Concetti Chiave
- Inspector Luc Callanach, a Franco-British policeman, relocates to Scotland and tackles a complex case involving charred remains linked to a missing lawyer.
- Elaine Buxton, the supposed victim, is actually alive, trapped by a deranged killer, Dr. Reginald King, who has sinister plans for her and others.
- Inspector Callanach's investigation intersects with a separate case led by Inspector Ava Turner, involving abandoned infants, leading to a tense conclusion.
- The novel reveals the serial killer from the start, detailing his identity, motives, and methods, yet maintains high tension and reader engagement.
- Despite the lack of traditional mystery elements, the story captivates with its intense atmosphere and emotional depth, overshadowing minor plot issues.
Il trasferimento di Luc Callanach
Inspector Luc Callanach is a good Franco-British policeman who worked for many years in France, at Interpol. For a bad story that he wishes he could forget, he had to change his life and move to Scotland, his father's homeland. Here, assigned to direct an investigative team, just installed and with the linguistic obstacle still to be absorbed, he finds himself having to unravel a very intricate case: among the burned remains of a Highland refuge, a few charred fragments belonging to a woman were found. The very few biological findings still usable for analysis trace the body to Elaine Buxton, a young civil lawyer from Edinburgh, who has been missing for a few weeks. The investigations start immediately between internal disputes within the team and a lack of evidence to evaluate. Who is it that savagely killed and set the poor woman on fire? Above all: can it strike again?
La prigionia di Elaine
But Elaine is not dead: she is battered, brutally tortured, psychologically devastated, but she is alive and still a prisoner of the mad Dr. Reginald King who has a gruesome future in store for her and, unfortunately, for other victims to fulfill a hallucinatory project.
While Inspector Callanach struggles between the ghosts of his past and his powerlessness to quickly solve the mystery, his colleague and friend Inspector Ava Turner grapples with a painful case of babies left to freeze to death in a park. Due to a series of unpredictable coincidences, the two investigations will end up crossing each other, until the spasmodic and tragic conclusion of the story.
La tensione del romanzo
The novel tells a chilling yet compelling story: it is difficult to take your eyes off its pages and you would like to finish reading quickly to stop the subtle uneasiness that the story sows in the soul.
The author was able to arouse empathy, tension and the convulsive, spasmodic attention in the reader, despite having chosen a decidedly impervious path: the serial killer is presented to us from the very first pages. We know everything about him: his name, his methods, the reason for his insane impulses, where and with whom he works, how he chooses his victims and what he inflicts on them, where he hides them and what he aims at. As the investigators groped in the dark, the reader can follow the two stories unfolding in parallel without any veil to cloud the overall vision. Despite the absolute lack of mystery, the story manages to generate anxiety and expectation at the highest level, to the point of even passing over some probable inconsistencies and simplifications that, with a cool head, could perhaps make the most demanding ones turn up their noses.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è la trama principale di "Perfect remains" di Helen Fields?
- Chi è il principale antagonista nel romanzo e qual è il suo obiettivo?
- Come viene presentato il serial killer nel romanzo?
- Qual è l'effetto della narrazione sul lettore, nonostante la mancanza di mistero?
La trama segue l'ispettore Luc Callanach, un poliziotto franco-britannico che si trasferisce in Scozia e si trova a indagare su un caso complesso di omicidio e scomparsa, mentre la sua collega Ava Turner affronta un caso doloroso di neonati abbandonati al gelo.
Il principale antagonista è il dottor Reginald King, un folle che tiene prigioniera Elaine Buxton e ha in mente un progetto allucinante per altre vittime.
Il serial killer è presentato fin dalle prime pagine, con dettagli sul suo nome, metodi, motivazioni e modus operandi, permettendo al lettore di seguire la storia senza misteri.
La narrazione riesce a generare ansia e aspettativa al massimo livello, mantenendo il lettore coinvolto e desideroso di scoprire la conclusione della storia.