As much as I adore Louise Penny’s novels, her Armand Gamache series, and as much as I loved “The Grey Wolf,” the novel we’ve waited two years to read, dare I admit that I’m furious? What she has done with this breathtaking novel that twists upon itself as much as the rivers and lakes in Québec do, is leave us with a cliffhanger. Now we must wait a year to find out what the next mystery will bring.

I’m not, however, suggesting that anyone wait a year to read this novel. When I used the adjective “breathtaking,” I meant it on several levels. It’s a masterpiece of meticulous planning because of the many characters and the breadth of the settings. It’s breathtaking because the action, which begins right at the start, flows to a startling crescendo by the end, where we find the events so riveting, we turn page after page, certain that there is no way that Armand, much less the others, much less Québec, much less the world, will come out unscathed.

The novel opens with a mysterious set of phone calls that Armand refuses to answer. To make sure we understand how jarring those repeated phone calls are, Penny contrasts the ringing of his phone with the peaceful Sunday morning at Three Pines, that idyllic small village where everyone knows each other and where the bistro serves delicious meals, hot chocolate, coffee, and scrumptious pastries in front of a roaring fire. It’s summer, and while Armand is trying to enjoy the peace and beauty of his backyard setting, the wind in the forest, and the bumble of bees, the phone keeps ringing, interrupting the serenity of his morning. When he finally answers the call, what he says will become an important part of this story.

Armand is rattled by the phone call. Those of us who have read any of the previous Gamache books know that he’s a supremely admirable person, honorable, intelligent, clever, brilliant when it comes to reading people. Penny explains that “his entire department had been handpicked, not from the top of the heap but from the bottom. To his colleagues’ amusement, Chief Inspector Gamache had, in effect, gone dumpster diving for his agents. Chosen men and women on the verge of being tossed out.” It’s no wonder that in the Acknowledgements, Penny mentions the “brilliant” show Slow Horses. But because his agents owe their career to Armand, they work diligently for him, as he does for them. His two seconds-in-commands are Isabel Lacoste and Jean-Guy Beauvoir, the latter also being Armand’s son-in-law. They would give their lives for Armand without hesitation. As he would for them.

We know from the start that there is a mysterious plot Armand must uncover. But true to Penny’s ability to weave a story with a web of suspects that stretches from Rome to Québec to a remote monastery on a lake where wolves roam, Armand doesn’t know whom he can trust or turn to, except those two people who are his trusted and closest advisers, Isabel and Jean-Guy. The purpose of the mysterious crime that is in the works is to destabilize Canada, to allow a coup d’etat, a takeover of power in which the military would ensure that democracy falls and a dictator is in control. The language Penny uses to describe the outcome of this event is chilling. It’s horrifying and frightening, especially with the actual current political situation.

She writes, “All authority breaks down. Businesses are vandalized. Misinformation, conspiracy theories, are everywhere, often planted by the terrorists. People don’t know what to believe, what to do, who to turn to for help. Who to trust. There’s chaos. Imagine a sudden, all-encompassing, catastrophic event. That we do to ourselves. That’s what the terrorists want. Not the deaths of a few hundred, or even a few thousand. They want us to turn on each other. To do to each other what they cannot. They want anarchy.” This language becomes especially frightening when we consider that some connected to current politicians have actually advocated for anarchy, for the destruction of the American government, and for a ruthless dictator.

Throughout the novel, we are caught between two extremes. Penny seems to delight in sharing the beauty of Canada’s wilderness, its forests and shoreline. And contemporaneously, we see that those beautiful scenes can also be deadly. One character is at the shore and thinking about how the waves had always been a calming sound, but now, “she heard the violence of it. It was now the sound of relentless despair.” The serene Edenic village of Three PInes contrasts with the violence that takes place there, in a sanctuary. Nature at her most lovely contrasts harshly with humankind at its worst. The contrasts startle us and enthrall us, because that’s what Penny does.

In this story especially, we truly don’t know who are the good guys or who are the bad guys. Armand doesn’t know either, and his resultant inability to request help in stopping this huge criminal plot is a tremendous handicap. He can’t trust any of his superiors; he doesn’t know if the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, or any of those in the highest levels of government are in on the plot or not. Penny keeps the tension, incredible tension, up to almost the end. Will tens of thousands of people die because Armand Gamache didn’t figure out the diabolical plot in time? Will the Canadian government be taken over by a dictator? Will Armand and his family be murdered in the coverup after the coup succeeds?

Read “The Grey Wolf” and find out. New readers will be fine as Louise Penny provides enough backstory to make it all work, but be prepared to fall in love with the characters, the Three Pines setting, and the intricate, deliciously malevolent plot that Penny masterminds. You’ll be caught in its web right up to the last page. And if you like this one, be sure to read her previous Armand Gamache novels, “A World of Curiosities,” and “The Madness of Crowds.”

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.