Louise Penny (Chief Inspector Gamache #12): A Great Reckoning (part 1/2)

這是我看的第12本Chief Inspector Gamache系列小說。其實我覺得它叫Three Pines系列較為適合，畢竟Three Pines是小說的主要場境，而這個地方的重要性比男主角Gamache更高。（雖然，～thank God～ 凶殺案終於不再在這個小鎮發生。）有很多讀者留言告訴Louise Penny想去Three Pines這個與世隔絕的小鎮呢。

困擾Chief Inspector Gamache多時的黑警問題終於解決，最奸最惡最有權力那位已被處置，而背叛他的多年好友Michel也眾叛親離，自我流放了。但，問題並未完全解決。為了訓練新的黑警，以助黑高層「收o靚」，警察學堂也被污染。要影響一個人，當然是越早越好，聰明人都會從教育入手。黑高層將一套扭曲的價值觀灌輸給警校學生，讓他們融入這套文化。“The academy had become a nursery, a factory, a training ground and a conduit for brutality. It created and fostered an environment where that sort of behavior was normal, valued and rewarded.”　於是，仁慈和同理心被說成是軟弱，暴力是對付不聽話者或「唔識做」者的不二法門，警方權威不容挑戰。

Gamache本來在平定亂局一役中身心俱疲，已和太太Reine Marie和狗狗Henri退隱到Three Pines這個寧靜小鎮休養生息。但是，他知道警校的毒害未除，警校學生，包括下學期畢業的，是由黑警教出來的。那套扭曲的價值觀，不知道會在警校流傳多久。他覺得一定要親身出馬去「撥亂反正」（這個詞已被污染，讓我想想用哪個詞代替......）。

這個決定很Gamache，他給人的感覺就像個聖人。但他今次作了個非常冒險的決定，就是請兩個罪人當教授。一個是背叛過他的好友，另一個是本身在警校任教的腐敗警官Serge Leduc。請前者是因為想將他當為"bad example"；留後者是想一邊監視他，一邊搜集他的罪證起訴他。又或者，他是想看清楚Ludec究竟如何影響學生們。知道方法才能找到解藥。

學生方面，作者主要描寫四位（兩位高班兩位低班），他們亦是今集謀殺案的嫌疑犯。兩位高班學生包括聰明的中國女子和一個火爆衝動無禮又愛欺負人的男生（但他卻是高材生）；兩位初入警學的學生是以英語為母語的魁北克人(即Anglo-Quebecers。在魁北克，法語是主流，講英語的人常會被歧視），另一位是個像《龍紋身女孩》女主角的Goth girl。後者本來不獲選入警校，是Gamache看過她的履歷表後決定召收的。她除了名字和Gamache的亡母一樣外，與Gamache有另一重關係，而這亦成為書中的疑團（不過這個疑團不難破解，我不久便猜中）。

感覺作者寫查案的情節進步了。以前她的查案情節常被副線蓋過，或在角色不斷對話下令查案主線變得模糊。今次的查案寫得較有層次，「估凶手」部份寫得更刺激。唯一的是讀者會否相信行凶者的動機。不過現實生活中有人會為了一點爭執或少少錢而殺人，所以什麼動機也是有可能的。

與以往不少作品一樣，作者會寫一條副線，讓人多認識Quebec這個地方。今次的副線亦是一個迷團，關於一張古地圖的秘密。與以往不同的是，她今次介紹的Quebec「歷史人物」是虛構的，作者藉著這個人物表達反戰思想。戰爭是真實的，戰爭帶來的傷害是真實的，所以那位人物是虛構的也沒有關係。作者聰明之處是，她將Three Pines這個虛構小鎮為何在地圖上（現實的和書中的）查不到這個「迷團」也一併解開了。喜歡幻想這個小鎮的讀者應該很高興。

今次Gamache的舉動讓我覺得「聖人都有錯」。別人說他過份自信，我覺得他是理想主義，兼有種救世者情懷，覺得自己可以「搞掂一切」。希望他明白一個人的能力是有限的，事情發展往往在人的預計之外。例如他就不明白為何學警會聽從一個惡人的話。而在他好心做壞事之下，有人受苦，有人犧牲。或者我不應該怪他，我的想法，等於鼓勵人「不做不錯」。那個壞人才是最該被斥責的。但不知道午夜夢迴時，Gamache會不會後悔。

