The Black Wolf: A Novel, Louise Penny, author; Jean Brassard, narrator It seems that America has supposedly been engaging in a conspiracy with Canada and the Mob, to use environmental terrorism to conquer Canada. Since many, mainly on the left, believe that the climate change theory is an existential threat to a nation’s security, this author has decided to use that theme in this novel. Apparently, those climate terrorists will use that fear as an excuse to invade Canada. By expanding the idea that water will soon disappear, followed by crop destruction and starvation, it is the expectation that Canada will refuse to share their water supply so that it will not also run out of the precious commodity. In order to save American citizens and the country, the United States will be forced to invade Canada. This will all be the result of a climate catastrophe that will be started deliberately with the setting of mega fire events in Canada, when the wind is in the right direction, so that it will bring ash clouds over the northern portion of the United States. Those massive clouds will settle in the water and the soil. Soon, it will begin to destroy, not only the water supply, but also the crops. The food industry in the United States will collapse as well. This is the conspiracy theory currently raging in Canada on social media and the dark web. It is believed that starving and thirsty Americans will invade. Both countries will eventually merge as one, making Canada the 51st state of the United States, since America will win that war. Corrupt politicians and criminals are working together. Armand Gamache believes that the person engineering this is the Black Wolf. He believes the wrong person is in jail for the crime. In the previous book, the Grey Wolf, he failed to poison the water supply and was caught, but Armand Gamache doubts that the terrorist effort is over. Instead of believing that the terrorists’ plot was foiled, he now believes that they missed something. There is a “Black Wolf” still out there who is behind the ongoing effort to destroy Canada and America, eventually creating one country that they will control. When the acronym FEDS rears its head, it suggests that it may be the United States that is the main culprit behind the effort, in addition to the mob and Canadian leaders involved in this conspiracy. When the meaning of FEDS is discovered, the true danger is revealed. It is an effort to destroy America’s ecosystem in order to create the excuse to invade Canada. America’s survival, and Canada’s refusal to provide what is needed, will be the catalyst for the war that America will win, leading to Canada, indeed, becoming the 51st state of the United States of America. In the past, with baited breath, I would await the next Louise Penny novel about Inspector Gamache. The charming wit, the tenderness of his love for his family, and the simplicity of Three Pines was very inviting. Apparently, though, the author has decided to join many of the current authors who have chosen to promote their own personal politics at the expense of their book. Since politics is not one size fits all, it may turn off many readers. It seems a little too obvious that Louise Penny has been offended by the President of the United States and his suggestion that Canada become America’s 51st state. Whether or not our President was merely using his own personal style of wit to suggest that Canada and the United States work together, rather than truly suggesting that the two countries become one, is up to the reader to decide, but it is not meant to be decided in a novel that we pick up merely to be entertained. I don’t believe that the readers who love Three Pines and Inspector Gamache really want to be indoctrinated with any particular political point of view, nor do I think that they wanted to be bombarded with the excessive use of the "f" word in this book, by so many characters. Alienating readers because of personal political views, instead of inviting them in, might be a mistake. For me, the anti-American approach was a little bit offensive, because it felt personal, rather than entertaining, and it might mean this will be my last Louise Penny novel. There are so many other authors that write books that welcome me in, I will simply choose those.