The book
A multi-layered tale of vengeance and retribution.
1950s Bordeaux is a city plagued by memories and scars of World War II. Meanwhile, across the sea, another war has already begun. The young men of France are sent in droves to Algeria, where they wage brutal battle in a conflict so new it has yet to be given a name.
Albert Darlac, a corrupt police chief, fascist sympathizer, and one-time collaborator, will soon discover that not everybody has forgiven or forgotten his wartime crimes. Twenty-year-old Daniel has heard the stories of massacres and mutilations, of ambushes and patrols played out under a burning north African sun. The atrocious loss of his parents and sister in the war that has just ended haunts him. A series of explosive events will bring the destinies of these two men together in this uncompromising masterpiece set in a world driven by vengeance.
“The writing of Hervé Le Corre has a musicality that verges on the poetic. He is the perfect portraitist.”—Le Monde
“Composed with all the skill of a virtuoso, mingling the colorful slang of bistros and bad guys with sensitive, sharp, crystalline prose that pierces you to the core. Superb.”—Télérama
“Full-blooded and uncompromising. Extraordinary.”—L’Express
The author
Hervé Le Corre
Hervé Le Corre was born in Paris and currently teaches in the suburbs of Bordeaux, France. He is the author of several crime fiction novels, including Talking to Ghosts (2014). He also writes for the literary magazine Le Passant Ordinaire.