anudan bastante bien y la historia resulta comprensible, pero no menos fantástica.

Amantes del género negro realista, abstenerse totalmente. Para fans del universo Vargas, enamorados de sus extraños pobladores y dispuestos a perderse en el laberinto de una trama un pelín pasada de rosca.detectives gotico intriga ...more26 s SVETLANA289 48

Commissaire Adamsberg goes to a conference in London where he encounters a pile of shoes with severed feet. When he is back in Paris another strange crime is committed. Both these crimes will bring him to Serbia where a story of vampires started in the 18th century.

As with all Fred Vargas books, this one has some mystic flavour, historical details, humour, twisted and unexpected events.

I didn't it as much as other Fred Vargas books, but it is not a bad book. Could be that the problem is that I read five books in a row about Commissaire Adamsberg. I am going to read one more and promise to take a break after this.2024-challenge audio crime ...more30 s Glenda43 8

Adoro Fred Vargas.
Plog.france mystery20 s Julie560 276

The inimitable Fred Vargas delves into the undergrowth of society once again, but this time goes very far underground, into the tombs of men. The novel becomes a beguiling dalliance in the world of vampiry and Old World taboos. The novel will definitely raise the hackles if you are reading this alone, at night. It is not, however, a vampire novel, à la Twilight cheesiness, but a grounded crime fiction with all the elements of a solid investigation into police corruption.

Adamsberg continues to surprise and delight readers with his quirky ways; Adrien Danglard is allowed to unfurl his emotional wings, just a bit, with hints of more to come. Poor Danglard, the stalwart backbone of the Adamsberg storyline seems on the edge of being rewarded for his dependable and unflagging conscientiousness, albeit somewhat in the abstract. (Even in fiction, it feels good when the good guy gets rewarded.)

Vargas's subtle humour is always a sneaky surprise, causing you to chuckle three pages after the fact, as she pulls in all the threads of her story.

The ultimate in comfort crime fiction for me -- a contradiction in terms if ever there was one!

21st-century bumps-in-the-night france20 s Sandra936 279

Tira un vento da soap opera in questo giallo della Vargas. Una storia al limite dell’assurdo che ha per protagonisti dei vampiri che dal 1700 scorrazzano per l’Europa. Una trama improbabile, una conclusione obbligata. Le tre stelle sono per Adamsberg, lo spalatore di nuvole, un personaggio letterario che non può non destare forte interesse.francia gialli18 s Labijose1,040 553

Mi primera incursión en las novelas de Fred Vargas no ha sido muy estimulante por varios motivos. Para empezar, la autora te deja claro “entre lineas”, que si no has empezado por la primera entrega de la serie no te vas a enterar de quién es quién. Nada. Los personajes terminan tan desconocidos como al empezar a leerla. La mayoría de autores se tomarían la molestia de trazar un mínimo perfil de los personajes principales, sabedores de que es difícil que un escritor sea seguido desde la primera entrega. Para Fred Vargas queda claro que, si quieres empatizar con sus criaturas, tienes que empezar por el principio. Conmigo no va a funcionar. Tras una lectura tediosa, una trama que deja mucho que desear, por no decir sin ningún interés, y unos diálogos que parece plasmar a medida que se le ocurren, sin molestarse a hacerlos mínimamente creíbles, he decidido que le deseo una muy próspera carrera literaria, como parece ser el caso, pero conmigo que no cuente.
16 s A.378 48

Crímenes escalofriantes, tenebrosas leyendas, pies y zapatos, padres con hijos en apuros, vampiros (si, si, vampiros...qué se yo), tiernos gatitos y nuestro admirado Adamsberg, claro. Como pez en el agua se mueve Fred Vargas en este Universo de historias en apariencia inconexas y triviales. Y, otra vez, se difruta como niño el cuento que te cuentan, pero también la forma, los giros y el peculiar humor. Hay que estar muy atentos, eso si, porque es fácil perderse en tanto enjambre de nombres extraños y patronímicos. Pero se lleva bien. Extrañamente, todos se llevan bien al fin y al cabo: El enigma, la superstición, los vampiros, los gatos y los lectores agradecidos.10 s David BarrieAuthor 15 books5

