Like in a merry-go-round
Already, the title amuses: The Fugitive, the Cop and Bill Ballantine. What is he doing in this mess imagined by Éric Forbes, author ofAmqui and native of the town of the same name, Bob Morane’s friend? It makes you smile. And galley is not the right word to describe this novel which resembles a merry-go-round. Stunning, funny, with no pretension other than to entertain. And in this sense it is very successful. We find the cop (Denis Leblanc, still obese and now one-armed) and the fugitive (the killer bookseller Étienne Chénier). Bill? It is the source of inspiration for the 11-year-old boy whom the two zozios meet, one chasing the other, in the streets of Paris. It sticks to them and may even be useful to them when they have no other choice but to unite their efforts in order not to fall under the bullets of the killers who want to kill them. Those who read Amqui will recognize the characters. For others, setting up this suite is enough to get into the dance and enjoy it.
Sonia Sarfati
The Fugitive, the Cop and Bill Ballantine
★★★1/2
Éric Forbes, Héliotrope Noir, Montreal, 2024, 282 pages
Case (mis)closed
With The optimists, Rebecca Makkai was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His return was therefore expected. It’s done with I have some questions to ask you. The short answer to the obvious question is… yes. Yes, it was successful. Despite repetitions and the main character’s lack of charisma. Bodie Kane is a “podcaster” (as they say, written and translated in France). She is invited to give a workshop at the private college where she studied. And from which she emerged educated (the least of things) but also traumatized (she would have done without it): another student had then been murdered. A culprit had been found. He always denied it. Bodie believes him. Could it be that she is whispering in the ears of her students the idea of producing a podcast (a “podcast”, in other words) on this botched affair? Ask the question… On the agenda: #MeToo, feminicides, intimidation, manipulation of the truth. And a brilliant way to take the suspects one by one and imagine how they would have committed the crime.
Sonia Sarfati
I have some questions to ask you
★★★1/2
Rebecca Makkai, translated by Caroline Bouet, Les Escales, Paris, 2024, 496 pages
Iceland in 3D
This is already Ian Manook’s fourth novel set in Iceland and the third to feature the improbable Kornelius Jakobsson. The super cop, whose integrity is as impeccable as ever, sees himself engaged here as a consultant in a strange investigation: it begins when a tidal wave causes an iceberg to overturn, revealing three bodies frozen in the ice. Very quickly, Kornelius will understand that this affair involves both state secrecy and political corruption at the highest level. The highly complex plot is based on dissimulation and false evidence, but the investigator can count on the intelligence and dedication of a few loyal friends to clarify the matter. Everyone who plays a role in this red herring story is credible at all times, but Ian Manook’s precise and polished writing first features a major character: Iceland. The harsh and wild beauty of this small ice island in the middle of the North Atlantic is rendered by the novelist in a simply grandiose way.
Michel Bélair
Krummavisur
★★★★
Ian Manook, Flammarion, Quebec, 2024, 380 pages
The testosterone festival
Two thriller authors, one English, the other French, meet in Lyon at the Quais du polar festival and decide to write a four-handed story in the style of the “exquisite corpse” of the surrealists. Result: this indescribable book, astonishing in its assumed violence. So confident, in fact, that it almost seems like a caricature of the Bourbon Kid — the most ruthless serial killer in the galaxy! — or a distant allusion to Shibumi of Trevanian, in short, something unclassifiable. That we leave aside after about ten pages and five or six corpses or, on the contrary, that we cannot help but devour, despite the repeated massacres, the smoking guts and the piles of humans in pieces detached parts that accumulate. There is definitely an intrigue, yes, that of a boss, Vogel, who wants to double-cross everyone and who will meet a tougher man than him, Gerard Mackie, known as Ged. The reader never manages to imagine anything worse than what will happen on the following page. A successful experience, but particularly disconcerting.
Michel Bélair
The Steve McQueen
★★★
Tim Willocks and Caryl Férey, translated by Benjamin Legrand, Éditions Points, Paris, 2024, 192 pages