BRIGITTE AUBERT – Death from the Woods. Elise Andrioli #1. Welcome Rain, hardcover, 2000. Berkeley, paperback, November 2005. Translated by David L. Koral. Setting: Contemporary France.

   As the result of a car bomb, Elise Andrioli is a blind, mute quadriplegic. Left by her caregiver Yvette in a park to wait, Elise is befriended by Virginie, a seven-year-old who tells Elise she knows who is killing young boys. When Elise is attacked, she is faced with finding a way to communicate and to stay alive.

   Translated from the French, the story, for the most part, flows well and was only occasionally in the dialogue aware of it being a translation. Aubert did a very good job conveying the protagonist’s emotions of frustration, anger, determination, humor and fear. But that was the strength of the book. The plot became more convoluted as it progressed and the ending was anticlimactic as the mystery wasn’t resolved through a series of clues, but by the recitation of one of the characters. So, while I felt the character of Elise was well done, the overall story was only average.

Rating: Good

Bibliographic Update: A second book in the series, Death from the Snows (2001) closed Elise Andrioli’s list of appearances in print, at least to this date. Other crime and suspense thrillers by the author, over a dozen or so, appear to have been published only in France.