La conjuration primitive by Maxime Chattam

Pocket - 12 janvier 2015
537 pages - 15,95 $


Maxime... my favorite French author... the first who caused me to spend my first sleepless night reading (the trilogy of evil is the antithesis of sleeping pills!) And here he do it again, with La conjuration primitive.

Is it that good?

Oh yes! Because as usual, he managed to create super cool characters, lovable, intelligent and different. This time we follow French police officers (he often set his book in USA with private detective ou FBI agent or journalist), divided into several teams because of the scope of the investigation. Especially we follow a team led by Alexis, a fan of the New York Giants. He is intelligent, able to feel things and managed to get on board a famous profiler, Richard Mikelis, who had vowed not to take this kind of investigation anymore. He is accompanied by Ludivine and Segnon which become more present as story unfold. Oddly, the specialist, although important and really committed, is not the most prominent character in the story. It's really a team effort, but with a little extra complicity between Alexis and Ludivine. It seems that Chattam like to put couple in his stories, because it often results in a couple (whether official or not) investigating.

Because as usual, he managed to create a completely insane story, with really really twisted villains with particularly Machiavellian ideas. WATCH OUT! Sensitive hearts should refrain: the descriptions of the scenes are not always easy to read. But for well hung hearts, you will not be disappointed! Chattam is excellent in the twists and this time, he outdid himsef... big time! I was dumbstruck at half the book, then I loooved the nod towards the end of the book (and there, it's better if you read his other books) (but it will not hurt anything if you have not read them... you'll just miss the nod) (but it's still a pity...) One thing is certain, his stories are always different from what you can read and they always question about evil. Is it contagious? Hmm... you'll have to read the book to know the answer!

And what's more, we travel with The conjuration primitive (in addition to France): in Poland, where we visit the St. Kinga chapel that is located in the town of Wieliczka. I did not know that this place existed and despite the circumstances of the book, it really makes me want to visit it (a chapel more than 100 metre below the earth and made of salt!!) Maxime Chattam always does research before writing so as to be as realistic as possible, and he succeeds. I know from having read on Twitter that he even scoured the parking of heavy trucks in Poland to soak up the atmosphere (he had posted pictures of the place) and better transcribe it in this book. We also travel in Quebec, in a city with a ficticious name (too many horrors happen there to place the action in a specific city) (because honestly no city would have liked to be used in this part of book), (but people of Quebec will probably recognize the city of Fairmont (and its windscreen building long of 1.3 km).

But what's the story?
And if only  evil could fight evil?

Investigators call them The Beast and The Phantom... If the murders they commit are not alike, their savagery is incomparable. And what about that mysterious common signature - *e - which negates the isolated track of serial killers? Did he killers know each other?
But soon, The Beast and The Phantom are no longer alone. Atrocious crimes multiply, first in France and then across the whole Europe.
Predation in the rough. Competition in the horror...
In order to combat this epidemic, and try to understand: a brigade not quite like the others, backed by a famous profiler.

In a nutshell

Endearing characters, a very well done plot, a cold and dark atmosphere and incredible twists, it's a 5/5 for me! So just go ask English editors to translate it!

The City of Blood by Frédérique Molay

Le French Book (Jan. 20 2015)

221 pages

Third novel I read by Frédérique Molay... it becomes a habit! I must say that her novels read quickly, and they are nice. And City of Blood blurb intrigued me and it's something I like about Molay: stories always have some originality.

The blurb

When a major Parisian modern art event gets unexpected attention on live TV, Chief of Police Nico Sirsky and his team of elite crime fighters rush to La Villette park and museum complex. There, renowned artist Samuel Cassian is inaugurating the first archeological dig of modern art, twenty-seven years after burying the leftovers of a banquet. In front of reporters from around the world, excavators uncover a skeleton. Could it be the artist’s own son? And does that death have anything to do with the current string of nightclub murders by the “Paris Butcher”? On the site of the French capital's former slaughterhouses, the investigation takes Nico and France's top criminal investigation division from artists' studios to autopsy theaters and nightclubs in hopes of tracking down the murderer who has turned this Paris park into a city of blood.

