It looks like a straightforward animal attack... but Eva Louts' death is a cleverly disguised murder. Eva was a graduate student working on her seemingly harmless thesis in evolutionary biology, but what deep secrets did she uncover? Chief Inspector Franck Sharko is assigned the case, never expecting it to lead him back to Lucie Hennebelle and a very dark day one year prior. Will Sharko and Lucie be able to work together yet again in order to stop a deadly mastermind?

BRED TO KILL picks up a week after the events of Syndrome E, as Franck Thilliez delves right into a parent's most horrifying nightmare. From there, we jump forward a year to where we see that neither Sharko nor Lucie have remained unscarred by the awful events that occurred on one otherwise beautiful day. I like that Franck Thilliez doesn't shy away from hammering his characters with some of the worst things life has to offer and then showing us the glimmer of hope that allows them to live past the pain.

Franck Thilliez is a sheer genius at taking deeply flawed characters and making them both likable and sympathetic. My heart aches for what Lucie has endured as Franck Thilliez does a spectacular job at conveying her anguish, pain, and guilt. I love the clever twists as we gain a deeper insight into the characters while delving into a very perverse mystery. There is a lot of scientific information provided as part of the storyline, but Franck Thilliez explains it all in a way a layperson can easily grasp the necessary information.

BRED TO KILL is yet another deliciously dark and compelling thriller from the talented Franck Thilliez! Fans of Stieg Larsson should definitely give Franck Thilliez a try as they will appreciate the scope of his stories. I can't recommend BRED TO KILL highly enough as I eagerly wait to see what Franck Thilliez has in store for us in future books!

Book Summary

Syndrome E’s Lucie Henebelle and Inspector Sharko have reunited to take on the case of the brutal murder of Eva Louts, a promising graduate student who was killed while working at a primate research center outside Paris. But what first appears to be a vicious animal attack soon proves to be something more sinister. What was Eva secretly researching? Was she tracking three fanatical scientists who control a thirty-thousand-year-old virus with plans to unleash it into the world?

With his unmatched ability to inject cutting-edge science into his novels, Thilliez draws on genetics, paleontology, and the dark side of human nature to create this smart, adrenaline-fueled thriller. Bred to Kill moves from the rain-slicked streets of Paris to the heart of the Alps to the remote Amazon jungle as Lucie and Sharko work to solve the murder—before whoever killed Eva comes for them.