In 2008 the fourth of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books was published, completing the vampire renaissance, and ensuring that you couldn’t stroll through a bookshop without encountering a fanged predator lurking amongst the shelves. Not even the crime section was safe, for that was the year when Fred Vargas’ An uncertain place came out in France and brought us the prospect of commissaire Adamsberg as a latter-day Van Helsing, caught in the middle of a centuries-old feud between the blood-suckers and those who would destroy them.One singular difference between Meyer and Vargas is that Meyer’s vampires are cobbled together from twentieth century vampire lore, as purveyed on the large and small screens, whereas Vargas’ are rooted in the historical past – the turbulent Balkans of the eighteenth century and the solemn Victorian splendour of Highgate cemetery. This, of course, is one of Vargas’ notorious strengths – to take an episode from another era (the Black Death in Have mercy on us all) or a figure of myth (werewolves in Seeking whom he may devour) and weave it into a contemporary murder mystery, forcing together the rational present and the superstitious past, scientific method and legendary practices. Little wonder that the resulting cases can only be handled successfully by a holy fool such as Adamsberg, a blissful surfer on the seas of instinct and intuition, with a little help from his sceptical sidekick inspector Danglard, who needs a raft of well-ordered facts to stay afloat.Adamsberg’s investigative style, and by extension Vargas’ plotting, is guaranteed to irritate traditionalist armchair detectives who pride themselves on their ability to spot the culprit before their fictional alter ego does so (and in saying this I must admit I am to a certain extent just such a traditionalist). In a Vargas book there is no hierarchy of significance – the slightest detail often outweighs chapters’ worth of procedural toil. In the end, there’s no point trying to outguess the author. What we are called upon to do is to mimic Adamsberg’s approach and just go with the flow, trusting to the author to carry us through safely – and delighted – to the conclusion.An uncertain place is true to the tradition of quirkiness that has marked all the Adamsberg books. The crimes are suitably weird and macabre – a collection of severed feet left outside Highgate cemetery still snug in their shoes and a murder victim cut up into 460 separate pieces, 300 of which have been pounded to a pulp, in a suburban bungalow outside Paris. The investigation is appropriately unpredictable – Adamsberg helps the prime suspect escape justice before taking off to a village in Serbia where he encounters not only his current would-be nemesis but an old one from a previous book. And the incidental detail is as rich as ever (the correct name for someone who eats wardrobes, why you should bury a vampire face down, why you should carefully dispose of your pencil shavings, ...). However, there is a difference between An uncertain place and its predecessors. Adamsberg seems lonelier, more isolated, and as a result we miss the constant interaction with the rest of his team that was such a source of strength in previous books such as Wash this blood clean from my hand. Indeed, this book suggests that had Vargas decided at the outset to cast Adamsberg as a one-man-band, she would have produced a series of quirky books (possibly not too far removed from Douglas Adam’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective), but not the compelling saga she came up with. Adamsberg needs Danglard as Holmes needs Watson. No man is an island, not even the loopiest individual.
9 s J.459 222

Not sure how I came to this, though it may have just looked peculiar on the library shelf (it doesn't, it's a regular mass production trade paperback). But because of the inflammatory nature of book-jacket and goodreads blurbs, it's probably good to get one thing certain, right off the top: while the topic of vampires comes up here, this book is by no means to be considered in the current crop of teenage (or other) paranormal-emo vampire schlock.

On the contrary, Ms Vargas gives us an irregular, confounding, and contradictory policier mystery, one which has more in common with Ionesco and Beckett than, well, whoever writes those emo-paranormal things. Even though he is a police detective, Vargas' detective works by intuition and round-about logic, inspired by the technique of the mad-hatter's tea party, it would seem. One defining characteristic will probably do the summing up: the Commissaire wears two wristwatches, on the same hand. Nothing is absolute, so 'exact time' must be considered a variable in his world; in order to confirm when something has happened-- he averages them.

In mysteries and detective fiction, there is the honorable tradition of the 'amateur investigator'. This is such an ancient convention that it probably started before Sherlock Holmes, though he is the iconic example. This allows for several layers of complication that the standard Police crime story would not. Since this isn't about the history of the genre, suffice it to say that over time and a thousand variations on this style, we are often treated to more and more eccentric variations of the amateur persona (again, though: Holmes himself was no regular-guy investigator, shredding the Victorian domestic peace with violin sonatas late into the night, whilst partaking of that famous 7% cocaine solution).

