Our two shock cops are back. Always as insightful, always as devious when it comes to chasing apprentice killers of all stripes.
We cannot reproach our Reunionese literature for being monotonous. Books on history, geography, tourism, cooking recipes (sometimes more or less authentic); poetry, novels, theatre, biographies, essays, politics, sociology, you can find everything and, very often, our authors show undeniable talent.
Christophe Chabirand, he chose the polar and force is to recognize that he is good, the bugger. In the game of “cat and mouse”, he is on a war footing from early morning (if I dare say!) to simmer us with these little intrigues “that we follow like our shadow”, as Talon would say .
Bonhomme knows how to manage his effects, without ever leading us into impossible maze as is too often the case with other authors. His stories are solid, well put together and we wait for the very last pages to have the key to the enigma before exclaiming “bonsanmécébiensur” and that’s what we like.
This author also knows how to share his passions with us over the chapters, and first of all Reunion where he settled down a few decades ago. Chabirand clearly loves the island and knows how to share its beauties and mysteries with us. When he describes a lost corner, you can go check it out, it’s one hundred percent authentic.
Second passion, music. There is something related to it in every chapter. The second story in this book even revolves entirely around a group of bizarre musicians, two of whose members perish in an accident that looks exactly like a long-premeditated crime.
Third passion, motorcycling. Inspector Cazambo only travels on two wheels, notably a Guzzi dating from Methuselah but cared for with small onions. Which touched me personally, having myself owned a Guzzi V7 750 cc, a monster of power, a beast, a marvel. With which you could drive in 4th gear at 40 km/h and, without warning, handle in the corner, spin at 160 without jerks… when there were no bumps in ambush.
This book is not a novel: there are two short stories here and it is to be welcomed, the short story being a difficult genre to master, the author finding himself obliged to say in a few dozen pages what a novel would say in two hundred pages. The performance is not thin and Chabirand excels there.
Small note: the friend Christophe, who masters good French, should remember that there are proofreaders. Especially for punctuation. For the rest, his practice of the sentence is flawless and his criminal skill without detours.
To read when you love thrillers. I liked it.
J.B.
The Cat and the Mouse, by Christophe Chabirand
Editions Orphie.
In bookstores, 11 euros
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