And as the novel barrels triumphantly towards its unexpected but satisfying conclusion, it's in this respect that it deliver.''e' Alison Flood, The Observer, 'Fascinating. There's humour here, and characters to return to, but really Alex is about thrills. Where another novel would have finished, Alex is just beginning, and the book moves from read-as-fast-as-you-can horror to an intricately plotted race to a dark truth. Revenge narratives go all the way back to the Greeks, but it's the vagina dentate component that sets a specimen like Alex apart, as Lemaitre adapts Larsson's blueprint with moves of his own.''e' Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review, 'An eloquent thriller with a denouement that raises eyebrows as it speeds the pulse.''e' Kirkus Reviews (starred), 'The winner of countless French crime-writing prizes, Lemaitre is far too canny to join the ranks of thriller authors who merely revel in disturbing details and gory crimes. 'Lemaitre's plot is laid out with mathematical precision: a beautiful woman is kidnapped, stripped naked, thrown into a cage and subjected to the systematic torture of a brutal captor. A 2013 Financial Times Book of the Year Shortlisted for the 2014 RUSA Reading List Horror Award From the Hardcover edition.

Before long, saving Alex's life will be the least of Commandant Verhoeven's considerable challenges. She is beautiful, yes, but also extremely tough and resourceful. As he uncovers the details of the young woman's singular history, Camille is forced to acknowledge that the person he seeks is no ordinary victim. The diminutive and brilliant detective knows from bitter experience the urgency of finding the missing woman as quickly as possible-but first he must understand more about her. Will hunger, thirst, or the rats get her first? Apart from a shaky eyewitness report of the abduction, Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven has nothing to go on: no suspect, no leads, and no family or friends anxious to find a missing loved one. Her abductor appears to want only to watch her die.

A police procedural, a thriller against time, a race between hunted and hunter, and a whydunnit, written from multiple points of view that explore several apparently parallel stories which finally meet.' Alex Prevost-kidnapped, savagely beaten, suspended from the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse in a tiny wooden cage-is running out of time.

Upon winning the prestigious 2013 Crime Writers Association International Dagger Award, the judges praised Alex by saying, 'An original and absorbing ability to leash incredulity in the name of the fictional contract between author and reader.

Alex by pierre lemaitre