Although not a noir or a psychological novel, An Uncertain Place verges on both of those. Although the cultural chimera of vampirism is encountered, it is actually madness that is the subject of the chase. And an exquisitely literate --and loopy- chase it is. I know of no mystery novel that would ever see fit to mention both Dante Gabriel Rossetti as well as Martin Lampe, the valet of philosopher Immanuel Kant without breaking stride. (Ok, fair enough, Umberto Eco would, but he'd belabor it to the extent of a 45-page aside. Here, we fly by on the black bat-wings of absurdism, and so much the better.) It's probably worth noting that Vargas' French forbears include Robbe-Grillet and the whole general nouveau roman/Wtf school, of figurative meta-detection.

Finally, it should be emphasized that I'm a really snooty, snobby mystery enthusiast, and cannot stand cozy mysteries, humorous mysteries, or one-trick-pony mysteries that offer a quizzical formula detective, or a fanciful crime. Vargas clearly shares that preference and gives us a crisply peculiar mystery that succeeds on several levels and leaves the reader wanting another- a difficult needle to thread.

eccentric-practices mystery vargas-fred8 s Libros Prestados450 930

Tal vez no debería haber empezado por el octavo libro de esta serie detectivesca. Supongo que si has empezado por la primera se introduzca mejor al protagonista, y poder ir viendo su evolución te hará encariñarte con él. Ésta es mi primera aproximación y así, a palo seco, Adamsberg no me ha causado ninguna emoción. Ni positiva ni negativa. Nada. Cero. Lo he encontrado de lo más descafeinado. Y un poco incoherente. Vale, tiene mala memoria para la gente pero ¿es tonto? ¿es listo? ¿es un genio incomprendido? Cualquier cosa podría ser cierta. Incluído que tenga saltos lógicos que le permiten llegar a la conclusión adecuada de manera increíble. Y por increíble quiero decir que no me lo creo. Policías hechos y derechos a los que una palabra en cirílico no les hace sospechar, hasta que Adamsberg de repente, sin venir a cuento, tiene un chispazo de genialidad.

La trama es lenta y pasan más de cien páginas hasta que coge ritmo. Y normalmente en las novelas negras no me importa, porque las novelas negras tienden a tener un ritmo lento. Pero eso es porque o bien desarrollan otros temas (generalmente sociales) o bien desarrollan al protagonista u a otros personajes. Como he dicho, el protagonista no me pareció interesante, y está rodeado de una unidad de policía llena de gentes con apellidos franceses que yo confundía contínuamente y que más o menos parecen tener individualidad, aunque no la suficiente para que me importen lo más mínimo. Además, no sé si es la traducción o viene del original, pero el estilo de la autora es innecesariamente complicado, a veces incluso abigarrado y obtuso. Y no debería ser así. Sé que toda novela policíaca debe tener un tono, para darle cierto ambiente, pero ello no puede sacrificar la claridad de lo descrito. Y por cierto, la traducción (o la transcripción quizás) sí tiene errores. He visto palabras mal escritas, como escribir "fue procesado por ascoso" en vez de "fue procesado por acoso" (a menos que en Francia haya un delito de "ascosidad").

Seguí leyendo porque me prometieron vampiros, y porque tras cien páginas sí que la trama se vuelve más entretenida. Lo de los vampiros más o menos es cierto (sin querer destripar nada) y la trama que se agiliza termina en un final predecible (si yo lo puedo predecir creédme, es predecible).

No es lo peor que he leído, ni mucho menos, pero me pareció algo tedioso durante gran parte de la historia. Sin duda debería haber comenzado por el primero. Tal vez entonces mi opinión fuera diferente.8 s LJ3,159 308

First Sentence: Commissaire Adamsberg knew how to iron shirts.

Adamsberg begins in London, attending a police conference with Sgt. Estalere and Comm. Danglard when they are directed to the gates of Highgate Cemetery. There, in front of the gate, are 17 shoes; 8 pairs and one single, removed from corpses, still containing their feet. It is a case Adamsberg is glad not to be theirs. Back in Paris, a horrific and unusual murder occurs in a suburban home. The case leads Adamsburg to Serbia, vampire legends and the possibility of losing his life.

An author whose writing makes you savor particular passages, as though it was that first bit of a magnificent meal or sip of a fine wine, is a special gift. Vargas is one such author. One finds oneself reading passages aloud to others, whether they care or not, as you want to share them. Vargas is such a writer.