期待作者的下一本書。

p.s. 作者的丈夫最近因失智症過身，看到她在書中描述角色喪偶的痛苦心情，可能她寫的時候就是在想像這一天的到來。

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又來摘錄部份︰

"But the Gaspé Peninsula? Hundreds of miles away, where the edge of Québec met salt water."
- Gamache的好友自我流放到Gaspé Peninsula，我便查查這個是什麼地方︰

加斯佩半島，位於加拿大魁北克省東部，長約240公里。位於半島北部的Shickshock Mountains的Mount Jacques Cartier海拔1268米，為半島最高點。半島上河流眾多，主要有Cascapédia River、St-Jean、約克河等。加斯佩半島大部分屬於保護區，建有佛里昂國家公園和加斯佩省立公園。主要經濟活動為捕魚和伐木，還有銅，鉛和鋅的開採。
(資料來自Wiki)

“While he’d sometimes had a moustache and sometimes a beard, he was now clean- shaven, the lines of his face visible for all to see. It was a careworn face. But most of the lines, if followed back like a trail, would lead to happiness. To the faces a face made when laughing or smiling, or sitting quietly enjoying the day. And perhaps, when their own faces were mapped, kindness would be discovered there too.”

-記得她寫過類似的句子。怪不得她有這麼多老人家書迷。

“The Manchus breached the Great Wall and took Beijing because someone opened a gate. From the inside. As simple as that. A general, a traitor, let them in and an empire fell.”

-講吳三桂

“His one real talent is fooling others into believing that he has talent,”
-這也算是個成功之道吧。

“Anyone could take something by force, but not many could get someone to surrender without a fight.”
-讓我想起太陽和風比賽讓人脫下大衣的兒童故事

“Their fridges and freezers were full of shortbread and fruitcake and turkey casseroles. Their own form of insulation against the winter.”

“A delicate aroma of garlic and fennel drifted into the living room and mingled with the scent of wood smoke from the hearth. Outside, the night was crisp and starless as clouds rolled in, threatening yet more snow.”

-就是這些描述讓人愛上Three Pines吧。

“He would follow Armand Gamache through the gates of Hell, and the Sûreté Academy was as close as Québec got to Hades.”
-書裡經常描寫男性間的友誼

“Amelia snorted to herself. Be insolent or not. But don’t do it, then suck up in the same breath. It was pathetic. Either commit or don’t do it.”
-惡女的心聲

“Don’t believe everything you think.”
-都說Don’t believe everything you see, 作者換了一個字，句子便有趣起來。

//“I was one of his students. And I suppose you could call him a mentor.”
 “Did he choose you, or did you choose him?”//
-好問題

“While Beauvoir didn’t much like what he saw when he looked at Amelia Choquet, he had to admit since the beginning of the term Cadet Choquet had never pretended to be anything other than what she was.”

“But he seemed too intent on his own message to hear anyone else’s.”
-很多人也是這樣。

“So very young, he thought. So young they don’t know it.”
-踏入中年已開始會這樣看少年人。

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

“Come hither, all ye empty things,/ Ye bubbles raised by breath of kings;/ Who float upon the tide of state,/ Come hither, and behold your fate.”
-原來這首詩是Gulliver's Travel（格列佛遊記）的作者Jonathan Swift寫的。　
A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General 全詩在此

“The village had lulled him, however briefly, into forgetting that terrible things happened. He wondered if it was a gift, to forget however briefly, or a curse.”

//It meant they could plan, they could strategize,” said Charpentier. “They could see into the future. Where they were going. And what they’d find. The tribe, the nation, the enterprise with the most accurate maps won.”//
-地圖的價值

“Mais, c’est extraordinaire,” said Monsieur Bergeron, then he shook his head. “When you think of the lives lost for inches of soil.”
-作者不時在作品表達反戰思想

“To say there was animosity between the men would be a gross understatement. The air was almost unbreathable for the sulfur. Most of it emanating from Brébeuf, but Gamache was giving off his fair share. It was hidden beneath a razor- thin, and crackling, sheen of civility. But the stink of a long- rotted relationship was squeezing through the cracks.”
-描寫兩個人之間的敵意

“The two agents stared at the distorted, grotesque shadows of the bare trees, thrown onto the snow by the harsh headlights.＂

“True, but who knows him at the academy? The cadets? Their parents? The other professors? He was already distrusted because of all the changes he’d made. Rumors are hard to prove, but they’re even harder to disprove. We both know that character assassination is easy. All it takes is a suggestion. A well- placed word in someone’s ear.”