What's good about it?

The story, original and actual. Who has not heard of these objects we bury everywhere to be unveiled with great fanfare a few years later? Who never imagined that we could discover something criminal, an object that was not originally in... In City of Blood, it's a dead body and it's not anybody, but it's the son of the creator of the time capsule. Who could have killed this young promising artist? Who hate the father at this point to bury his son in his own work? Nico will have to delve into the world of artists, jealousy and love shattered to discover the culprit.

We meet back with pleasure Sirsky Nico and his clique, as friendly as usual. We discover a humorous Nico, looks like love is doing fine with him (his descent into a gay  nightclub is excellent). Again, the life of his family is at stake and this time it's Anya, his mother who is ill. I just hope that every book does not see a member of his family in danger. Maybe it's a brand that some authors choose to constantly put their hero close friend and family in danger, but I find it unrealistic and boring after a while.

The novel reads very quickly, thanks to the writing quality of the author (and the English translation since I read the book in English) and thanks to the unwavering pace of the story. The dead are piling up and the race against the clock is running. Nico will have to understand the past to stop the killings today that add tension to the investigation. And a bonus in that story: I really loved learning more about La Villette - the city of blood (talk about a cynic choice of place to kill people!) 

In a nutshell

Another good novel by Frédérique Molay, a gripping story, engaging characters, it's a 4/5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.

Juste une ombre

by Karine Giebel

Thriller

Pocket - mai 2013

608 pages - 13.95 $

I discovered with pleasure the rising French authors in the polar world. Karine Giebel in part of them: she won several times the price of polar of Marseille and the Cognac and SNCF prices of polar. My forays into the French readings are just as best as possible as they allow me to find back my roots while diving with delight and thrill in a thriller...

4th cover

First, it's a silhouette, one evening in the street ... A face-to-face with death.

Then, it is a presence. By day: at every intersection. The night, by your bedside. Unable to understand, explain, to prove.

Soon, an obsession. Which ruins your career, separates you from your friends, your lover. Makes you crazy. And alone.

Just a shadow. That takes on your life and takes it forever.

You belong to it, it is already too late ...

What I think of it

Here is a special case: we hate as much as we are afraid for Cloe. She's so pedantic, pretentious, cruel, pushy, that initially we want to say "she has it coming" But as you learn to ignore the shell, we discover her secret, we feel compassion for her faults and we're bamboozled by her charm. Alexander also is and as we like Alexander - a broken cop with crazy eyes but a killer smile - we soon find that Cloe does not deserve this shadow. Nobody deserves that. Yet there it is but nobody sees it except Cloe. So you will find in this book some realistic and well written characters and emotions we all felt at one time or another.

As for the plot, what about it? It's powerful enough for us to strongly feel powerlessness. This is mainly a psychological thriller and it's tense, intense, nervous. You think that this is not possible, the shadow will end up making a mistake by leaving a footprint but here is the whole problem: shadows don't leave trace. And then suddenly, BAM! Giebel throws you to the ground. It's so realistic, I thought it speaks from experience. The story is so similar to news items that you can read sometimes. And news items rarely end well...

This book reads like a play, like behind closed doors. The action takes mainly place in three locations: at Alexander's flat, at Cloe's work and at Cloe's flat. As a result, a kind of intimacy is created, we go inside their home like it's ours, making the Shade even more disturbing with its intrusions. There's enough to become paranoid by reading this book! However, beware, this book is not for everyone, it's about a shadow that seeks to destroy women, there are some difficult scenes. I do not want to spoil the book, but rapes are at issue and as some people around me can not bear to read this kind of scene, I prefer to warn you fellow reader.

In a nutshell

A book you'll read in one go, a compelling with (too?) realistic tension story. Characters whose flaws are very credible. A book I highly recommend. I give it 4/5 .

My thought on closing the book: dammit, she's didn't go in for half measures!

Good to know : Her books are translated in Italian, Dutch, Russian et Spanish