From the opening page, Vargas’ evocative descriptions immediately place you into the scene…”Since the room had windows on three sides, he spent this time moving his seat around the circular table, following the light, a lizard on a rock.” and introducing your to new concepts…”Going to London was fine by him: he would find out whether the Thames smelt of damp washing the way the Seine did, and what kind of sound the seagulls made. Perhaps they had a different call in English.”

Even in translation—and kudos to Siân Reynolds—Ms. Vargas voice is unique and strong. “Any experience that’s too beautiful or too horrific always leaves some fragment of itself in the eyes of the people who have witnessed it.” Her description of Lt. Retancourt, a large, powerful woman, is one to be envied..." "Did she know that to him she represented his tree of salvation, a tree with tough and miraculous fruit, the kind of tree you put your arms around without being able to encircle it, the kind of tree you climb up into when the mouth of hell opens?" Ms. Vargas images stay with us for a very long time after the story is done. The use of language is a pleasure to read, even to inventing one word and re-inventing another. Her droll humor brings light to the dark and her dialogue is a pleasure to our internal ear.

Vargas’ characters are just as unique and, you sense, beloved by the author. They are wonderful, varied, and slightly eccentric. But it’s also nice to have a police procedural where much of the investigation is done by a squad working together. You don’t know whether some of the characters are extremely observant and astute, or blessed with extraordinary abilities, or both. Either way, the come to life and you want to know them. Even the victim is dimensional with his back story provided and relationship with his son explained. None of the characters are simply there to fill the space. Even the dog is anthropomorphized by Amamsberg.

In some ways, this book was more strictly a police procedural than others, perhaps as there was no romantic overtone to it. All the crimes are singular in their execution. The plot is smart and clever without ever being contrived. Taking Adamsberg from London to Paris to Serbia not only accentuates the mystery and the building of suspense—and she does suspense well—but adds a richness to the story. Vargas takes you down unexpected paths and includes a twist you never saw coming. She takes us on a journey; not only of locations, but of legends and superstitions, yet provides logical explanations in the end.

“An Uncertain Place” was published in France in 2008. Ms. Vargas is an author you want to have write more, publish more frequently and be translated more quickly. Her books are gifts to readers and, although it sounds greedy, with each one, you want more.

AN UNCERTAIN PLACE (Pol. Proc-Comm. Adamsberg-England/France/Serbia-Cont) - Ex
Vargas, Fred (trans. by Siân Reynolds) – 7th in series (book 4 has not been translated)
Harvill Secker, 2011, UK Trade Paperback – ISBN: 9781846554452
contemporary_post_1945 eastern-europe england ...more7 s Chip860 52

Made it, with many fits and starts, to page 315 (of approx 400) before finally throwing in the towel for good. The book struck me as scattered, random, overly coincidental, and at times just plain weird - don't know if due to poor translation or not, but various character interactions, thoughts and responses seemed simply inhuman (in the sense of not how any normal person would behave) - e.g., most everything involving the bizarre "doctor" who could sense and fix things simply by touching people in the right way, and the failure of anyone else to treat that as anything other than to be expected.

Extremely disappointed given the author is a three-time winner of the Crime Writers Association award and a best seller in multiple European countries. Ah well. Apparently not everything translates.foreign mystery-thriller6 s Linda212 5

I would give this book 6 stars if I could. I just couldn't put it down. This is the first Fred Vargas "Commissaire Adamsberg" novel that I have read and I can't wait to read her other books. The story was riveting and eerie. I am definitely a huge "Commissaire Adamsberg" fan. I so enjoy French crime writers - Jean Francois Parot, Claude Izner and now I can add Fred Vargas. C'est magnifique!6 s Hermien2,168 60

Enjoyable but the plot gets a bit convoluted towards the end. Good series though and also worth watching on tv.audiobooks crime-thriller france ...more6 s aPriL does feral sometimes 1,995 460

‘An Uncertain Place’ by Fred Vargas details another of the author’s unusual and very peculiar investigations typical of a Commissaire Adamsberg mystery. I was enchanted, perhaps under the spell of a restless bloodthirsty undead murderer! But no worries, gentle reader. This mystery is not in any way a paranormal plot. Perhaps.

This novel is possibly #8 in the series (the numbering of the books in the series is not consistent on any list I’ve seen, whether Amazon, Goodreads or elsewhere). The series is originally written in French. It is being translated into English in whatever order the publishers feel doing for the last ten years. However, enough of the novels have been translated so that now they can be read in order. All English readers have to do is figure out which one is most ly the next one in the series. In a way, the way these foreign books are published in English completely out of order is sort of a preparation for readers in how Adamsberg solves mysteries. Commissaire Adamsberg solves the most bizarre crimes in a most bizarre manner. All of the Adamsberg’s mysteries, and the detectives solving the crimes, are askew. Reading them makes me feel as if I were a little drunk while reading.

