History Creator / PatrickSenecal

* TheChessmaster: Jacques Beaulieu is a literal one who has never lost a chess game in decades. Maxime Lavoie, Rupert Archlax Senior also count, and possibly Michelle Beaulieu.
** Archlax is also a MagnificentBastard.

* Determinator: Most of the protagonists, whether it is Yannick Bérubé, Pierre Sauvé, Dave (in Oniria), Maxime (for a villainous example), and Julien Sarkozy.

* Gorn: The books tend to fall into this sometimes. Both figuratively with excess gore, and literally, when sexual acts happen while the gore is taking place.

* In Grande liquidation, we also have Remi Mortafer, who pretends knowing more than Julien Sarkozy about Rupert Archlax Sr.'s plans when Archlax and officer Garganruel come to his house while Julien and Simon are hiding. As a result, [[NeckSnap Garganruel snaps Remi's neck]]. As tragic as it may be, it ends up putting a lot of suspicion away from Julien, giving Simon and him more time to do their investigation.

* Narm: Patrick Senécal admitted he tried not to fall into this, as going too far in his descriptions of violence and gore will cut the reader's WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief, by which point it would become ridiculous.
** Invoked with Malphas; [[WordOfGod Patrick Senécal has said]] that he can go the extra mile because the series is more comedic, in contrast to the serious horror contained in many of his other works. As a result, Malphas contains a heavier dose of Narm.

* OneparagraphChapter: Contre Dieu (Against God) is over 100 pages of this. Only a few cuts here and there for dialog. Otherwise, it is one paragraph from beginning to end. It gets better: [[UpToEleven Dialog cuts aside, the entire book is only one sentence.]]

His books tend to fall in one of two categories: Thriller, mystery or suspense stories that usually follow a realistic train of thought, with a detective solving a mystery or being on the hunt for a criminal; or supernatural horror stories with an edge of reality, with usually DenserAndWackier plots and greater amounts of BlackComedy. Senécal's characters range from [[MostWritersAreWriters writers]] to CEGEP teachers to detectives to psychiatrists to richer folks. Most of these protagonists also live in Drummondville, Patriock Senécal's hometown. The stories also tend to greatly emphasize the psychology of the characters, [[PsychologicalHorror frequently causing or adding to the horrors]].

A TV series was released in 2021 named "Patrick Senécal présente" ("Patrick Senécal Presents"), a 10-episode season following an anthology format. The trailer can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSVU0nQ6lP8 here]]

* AdultFear: Being sequester in a creepy family's house in 5150 rue des Ormes.
** Mental illnesses are a common problem in the books, as most situations come from characters suffering any mental health problems.
** Le vide asks this question: What if a famous TV show was actually a cover for a criminal operation?

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The two children's horror books, Sept comme setteur and Madame Wenham.
** Quinze minutes has a bit of sex, some violence, and things descend into chaos, but no one ever dies.

* RealityEnsues: One of the key points of Le vide: After the contestants on the reality TV show Living to the Max have done their stunt or had their greatest dream come true, they felt the emptiness inside, with certainty that they would never be able to achieve anything so great ever again, and thus they all feel depressed. The cases depicted go the extra mile; a feminist wanting to prove women can be better than men defeats a whole lot of men on a ring, and then gets attacked after the show by a bunch of men who rape her and cut her. She ends up committing suicide. A less extreme example from the same book has a couple getting to have sex with a pornstar; the man's father applauds and congratulates his son, while the woman's parents wonder, with a touch of sadness, where did they fail in their education for their daughter to turn out like this.

Patrick Senécal (born October 20, 1967) is a horror/mystery/suspense author from Quebec, Canada. His first novel, ''5150, rue des Ormes'', was published in 1994. His career really took off with his third novel, ''Sur le seuil'', which helped put his name on the list of renowned Quebec authors. So far, he has published sixteen books, with a new one on the way; co-wrote the scripts for three [[FilmOfTheBook film adaptations]] of his stories; penned the script for a web series called ''La reine rouge'' (''The Red Queen''); and contributed to many short story collections.

* InfantImmortality: Sometimes, children survive the story. Still [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in many cases, the most important example being in Aliss.

** Likewise, his entire view on life falls apart with the arrival of Yannick, who doesn't buy into any of his bullcrap (for most of the book) and is constantly) and doesn't hesitate to call him crazy.

** Le vide is also a large BreakTheHaughty for the protagonist, Pierre Sauvé. First surviving a shooting, then discovering then discovering a huge conspiracy, then his daughter tries to commit suicide... then [[ItsPersonal it becomes personal]].

** The murders from Le passager are mentioned in Sur le seuil.
** The events from Les sept jours du talion are referenced in Le vide.

* ContinuityOverlap: Quize minutes is part of a five-book series called L'Orphéon. The five books in this series take place in a building (L'Orphéon) and the characters of each story meet some characters from the other series. As a result, Quinze minute is a tamer than almost every other Senécal book out there.

