The Madness of Crowds: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, 17)

This is my first Louis Penny and jumping into the Inspector Gamache series was smooth and enjoyable. I'll probably go back and read at least the first book in the series to enjoy more of the people who live in Three Pines. I should leave it at that as I liked this book! Only read below if you want to read about my personal pet peeves! The Robinson Report Statistics: The discussion of statistics was a complete mess and made me cringe. It was a glaring plot hole throughout. I wish she'd spoken to an actual statistician when writing the book as she clearly did not (and if she did, she didn't understand what they were saying). While an individual statistician can misrepresent reality either on purpose or through a bad study or analysis that's corrupted by poor scientific methodology: small sample size or specific types of bias. However, peer review specifically addresses these mistakes, and identifies what's correct or incorrect. While you can have false correlations, other statisticians would point those false correlations out, that's the whole point of peer review. You cannot "lie" with statistics and have it accepted by the statistics community at large. The Robinson Report Recommendations/ Policy Opinions: Secondly, the application of underlying facts to policy has very little relation to statistics. Policy combines numerous specialties but most powerfully politics and law. How then could Robinson's paper be "true?" What statistician in their right mind would say it was factually correct? Statistics could show that a government doesn't have the resources to save x number of people in the next pandemic, but it couldn't determine that there were no alternative solutions such as: government fundraising, investment in medical innovation, investment in pandemic prevention, climate change innovation, etc. The entire discussion around Robinson seemed amateurish and frequently contradictory which was a problem because the people having the discussions were scientists and statisticians in addition to more easily forgiven laypeople. Freedom of Speech: As an attorney, the conversation regarding freedom of speech completely missed the mark as well. Freedom of speech means your government does not arrest you or kill you for expressing political views. It does not necessitate anyone giving you a platform. And depending on your country, the government may arrest you for speech that immediately endangers people (in the US, yelling fire in a crowded theater; in Germany, which learned its lesson better than the rest of us, for dehumanizing speech or "Volksverhetzung.") I realize this takes place in Quebec, but I assume they also have some restrictions on speech, as civilization seems to require it.

I have read all of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache novels and each one is better than the last. She is a master craftswoman with her plot twists and surprises.