I have copied the book blurb for ‘An Uncertain Place’:

From the #1 bestselling French author and three-time winner of the Crime Writers' Association's International Dagger Award.

When Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the chief of police in Paris's seventh arrondissement, is called to the scene of a ghastly and highly unusual murder, he thinks it can't have anything to do with the nine pairs of shoes and severed feet discovered outside of London's Highgate Cemetery just a few days earlier. With the help of the murdered man's gifted physician, Adamsberg delves into the victim's disturbed psyche and unexpectedly finds himself on a path that takes him deep into the haunted past of Eastern Europe, where a centuries-old horror has come to life and is claiming victims far and wide.”

The blurb is not indulging in hyperbole! I highly recommend this oddball detective series, slightly stilted translation in all.

Start here: The Chalk Circle Mana-jack-in-the-box-pop-surprise cheap-thrills-but-i-loved-it dark-gleeful-fun ...more5 s Dolceluna ?1,150 66

Tipicissimo romanzo di Fred Vargas, questo. Gli elementi caratteristici della sua produzione ci sono tutti: il gusto per specifici dettagli d'indagine; la frizzante ironia dei personaggi; il richiamo a paure ancestrali e fascinazioni antiche aventi in realtà un risvolto attuale e concreto (stavolta abbiamo quella di un settecentesco vampiro, che poi si rivelerà, appunto, un "vampiro"); il rifiuto di azioni splatter e ultraviolente (nonostante la vicenda, narrata e non rappresentata, di un cadavere fatto a pezzetti e sparso per casa); infine la doppia, o meglio in tal caso tripla, ambientazione, che collega i vari intrecci in un'unica pista (oltre all'onnipresente Parigi, l'Inghilterra e la Serbia). La leggenda di Peter Plogojowitz, riesumato nel 1700 col sospetto di essere un vampiro, e del suo tetro Luogo Incerto nel villaggio serbo Kiseljevo è piuttosto intrigante e si collega alle sottotrame dei piedi tagliati rinvenuti davanti al cimitero londinese di Highgate e dell'omicidio parigino in maniera abile ed efficace. Come sempre, poi, la vera forza del romanzo risiede nei dialoghi brillanti, arguti, fantasiosi fra i personaggi, primo fra tutti Adamsberg, lo "spalatore di nuvole", qui alle prese con novità che sconvolgeranno la sua vita anche personale. Insomma, Fred non si discosta di un millimetro dal modulo che ha adottato finora per scrivere tutti i suoi romanzi, garanzia di successo per i suoi lettori più affezionati: il risultato è quello di un buon romanzo, di affascinanti vicenda e ambientazione e di facile lettura, ma che, tuttavia, pensando al suo recente e splendido Nei boschi eterni, per diversi e indefinibili motivi, non spacca. Complimenti Fred, ma sono certa che puoi fare di più!
5 s Camille 306 157

Pieds coupés, pieux dans le cœur et cadavres éclatés, qui reprendra un peu d'aventures du commissaire Adamsberg ?

Par chance, mon deuxième roman de Fred Vargas est aussi celui qui suit immédiatement celui que je viens de lire (vous suivez ?), "Dans les bois éternels". Alors j'avais l'avantage, cette fois-ci, de situer tous les personnages ; et à mon avis, pour "Un lieu incertain", c'est tout de même plus nécessaire que pour le précédent.

Le roman s'ouvre sur une découverte macabre et ô combien romanesque dans le Londres d'aujourd'hui : alors qu'un collègue outre-manche fait visiter Londres à Adamsberg et à son fidèle Danglard, les policiers découvrent, sur l'indication d'un lord déchu, mendiant et alcoolique, un groupe de dix-sept pieds coupés, dans leurs chaussures, se dirigeant résolument vers le cimetière de Highgate. Forcément, la scène attire les lecteurs de romans policiers, comme ta lampe de chevet attire les moustiques : on a tout de suite envie de savoir ce qui va se passer par la suite. Ça m'a à la fois rappelé le conte de la paire de chaussures, de Pierre Gripari, et "Sans les mains" de P.D. James, un roman policier que j'aimais beaucoup étant ado.
Mais rien de tout ça ici, comme avant, Fred Vargas se joue des attentes de son lecteur, et nous expatrie fissa vers la France et d'autres meurtres bien différents. Plus rien à voir ? Pas pour le moment, mais l'intrigue finira bien par retomber sur ses pattes, comme les chatons que le manchot Lucio élève dans la grange d'Adamsberg : on reviendra aux pieds coupés en temps voulu, mais il est temps à présent de suivre notre commissaire vers la Serbie et les enquêtes vampiriques.

