Hello everyone!
I am back with another review, today it is Seven Days by Patrick Senécal. Thanks so much to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this book as part of the Thriller Chronicle program, as always, all opinions are my own.
**TRIGGER WARNING: sexual assault/rape (discussion of), animal abuse, extreme violence/mutilation, and graphic depictions. This book and parts of this review contain some difficult topics, please proceed at your own risk.**
This book follows Bruno Hamel, a surgeon whose seven-year-old daughter is brutally raped and murdered on her way home from school. When he finds out the killer will likely get a life sentence - 25 years with a chance of parole after 15 - Bruno decides that it's not enough for the magnitude of his crime. So, after staging an ambush, Bruno kidnaps the killer and tortures him. He tells the police he will do this for seven days - and on the last day, he will kill him and turn himself in. As police try to track Bruno down, they begin to wonder who they are trying to protect. Is saving the killer is worth it or are they trying to save Bruno from himself?
This was one of those books that was completely addicting because it was so extreme. The descriptions and writing style of Senécal are simple and to the point but they pack an enormous punch. I was enamoured by the story from the first page and whenever I wasn't reading the book, I was thinking about it.
The moral ambiguity shown in the book brings up some important points and discussions and while I won't really get into my personal thoughts on the matter, it was fascinating to see the protestors of both sides, calling for pacifism and violence. On what level can we become the judge, jury, and executioner? That's an extremely difficult - and largely personal question - that I cannot answer, but one that keeps coming up throughout the novel.
My only real complaint about this book was the decided lack of women. Admittedly, it was published in 2002 so I'm not sure how many crime books were being published with the nowadays male and female detective partnership. While this trope can sometimes get on my nerves, I found myself craving the tedious discussion about how a woman detective is just as good as a man detective (if you've read any number of recent crime thrillers, you'll know what I'm talking about). Maybe this book is before that time but I was expecting a bit more in that department.
Overall, however, this book is a horrifyingly fascinating story about justice and who gets to serve it.