"People who want something to read after 'The Girl' books might enjoy this," according to Hank

 

The classic procedural meets cutting edge science in this huge international bestseller

Already a runaway bestseller in France, Syndrome E tells the story of beleaguered detective Lucie Hennebelle, whose old friend has developed a case of spontaneous blindness after watching an extremely rare—and violent—film from the 1950s. Embedded in the film are subliminal images so unspeakably heinous that Lucie realizes she must get to the bottom of it—especially when nearly everyone who comes into contact with the film starts turning up dead.

Enlisting the help of Inspector Franck Sharko—a brooding, broken analyst for the Paris police who is exploring the film’s connection to five murdered men left in the woods, Lucie begins to strip away the layers of what is perhaps the most disturbing and powerful film ever made. Soon Sharko and Lucie find themselves mired in a darkness that spreads across politics, religion, science, and art while stretching from France to Canada, Egypt to Rwanda, and beyond. And just who is responsible for this darkness will blow readers minds, as Syndrome E forces them to consider: what if the earliest and most brilliant advances and discoveries of neuroscience were not used for good—but for evil.

With this taut U.S. debut, Thilliez explores the origins of violence through cutting-edge and popular science in a breakneck thriller rich with shocking plot twists and profound questions about the nature of humanity.

Read an interview with the author HERE.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Hank says:
"From the jacket blurb, I expected to have a lot more suspension of my disbelief required, but I think that it's likely that the information about the biology of perception and, in particular, subliminal images is probably grounded in reality. The premise is that an old movie from the early days of such experimentation surfaces, people view it, and mayhem ensues.

While there's no character as compelling as Lisbeth Salander, people who want something to read after 'The Girl' books might enjoy this, if only because they've proven that they can accept some pretty extreme, peculiar violence. Translated from French."