Vargas joue avec nos attentes immédiates, mais reste fidèle à elle-même : le thème central du roman s'ancre une nouvelle fois dans l'histoire et le mythe. Ici, encore une fois, la vie éternelle, mais pas l'éternité moyen-âgeuse de "Dans les bois éternels", la vie dans la mort, le vampire. Adamsberg se grime en Van Helsing : parti de Londres comme son prédécesseur à la chasse aux vampires, il délaisse sa petite équipe pour aller manger de la chauve-souris vers l'est ; et si les autres policiers finiront bien par venir lui prêter main forte, Adamsberg, une fois n'est pas coutume, fait ici cavalier seul.

J'aime beaucoup certains aspects de la patte Vargas, et je ne pense pas être prête de m'en lasser : l'intrigue, toujours érudite et toujours plaisante ; le style, travaillé, drôle et poétique ; la galerie de personnages, toujours inattendus, qui se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas ; le rythme, enfin, qui ne nous laisse pas reposer le livre avant d'avoir le fin mot de l'histoire.
Encore une très bonne lecture, et je compte bien reprendre la série des Adamsberg plus loin cet été.
Plog.4 s ??????? ????Author 11 books46

3.5/5
????????? ??? ???????????. ?? ????? ??? ?? ?????????? ??????? ???????? ? ?????????. ???????? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ?????.4 s Fil193 52

ADAMSBERG. ISTRUZIONI PER L'USO (PER MONICA: scegli da quale iniziare)

Libro consigliato soltanto agli amanti del commissario Adamsberg. Io sono affezionato a questo commissario ed anche questo libro mi è piaciuto, però devo riconoscere che questo romanzo come trama e personaggi è forse il "meno migliore" (non oso dire l'altra parola) della Vargas. È il suo libro con una maggiore componente di horror. 

Se volete conoscere il commissario Adamsberg vi consiglio di iniziare da uno dei seguenti tre libri, con nessun accenno al genere horror.

- "L'uomo dai cerchi azzurri". Il primo della serie. Forse il più lento, ma stupendo. Rimane il mio preferito perché, grazie a questo, è nato il mio amore per lo stile di Fred Vargas. È il romanzo con meno personaggi, dedicato quasi esclusivamente al commissario ed al suo vice Danglard.

- "Sotto i venti di Nettuno". Il quarto della serie (senza contare i racconti brevi). Il più avventuroso, il piu thriller. Rispetto agli altri due non bisogna indovinare il colpevole, bisogna solo apprezzare lo stile e farsi avvolgere dalle solite atmosfere di Fred Vargas.

- "Nei boschi eterni". Il quinto della serie. Da molti appassionati della Vargas, ritenuto il migliore. Entra in scena Veyrenc, un nuovo importante personaggio, e verranno svelati dei misteri sul passato del commissario. Se scoprirete il colpevole, sarete ancora più soddisfatti.

Se vi piacerà Adamsberg, allora dovrete leggerli tutti. In ciascun libro si aggiungerà qualche particolare alla trama generale. E potrete così gustarvi meglio i successivi. L'ultimo uscito "Tempi glaciali" torna ad avere una trama ingarbugliata ed interessante come "Nei boschi eterni" e dei personaggi particolari, questa volta islandesi, come i simpatici canadesi di "Sotto il vento di Nettuno".

Se vi piace Adamsberg ma questo libro vi ha deluso, io vi consiglio di continuare a seguire il commissario.

