Grey Souls was another bookclub read from a meeting that unfortunately could not take place due to the COVID-19 social distancing we are currently in. This was not a book I would have picked myself, and although I once read Monsieur Linh and His Child I did not remember much about it (I looked up my review and apparently, I liked it at the time).

Grey Souls is set during and after the First World War in a French village that is close to the fighting but not actually involved. Certain events take place during this time, that influence the main character as he looks back at the last twenty years. It starts with a little girl found murdered, but solving the case is hardly the main topic of the book.

For me, Grey Souls fit perfectly in the same tradition of Flemish literature, where in a small village many events are brought up over a period of time, and the reader is left to some extent to wonder, what is the meaning of this. What is the goal of this book? What is the main story. Grey Souls was very much like this, and while I do not dislike the style, I am often left with a feeling that there could have been a bit more in the story. (At some point in the book, the murdered girl had not been mentioned for so long that I started to question whether a girl was murdered in this book - a problem arising with me reading multiple book at once all the time). The writing was nice, but I fear the book all together will be forgotten soon.

bookshelves: france, published-2003, historical-fiction, spring-2010, translation, wwi, mystery-thriller

** spoiler alert ** Won the prix Renaudot award in France, was shortlisted for the American Gumshoe Award, and won Sweden's Martin Beck Award. In addition to his writing, Philippe Claudel is a Professor of Literature at the University of Nancy.

I don't quite know where to begin.

3.5 stars. Shit hits the fan in Boston as Connor's mysterious dark power continues to be mysterious.

Unperfect Souls picks up shortly after the evens of Samhain, where Connor permanently shut the veil between TirNaNog (Land of the Dead) and Bostom. He is also on the most wanted list by both the Unseele and Seelie Fae for being in the middle of too many public aware nightmares, including the creation of the Taint.Of course, our boy Connor could care less what Maeve the Fairy Queen of the Seelie really thinks after she turned her back on the residents of Boston, and her own underQueen Ceridwen. The only problem is, Connor is the only one that knows about it now that Ceridwen is dead.Connor, who is a druid, and a former hot shot investigator for the Guildhouse, is asked by his friend Leonard Murdock, a Lieutenant Detective for the Boston PD and who's turf the Weird falls into, to help assist with an investigation after decapitated heads start showing up. Connor learns that the police commissioner, Leo's father, has shut off all utilities in the Weird as a way to punish the residents for their part in recent aggravations, and to enforce martial law.Connor also realizes that with the dead fey having no place to go, thanks to him, that the dead and the solitary Fey are now fighting for teritory. Thanks to the Taint, the anger within the Fey is growing each day, and ends up in a huge battle that involves humans like Murdock, and his brothers.There's alot of other surprises as well. A former flame of Connor enters the story as Moira Cashel. She claims to be Amy Sullivan, for whom Connor had a fling when he was just a teenager. We finally learn why Scott Murdock, Police Commissioner and father of Detective Lieutenant Leonard Murdock, hates Connor so much. Of course, according to Scott, it's all HIS fault!Connor learns more about the dark mass in his head, after meeting not only a leaninsidhe, but getting shot in the head. The best part of the book, naturally, comes at the end as Eorla makes her stand against both the High Queen of Tara and The Elven King. There's a suprise involving Keeva as well, which I shall not spoil since it appears she may be heading to Tara to recoup from her recente experiences. Several of the main characters is hanging by a thread, including Meryl Dian, and I wouldn't be shocked to see either of them dead within the next storyline, putting even more stress on Connor.The ending of this book, seemed like a break into a new whole unexplored storyline for Connor, and especially Murdock now that his father is out of the picture. There is, of course, the whole question about what happens now that Eoloa has made her stand against the Seelie and Unseelie courts, as well as why Vize hasn't been killed off after 4 books.I like this series, even though at times there are way, way, way too many characters. But, by the time you reach the pinnacle of the storyline, everything makes since and Connor is smack dab in the middle of things once again.Next book: Uncertain Allies (April 26, 2011)

Del Franco gets better with each Connor Grey novel. The underlying mysteries centers around increasing fae versus Dead fae, who were recently locked out of their realm due to actions in the previous novel. Questions surround the politics of such acts, and if they are related to the taint, human-fae politics, and the darkness in Connor's own head. I find I have to read Del Franco's Grey novels closely if I want to understand the events and the complexity of the world he has imagined; no skimming allowed. I also can't imagine picking up this book randomly, without having read the first three books in the series. Many of the issues and character developments were the subject of prior novels, and the backstory is limited. I frequently get the feeling I'm missing some significance to events in book #2 (Unquiet Dreams) or #3 (Unfallen Dead) and wish I had had re-read them.