Synopsis: A corpse that wakes up on the mortuary slab. A case of spontaneous human combustion. There is little by the way of violent crime and petty theft that Capitaine Victor Coste has not encountered in his fifteen years on the St Denis patch - but nothing like this.
Though each crime has a logical explanation, something unusual is afoot all the same, and Coste is about to be dragged out of his comfort zone. Anonymous letters addressed to him personally have begun to arrive, highlighting the fates of two women, invisible victims whose deaths were never explained. Just two more blurred faces among the ranks of the lost and the damned.
Olivier Norek's first novel draws on all his experience as a police officer in one of France's toughest suburbs - the same experience he drew on as a writer for the hit TV series Spiral.
Translated from the French by Nick Caistor.
Brilliant! The synopsis covers it all: "Olivier Norek's first novel draws on all his experience as a police officer in one of France's toughest suburbs."
Through the eyes of Capitaine Vincent Coste and his team, we accompany the Groupe Crime 1 of the Seine-Saint-Denis as they deal with some disturbing murders - even more than they are used to. "Murder is ... never a piece of theatre..." Reading some real-time stats, it seems that Seine-Saint-Denis holds the record for the highest rate of violence in France and in Europe. The area hosted a vast industrialised sector as well as farmland; unemployment was high; its growing population is one of the most ethnically mixed in the country.
So, what do these crimes have in common, will there be any more, will Coste be able to find the truth or will it be conveniently covered up and swept under the carpet.
The investigation isn't following all the usual lines - Coste feels like there is an unknown hand guiding him in a particular direction. The team sense a familiarity with past cases but just can't quite put their finger on it ... yet.
The writing flows so well that the chapters fly by and you find yourself fully immersed in the lives of Coste and his team of the SDJP93 as they try and solve these grisly crimes. You feel part of the team and have an invested interested in finding out the truth.
This is my first real foray into modern French crime fiction, having been introduced to this genre much earlier with Georges Simenon's "Maigret" and also through the great Frederic Dard's noir fiction. I loved every page of this crime thriller - and Norek's experiences and knowledge come to the fore when weaving this dark tale that is far removed from the gentile Parisian sidewalks of "Maigret".
I am hoping that this is merely the first in a series that is being translated from the original French into English for a new generations of crime aficionados. Dip your toe in, you wont be disappointed.
Capitaine Coste series by Olivier Norek:
- The Lost and Damned (aka Code 93)
- Terrtories
- Surges
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