Al personaggio di Adamsberg ed allo stile incredibile di Fred Vargas non riesco ad assegnare meno di 3,5 stelle.
gen_gialli naz_transalpini sec_duemila4 s Richard Hannay163 12

Lei antes el último libro de Vargas: "L'Armée Furieuse" que me pareció pésimo así que me he alegrado mucho de haberle dado una oportunidad con este, el penúltimo. Vuelve la mejor Vargas con un arranque insuperable que está clamando ser filmado: una hilera de pies humanos cortados esperan paciéntemente para entrar en el cementerio de Highgate. A partir de ahí "vintage Vargas" para lo bueno y para lo malo. Lo bueno, el grupo que rodea a Adamsberg, una colección, incluido el propio Comisario que hoy sólo puede encontrar acogida y promoción a las generosas ubres del presupuesto público. Lo bueno: una investigación en la que tiene menos importancia el minucioso adherirse a un procedimiento que la aparición del elemento inesperado. Lo bueno: el trasfondo histórico que nos lleva de los prerafaelitas a Serbia. Lo malo: un cierto desdén por los detalles. Un descuido estilístico y como una desgana de la autora que se van a hacer muy evidentes en L'Armée Furieuse pero que ya están presentes aquí. He leido que Vargas prepara para el 2016 una nueva aventura de Adamsberg con Robespierre de fondo. Un vampiro y un ejército furioso todo a un tiempo. Veremos si Vargas recupera el pulso o si sigue desmadejada despeñándose por el sendero de baldosas amarillas.french fun noir4 s miledi114

Mai più!francia yellow-corner3 s Tiphaine Calcoen11 1 follower

Toujours très prenant mais un peu dur de suspendre son incrédulité sur ce coup là 3 s Goesta27 9

My first exposure to Fred Vargas and the Adamsberg series, I read An Uncertain Place in the English translation by Siân Reynolds (Vintage Books). It is clear from the other that if you are expecting a classic no-nonsense police procedural rooted in gritty, empirical reality, you might be severely frustrated. On the other hand, there is nothing particularly supernatural about this world; no (suspense of dis-) belief in certain creatures of the night is required, merely the acceptance that some people/characters will go to extreme lengths to support their own view of reality (and what serial killer does not fall into that category; here, a more unusual motive is merely posited).

Yes, it's a slightly off-kilter world, full of apparently coincidental connections and a unique sense of humour and atmosphere that seem to offer a commentary on human subjectivity wrestling with meaning and finding answers, except that perhaps this world is not quite as random and unreachable as that of 20th century European dread. If anything, there is perhaps a whiff of (Eastern?) mysticism in both the protagonist's method and the answers he finds. Everything is connected, not perhaps spiritually but at least in the trope of the mystery -- whose point, mythologically, has always been to restore order and vanquish chaos (or if you prefer "evil" - though that designation requires a supernatural belief system of its own, whether or not the reader is aware of it).

Anyway, more simply put, I was utterly taken by the blending of subtly quirky characters, depth of atmosphere, serious tension and flirting with (without, for me, ever descending into) the absurd. A unique and refreshing voice, at once new and pleasantly old-fashioned, subtle and exuberant. I started to guess the mystery just at the right point, I felt. I am not usually attracted to detectives who deduce by some kind of wandering meditation rather than doggedly pursuing the evidence, but now I realize I just hadn't found the right one yet. Vargas made me feel at home in her world, which is quite a feat.

Also I have not been too successful enjoying French mysteries, as most of the time I have the sneaking feeling that the English translation loses something intangible but vital. While I cannot comment as to its accuracy, Reynolds' translation immediately felt "right" and I forgot about it (reading a translation) at once.

I look forward to more as I find them. Whether the glow of discovery will wear off or I will continue to enjoy the series as much as my first time, remains to be seen.mystery3 s Ubik 2.0976 269

“Adamsberg non era un uomo emotivo, sfiorava i sentimenti con cautela, come i rondoni toccano le finestre aperte accarezzandole con l’ala, evitando di precipitarsi dentro, tanto è difficile poi la strada per uscire”

Divertente e pieno di spunti questo romanzo di Fred Vargas, il sesto della serie Adamsberg, se non sbaglio. Ho già notato nei precedenti episodi che la Vargas sembra dare il suo meglio quando il racconto sconfina, almeno in parte, dai supersfruttati (letterariamente) ambienti parigini, dove i suoi personaggi sembrano riproporre una situazione "à la Pennac" con l'aggiunta dell'ingrediente poliziesco.

"Un luogo incerto" sembra la conferma di quell'ipotesi: qui infatti abbiamo un bizzarro incipit londinese e, nella seconda parte del romanzo, un lungo e avventuroso viaggio fino a uno sperduto villaggio della Serbia che affonda la sua storia addirittura in una faida fra vampiri risalente al settecento e proseguita, attraverso quei tortuosi percorsi che la Vargas ama allestire intorno al suo personaggio, fino a confluire nell'inchiesta del commissario Adamsberg!

