Violence Within
French title : Violence à l'origine
In charge of the Major Crimes Unit during his superior officer’s absence, Detective Sergeant Victor Lessard must investigate the death of a high-ranking Montreal police officer whose head has been found in a dumpster.
The investigative team is made up of youthful Loïc Blouin-Dubois, the inimitable Jacinthe Taillon, and Nadja Fernandez, who also happens to be Victor’s live-in girlfriend. The team has to act fast. The killer has left a message promising more deaths to come.
Hunting a particularly twisted killer who decorates his crime scenes with gruesome graffiti images featuring a weird character nicknamed “Santa Claus,” Lessard is under pressure to get quick results, but he doesn’t have the resources he needs. Still, he resolves that come hell or high water, he will solve the “Graffiti Case,” a black labyrinth that reopens old wounds in his soul, shakes his deepest convictions, and brings him to the very lip of the abyss.
Tenebris Award, 2015
Top 5 Crime Novels of 2014, La Presse
Reviews
“Michaud brings incomparable skill to his depictions of dark worlds populated by troubled souls… This new Victor Lessard mystery displays his talent once again.”
- MICHEL BÉLAIR, LE DEVOIR
“With perfect control of his plot, the writer deftly manipulates chronology and delivers another brilliant thriller, fast-paced and packed with tension.”
- NORBERT SPEHNER, LA PRESSE
“…Violence à l’origine is in bookstores now. Is it a crime novel? Yes. But it’s also a gracefully-written work of fiction, an exploration of order and chaos.”
- MARIE-CHRISTINE BLAIS, LA PRESSE