** 5150, rue des Ormes: The crazy father kills his little girl with a rifle, his wife hangs herself, the kid he was holding captive loses his mind is eventually found by the psychopath daughter, who proceeds to castrate him. And she manages to get away with it.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Jacques Beaulieu loves his family dearly, for the most part, even if his love is sometimes twisted. After saving Gabriel, Maxime Lavoioe took the mute as his own son.

* PunnyName: Saint-Trailouin, from the Malphas series. Trailouin is a contracted version of teh French phrase "très loin", which means "very far away". And indeed, Sint-Trailouin is very far away from just about every major city.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Yannick Bérubé when he contemplates ecaping the titular 5150, Elms, Way, regardlessof who he has to kill to achieve that goal. He never carries through, though.

* SpannerInTheWorks:Jacques Beaulieu's plan was going smoothly... until Yannick Bérubé came to his house and discovered everything. It all goes downhill from there.

* SueDonym: All the carnival folks in ''Faims'' prefer to go by nicknames. One of the girls in the group, who goes by the name Regina, is actually [[spoiler:a aged Michelle Beaulieu. "Regina" is "Queen" in Latin.]]

* ''Malphas'': Lousy college teacher and DeadpanSnarker Nicolas Sarkozy, after being fired from his current job as a teacher, sees no other alternative but to be hired at Malphas College, located in the faraway village of Saint-Trailouin. This college is infamous for hiring all of the weirdest teachers, and it is the only establishment that accepts the troublemaking college students who were tossed out of all previous colleges. However, there is a great mystery around the town of Saint-Trailouin, and soon bizarre supernatural events force Sarkozy to investigate...

* [[spoiler:BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts: Technically not a ghost, but in Le Passager, the main character picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be a split personality of his that he had developed as a child and lost after he was hit on the head. ...Or was it a demon? Or a ghost?]]

* [[spoiler: DealWithTheDevil: Appears in Sur le seuil, Oniria and in Malphas.]]

** BiggerBad Malphas is never defeated and he will keep living near Saint-Trailouin for twenty years still. Thankfully, the same cannot be said for [[BigBad Rupert Archlax Sr.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Rachel Red. She's Rupert Archlax' daughter, but he didn't know. All the people with Archlax blood in them are protected by a spell, and would anyone harm them, the attacker would be killed by Malphas the crow demon. That second part of the deal? Not even an Archlax is safe from it. If an Archlax attacks or kills another, the murderous Archlax will be killed by Malphas. Rachel pushed Rupert Archlax Sr. into attacking her, but instead he fatally wounded her; and since Rachel was Archlax Sr.'s biological daughter (which he had with his mistress), [[BiggerBad Malphas]] appeared in the skies and killed Rupert Archlax Sr.]]

* ''Faims'' (''Hungers'' lit: ''Bites''): Kadpidi is a calm town in a calm region. This changes when the Humanus Circus comes into town and sets up its capital. There is something pervasive about these showmen, and the adutlts-only show they present to the audience is provocative and induces reflection. These circus folks operating under aliases are exacerbating, through their show and activities, the hidden tensions between townspeople. Kadpidi will no longer be a calm place.

* ''Quinze minutes'' (''Fifteen minutes''): Want to become famous on the Web? Come to the Orpheon; Johnny Net is your guy! [[BlatantLies Totally not a jaded person with a disdain of stupidity]], Johnny directs his little business where he finds the (frequently outrageous or ridiculous) ideas that will let his clients rack up the views on sites like YouTube. Things change one day, when a person with mismatched male and female attributes comes in, calling itself the personification of Intelligence, with a unique project for Johnny Net: Giving it some spotlight for the world at large...

So far, the only Patrick Senécal book that has been translated to English is Contre Dieu (Against God). It's unknown if his other books will ever be translated.

** ''Ce qui se passe à la cave reste à la cave'' (''What Happens in the Basement Stays in the Basement''): It's the winter semester at Malphas College, and Julien continues his investigation; he concentrats his efforts on discovering just what exactly may be hidden in the basement. Along with this, the antagonist of the first book returns, swearing revenge on Julien Sarkozy. And as if that was not enough, many teachers and students become victims of a bizarre curse: When they state how they would like a person to die, that person dies shortly afterwards, exactly in the way described...
** ''Grande liquidation'' (''Great Blowout''): Julien was forced to leave Saint-Trailouin at the end of the previous book, but he soon decides to return and end this investigation. Things will be more difficult than before, as he needs to rely on a magical disguise to pursue this goal without getting caught, and Rupert Arcxhlax (Sr.), father of the college's principal Rupert Archlax (Jr.), [[GenreSavvy has reinforced security all over the place]]. As if that was not enough, the student revolt is brewing outside...
* ''Sept comme setteur'' (''The Bone Setter''): In this first horror children's book from Patrick Senécal, brother and sister Rom and Nat find themselves attacked by beloved childhood icons such as the Easter rabbit, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus, and they soon discover that the fearsome Bone Setter (A Quebec children's folk tale monster) is behind this.