Oltre alle digressioni di storia, horror, avventura che l'autrice riesce a ricompattare nel finale con qualche forzatura ma sufficiente maestria, il romanzo arricchisce nella parte parigina il ventaglio di caratteri stravaganti che operano nella Squadra Anticrimine di Parigi. E poichè Parigi non è Vigata, qui le possibilità di affiancare al commissario personaggi fuori del comune sono molto più numerose e variopinte.

Insomma gli ingredienti per passare alcune giornate divertendosi (e sorprendendosi...) nella lettura di "Un luogo incerto" ci sono tutti, a patto che non si pretendano un ritmo e un'articolazione da thriller che non sono mai stati nelle corde della Vargas.gialli-e-thriller-europei3 s Jon Frum80 3

I see that this entry in the Commissaire Adamsberg series is rated at about four stars here. I'm afraid that I had to limit it to two stars in my rating. An Uncertain Place is typical of Vargas' Adamsberg series, which I've been giving either three or four stars. In this case, I had to account for the serious flaws I crashed into as I read through the story. One such flaw was so serious that I almost put the book down permanently - something I don't do very often.

One of the famous 'rules' of mystery writing that came out of the Golden Age era of the genre that the plot couldn't rely on coincidence. In this book, Vargas relies on an Olympic-level coincidence to keep the plot going. And that's not accounting for another coincidence at the very start of the book that could in itself be a killer.

Maybe I'm being too fussy - obviously other readers have rated this book higher, and weren't so bothered by the Magical Realism-quality plot twists in this Adamsberg entry. To enjoy Vargas' writing, you have to suspend your disbelief to a dramatic degree. I can do that. The problem is that sometimes her amazing plot twists turn into cheats. And a mystery writer should never cheat the reader.

This may all sound vague, but to give details would require spoilers, and I don't do spoilers in . I've now read all but the most recent of the Adamsberg books, and this is one of the two I could have done without. 3 s Jeanette3,586 698

This is it for me and Vargas. In these Adamsberg series novels, this is the second I've read. No more. I got to 50% point and don't care who did it. The people are strange, and the protagonist himself rather weird. Half the conversation I just don't understand to begin with, and it makes the reading painful and without joy. It's always as if someone is talking to someone else "out of the frame" or in some other code or context to my own. Either I am too dumb, too slow, or just too outside of this culture's mainstream knowledge or "we-think"? I know others these. The plot was ok, solid actually, and I d the trip to London under the channel. But really, the people are so strange, so detached, and no one has a normal conversation or seems to have any warmth except for/to animals. Which are allowed everywhere even covered in manure! It's as if someone asks a question too, and then another answers about something on the moon, or about a neighbor's cat or Cupid the dog's smell. Very few facts relate to the case, IMHO, or tie into a true communication.

Not for me.3 s2 comments Maša754

Adamsberg and his team of colorful individuals get handed another weird murder, which leads Adamsberg on a race through Serbia, and history!

This story is centered on Adamsberg, who keeps on getting new family members left and right - and they root him to the present more and more. He is still moved to wander, but feels more solid somehow, and more worn out. Danglard also changes, and we get to see a side of him that is not obsessed with his boss, which is a nice plus. I missed office shanenigans, but it made book more solid, plot-wise. I don't have problems with meandering plot (a must if you want to read Adamsberg books), I would've d to have more Rentacourt!

The Serbia parts were pretty funny, as I'm from Croatia, a neighbouring country. I see Vargas did her research, the language is pretty close, and I apprecciate the bits in Cyrillic script (also nicely done).

The resolution was pretty neat and convinient. Also, most of the investigation was done off-screen, not my favorite plot device.2018 mysteries-thrillers2 s ??????? ?????Author 31 books341

????????? ?????? ?????? ?? ????????-????? ????????? ? ???????? ??????? ?? ?? ??-????? ??????. ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? ????????? ???????, ? ??????? ????? ??????, ? ????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?? ????????? ????????; ???????? ????? ?? ????????? ???????????? - ? ??????, ???????? ????????? ?? ???????? - ? ??????? ???????? ???????; ??????, ?? ??????, ?? ????? ? ???? ????? ????????? ?????... ???? ?????? ?????, ??-?????????-???????3 s Jose221

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