The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
Reviewed by Lisa Timpf
Cryptic notes on a map. People gone missing. A sense that an ominous plot is about to unfold.
These are some of the elements of Louise Penny’s The Black Wolf. The twentieth installment in Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series, The Black Wolf picks up where The Grey Wolf left off. The similarity of the titles is not a coincidence. The black wolf and the grey wolf relate to an Indigenous legend cited in both novels.
“The Black Wolf feels prophetic, which makes it all the more chillingly realistic and relevant.”
At the outset of The Black Wolf, Gamache is still suffering the physical effects of injuries he acquired while foiling a plot to poison Montréal’s water supply. Reprehensible as that plot was, Gamache comes to fear that something even worse is on the horizon. Making matters more complex, he isn’t certain who can be trusted, outside of a very small circle of confidantes that includes his long-time colleagues Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste.
Penny builds suspense by keeping the reader guessing about which side some of the secondary characters are on. This uncertainty is one of the factors that ratchets up tension as the novel progresses.
The Black Wolf offers lots of things to like for Penny fans. Scenes that take place in the familiar setting of Three Pines lend a sense of comfort. Characters readers have come to know, like Clara, Myrna, and Gamache’s spouse Reine-Marie, appear in the novel. Eccentric poet Ruth Zardo, accompanied by her duck Rosa, plays a larger role in this book than in some of the previous ones, and can be relied on to provide the usual dash of humour.
The Black Wolf is a many-layered book, weaving in facts about forest fires, the importance of water, and the historical “War Plan Red.” Real-life venues like the Haskell Free Library and Opera House and the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa are also visited. One of the chapters I found most compelling intersperses a high-stakes discussion with lines from the musical Billy Bishop Goes to War.
Penny demonstrates her knack for authentically conveying issues common to most of us, like family loyalties and concerns about aging. The Black Wolf also makes insightful observations about society’s increasing polarization and the potential for social media to be used to destabilize society.
Though some of the plot points seem to have echoes in actual events from 2025, in the “Author’s Note” at the start of the book, Penny explains that she wrote the book in 2024, with the final draft sent to the publisher in September 2024. Penny goes on to say, “Imagine my surprise in January 2025 when I started spotting headlines that could have been ripped right from the book.” The Black Wolf feels prophetic, which makes it all the more chillingly realistic and relevant.
The characters’ feelings about the “fifty-first state” rhetoric and the potential for water to become a contentious issue in the future are authentically conveyed, and Penny artfully articulates a Canadian perspective on the potential threat of annexation.
Though The Black Wolf can be read as a stand-alone, readers will likely get a richer experience if they are already familiar with the events of The Grey Wolf. Penny fans should find The Black Wolf a worthy addition to the Gamache canon.
About the Author
Louise Penny is the multi-award-winning author of the Chief Inspector Gamache novels, set in her home province of Québec, Canada. Her books, including State of Terror written with Hillary Rodham Clinton, have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide, topped international bestseller lists, including the New York Times, and been translated into 32 languages. Penny is the recipient of both the Order of Canada and l’Ordre national du Québec. Her Three Pines Foundation reaches out to those in crisis and offers financial and emotional support, with a special focus on literacy as well as dementia care. Her husband, Michael, died of dementia in 2016. Penny lives with her Golden Retrievers Muggins and Charlie in a village south of Montréal.
About the Reviewer
Ontario resident Lisa Timpf writes poetry, book reviews, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Her speculative poetry collections Cats and Dogs in Space (2025) and In Days to Come (2022) are available from Hiraeth Publishing in print and electronic formats. You can find out more about Lisa’s writing projects at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/. Lisa is also on Bluesky, @lisatimpf.bsky.social, and posts about her writing activities on Facebook at lisa.timpf.author
Book Details
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: Oct. 28 2025
Language: English
Print length: 379 pages
ISBN: 978-1250328182