8:34am

Fourteen people were dead.

Twenty-one were wounded, some permanently.

Hundreds would be scarred forever by what they had seen.

Outside, the world was waking up.

To start another day.

Carnage is a short novella at 111 pages yet it packs some punch. It covers a series of high school shootings in New York and the investigation from the point of view of Lieutenant Lamar Gallineo. The first few pages cover the massacre and are quite brutal, but then this is honest to the subject matter. Not one for the faint hearted but it’s a great way to spend an hour or two as the pace is fast. Think of it as an episode of CSI rather than a feature film, there’s just enough to entertain without getting bogged down in details.

Originally written in French by Maxime Chattam, it has been translated into English by Gallic Books and is now available in paperback. I received my copy via newbooks magazine.