The Secret of Sarek by Maurice LeblancMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Every one of the Lupin books I've read so far has been different, and this one is a bloody melodrama, in which Lupin isn't even mentioned until 39% of the way through the book. The overall tone is highly sensational, and very early on there's a harrowing description of a mass murder, made worse in that the viewpoint character believes one of the murderers to be her long-lost son. No fewer than five characters are, at some point, believed to be dead but actually turn out to be alive.
Lupin's contribution is his classic "manipulate people's perception to pull off a seemingly impossible illusion," some elements of which are not especially convincing. (view spoiler) Another key feature of the plot is based on contemporary misunderstandings of the properties of a then-little-understood substance. (view spoiler) And the whole plot, we're asked to believe, is constructed largely upon (view spoiler)
It was gripping, though, and even though the amount of suffering and death was wildly excessive for my taste (my taste being for very little of either), and even though I set it aside for some time to read other things, I still found it compelling to read when I went back to it; there are weaknesses in the plot, for sure, but this is still a highly skilled writer, and I have to give it a (low) spot in my Best of the Year list just based on how well it's done.
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