Description
Book SynopsisKosher sushi, kebabs, a second-hand bookshop and a bar: the 19th arrondissement in Paris is a cosmopolitan district where multicultural citizens live, love and worship alongside one another. This peace is shattered when Ahmed Taroudant's melancholy daydreams are interrupted by the blood dripping from his upstairs neighbour's brutally mutilated corpse.
The violent murder of Laura Vignole, and the pork joint placed next to her, set imaginations ablaze across the neighbourhood, and Ahmed finds himself the prime suspect. But detectives Rachel Kupferstein and Jean Hamelot are not short of other leads. What is the connection between a disbanded hip-hop group and the fiery extremist preachers that jostle for attention in the streets? And what is the mysterious blue pill that is taking the district by storm?
Karim Miské demonstrates a sharp eye for character and an evocative sense of place, moving seamlessly between the sensual streets of Paris and the synagogues of New York to reveal the truth behind a horrifying crime.
Trade ReviewA brilliant debut -- Robin Yassin-Kassab * Guardian *
Exciting, informative, stimulating, and a little frightening -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *
Not to be missed -- David Platzer * The Tablet *
Miske's imaginative geography lies somewhere between the fantasy Belleville of Daniel Pennac..., the strange world of Fred Vargas, and the amoral fantastic of the television series Breaking Bad -- Ruth Morse * Times Literary Supplement *
Remarkable . . . a debut of notable assurance . . . Proof that French crime fiction is jostling its way to the top of the noir tree -- Barry Forshaw * Independent *
A brazenly political crime novel for our times, it tackles hard-hitting and topical themes of religious fundamentalism, drugs and urban alienation. With a gift for setting, Miske's narrative twists through the mosques, prayer rooms and synagogues, where street preachers hustle for power, vendors ply their trade and a male and female detective duo are determined to unveil the mystery. * The Lady *
Fascinating police procedural that takes on a new dimension after the Charlie Hebdo massacre * The Sun *
A poetic take on the traditional noir thriller -- Natalie Bowen * Scotsman *
