Description
Description
From the master of French noir and winner of the French Voices Prize, a gripping mystery about the blossoming of poisonous passions set in the brooding landscapes of Gironde, France
When Franck gets out after five years in jail, he expects to find the brother he protected with his silence--instead, waiting for him is his brother Fabien's girlfriend. Jessica takes him to the gloomy country house where she lives with her cantankerous, hard-drinking parents, her eight-year old daughter, Rachel--who doesn't speak, hardly eats, and seems to be carrying a secret much bigger than herself--and a large mastiff dog they all seem to fear.
Time passes, Fabien doesn't return, and Franck is increasingly mystified by Jessica's behavior, seductive at times, hostile at others. Nonetheless, Franck follows her around on her crazy nocturnal rounds until he finds himself with a gun pointed at his head. It's the beginning of a crescendo of retaliation in a gang war in which Franck believes he is participating, only to realize he's merely a sacrificial pawn.
In the scorching heat of the summer, love and violence, sweetness and blood, will result in an unpredictable ending, one that perhaps only the little girl knew from the start.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"Le Corre is an extraordinary stylist, incisive and brutal, an incredible observer of the gestures with which humanity betrays its emotion."―Alibi
"Suffocating, tragic, a great noir novel."--Radio RTS
"Poetic, poignant, and ferocious."--Critica Letteraria
"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
Praise for In the Shadow of the Fire "Le Corre is an aquafortist. From beginning to end of this dazzling novel, he deepens the shadows in his Paris of soot and night. Here and there, touches of color: the bloody red of the Communards' flag, the incandescence of a fire, the flame of a hurricane lamp. Glimmers of hope flicker and don't go out."―Le Monde "In a perfectly constructed historical frame, supported by breathless intrigue, Hervé Le Corre offers up a fascinating red and black novel. To be read passionately!"―aVoir-aLire "A true history lesson served by extremely precise writing, In the Shadow of the Fire is an astounding epic in which the reader, constantly confronted with suffering, misery, and violence, is taken above all with the strength of the solidarity and heroism of ordinary people, and the infinite hope of those who believe to the end in the causes they are fighting for."―L'Express
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
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