Jim's Reviews > Kingdom of the Blind

Full disclosure. I am somewhat biased with regards to this series. I have read all of the books in this series and while some are better than others I haven't come across one that I haven't enjoyed. I like the characters and often find myself wishing that I could visit Three Pines. Sit in the bistro and enjoy good food and good company.

This book picks up approximately six months after Glass Houses. Armand Gamache, the former head of the Sûreté du Québec, remains on suspension for his part in allowing opiates to get away from the Surete. The story opens with Armand Gamache arriving at an abandoned farmhouse in response to a mysterious letter. There he learns that a complete stranger has named him one of the executors of her will. The other two executors are Myrna Landers, the owner of the bookshop in Three Pines, and a young builder. None of them had ever met the elderly woman. The terms of the will are so bizarre Gamache at first thinks the woman may have been delusional. Until a body is found in the farmhouse.

In the meantime the investigation into the events that led to his suspension is ongoing. While most of the opiates he allowed to slip through his hands in order to bring down the cartels have been retrieved there is one exception. Enough to kill thousands is about to hit the streets and Armand Gamache is under increasing pressure. Exactly how will he go and what steps will he take to prevent the drugs from hitting the streets? He will begin to see his own blind spots.


Jean Guy Beauvoir, second-in-command and Gamache's son-in-law, is facing pressure of his own. There are some who want to use Jean Guy to get Armand. To throw him under the bus. Jean Guy has to make a decision ... save his own career at the expense of Armand Gamache. Where does his loyalty lie? I must say Jean Guy is the one character in the series I have mixed feelings about. I have alternately liked and disliked him.

There are several stories in this book. Many different emotions. Hope, greed, guilt, revenge.

‘Be very, very careful who you let into your life. And learn to make peace with whatever happens. You can’t erase the past. It’s trapped in there with you. But you can make peace with it. If you don’t,’ he said, ‘you’ll be at perpetual war.”

I understand that Louise Penny considered ending the series after the death of her husband, Michael. It may be selfish but I am so glad she didn't. Armand Gamache and the residents of Three Pines have become friends.