* ''Faims'' (''Hungers''): Kadpidi is a calm town in a calm region. This changes when the Humanus Circus comes into town and sets up its capital. There is something pervasive about these showmen, and the adutlts-only show they present to the audience is provocative and induces reflection. These circus folks operating under aliases are exacerbating, through their show and activities, the hidden tensions between townspeople. Kadpidi will no longer be a calm place.

* ''5150, rue des Ormes'' (''5150, Elms' Way''): University student Yannick Bérubé, when visiting the town he just moved into, falls off his bike when a cat crosses the street just before him. Tending to his wounds in the titular house, he finds a half-dead man upstairs but is caught by the resident family father, Jacques Beaulieu, and subsequently sequestered. What follows is a battle of wills as a weakened Yannick is forced to live with this family, as Jacques has taken all necessary precautions to never let anyone escape his house. Someday, Jacques approaches Yannick with a proposition: If Yannick beats Jacques at chess, he's free to go. Unfortunately, chess is the key motif behind Jacques' BlackAndWhiteInsanity, and with the white pieces he has never lost a game.

* ''Sur le seuil'' (''Over the Threshhold''/''Evil Words''): A day after the tragedy of a policeman shooting and killing multiple children and harming many others, psychiatrist Paul Lacasse is put in charge of the psychiatric evaluation of famous horror author Thomas Roy, found catatonic in his apartment with all of his fingers cut off. Doctor Lacasse intends to take this caseas if it was any other, despite the fame surrounding this new patient and his own colleague Jeanne being a big fan of the author. However, as Lacasse digs into Roy's past with the help of a tabloid reporter, he starts finding more and more bizarre coincidences tying Roy's books with most of the major tragedies that took place in the previous years. Meanwhile, Thomas Roy's presence in the psychiatric ward increases the insanities of the other patients, and things only start getting worse from there.

* ''Les sept jours du talion'' (''Seven Days''): On a clear and sunny day, surgeon Bruno Hamel's daughter is kidnapped, raped and murdered. Bruno falls into depression and becomes unable to enjoy life. When a suspect is caught and shown to be quite guilty, Hamel hatches up a plan to kidnap "the monster" (he refuses to see the guy as a human), bring him to a remote location, and put him through seven days of intense torture before killing him. It becomes a race against the clock for the Drummondville Police Department to find Hamel before he sinks deeper into sadism than the man he's holding hostage.

* ''Le vide'' (''The Emptiness''): This story follows three protagonists: Detective Pierre Sauvé, who is investigating the reasons behind a grim quadruple murder. As his police car escorts the prisoner as she is being brought to court, a commando of four completely unrelated people come and kill her, as well as the driver, before all [[AteHisGun killing themselves]]. Left with PTSD from the incident, Sauvé's quest is now to find the mysterious link between the members of this commando. The second protagonist is Frédéric Ferland, Sauvé's psychiatrist, who is constantly looking for the next thing that will give him a thrill in life - consequences be damned. Tying it all together is Maxime Lavoie, the millionnaire young owner of Lavoie Inc., who quits his enterprise to pursue an odd dream: The creation of "Living To The Max", a reality TV show where some people, every week, are offered the chance to live their greatest dream. A philantropist goal at first sight, although Maxime is using this to make others realize the emptiness of life; and he also has other plans...

** ''Le cas des casiers carnassiers'' (''Case of the Carnivorous Lockers''): Julien Sarkozy meets the bizarre personnel of the school: Examples include a scrapbook-obsessed director, and teachers that range from aggressive soapbox sadies to extreme paranoids to simple-minded incompetents. The students aren't much better, though Julien soon meets Simon Gracq, editor-in-chief of the college journal who speaks in redundances. The stench of the college, hearsay of a witch living in the village, things are very bizarre at Malphas College. And it only gets worse when a few students are found torn to shreds in the lockers of girls studying at the college - with a supernatural cause behind it all.
** ''Torture, luxure et lecture'' (''Tortures, Sinners and Readers''): The fall semester continues at Malphas College with the arrival of a new teacher, Michel Condé. He soon suggests to open a reading club, and the meetings are to be held in one of the abandoned classroom. However, shortly after this club begins, the members start showing signs of bizarre problems directly related to the exerpts they read during said club, in the abandoned classroom. Julien finds out that it may have to do with a thing being kept in the basement...

* ''Il y aura des morts'' (''There Will Be Deaths''): We follow Carl Mongeau, owner of Le Lindsay bar in Drummondville, as he prepares for the twentieth anniversary of his bar's existence. However, by 5:05 PM that evening, his life will change... forever, and for the worse.

** The eponymous website from Hell.Com is mentioned in ''Il y aura des morts''. Later, a shooting in 2006 is mentioned, which may be a reference to ''Le vide''.

** The eponymous website from Hell.Com is mentioned in ''Il y aura des morts''.