Alex

The novel ‘Alex’ is the third part of the trilogy Verhoeven written by Pierre Lemaintre, French writer.

After a severe depression, Camille returns to work. He investigates the kidnapping of a young woman. He don’t want do it, because this investigation he reminds about his wife’s death.  The kidnapper don’t want the ransom or rape her. He wants only watch Alex’ death. He puts her two meters above the ground in a cage called "virgin". The cage "virgin" is a cage in which the victim can neither lie nor sit. It is a real torture. One day, the kidnapper doesn’t return. It turns out that the kidnapper committed suicide. But when the Commissioner Verhoeven finally discovered his prison, Alex disappeared. Camille is stubborn and determined and has still investigated.

Investigators would like to understand why she didn’t go to the police, they want to find her and want to help her. But this is not easy, since the investigators discovered a series of brutal murders that follow one another in many parts of France, these crimes are similar to each other and strictly linked.

It turns out that Alex commits terrible crimes. Why? But the choice of victims is not accidental.

Alex forgives nothing, forget nothing and nobody.

At the end everything explains. It turns out finally that Alex was regularly raped by her brother Thomas and his colleagues. So Alex killed all colleagues of his brother. 

The end of the novel is surprising. It turns out that Alex has done everything to show that her suicide don’t look like a suicide but like a murder made by his brother. He was finally sentenced. Here, Lemaitre show us that culprit is a victim too.