Mallock is the enigmatic pseudonym adopted by a French photographer for his crime novels, and also the name of his protagonist, a pragmatic and clear-minded cop still marked by the death of his own son, who is obliged to travel to the Dominican Republic to investigate a curious case. Manuel Gemoni, a totally ordinary family man, had travelled all the way there to kill an old man he had never seen before. As the case unravels in the sweaty jungle and then back in Paris under a blanket of snow, quirky Amedee Mallock gradually peels away the layers of an elaborate plot that leads back to the forests of Normandy during WW2. A fascinating new cop on the block and I, for one, am already looking forward to the handful of other Mallock investigations to be translated.
