“Wild life, that goes for humans as well as animals” – Libération

The writer and former advertising executive sets his new novel in a zoo. Between animal chronicle and thriller, the work reveals an impressive understanding of the behavior of its occupants, human and non-human.

Darwin, the leader, resolves conflicts, punishes rebellions, protects mothers and children. In exchange for this, he enjoys privileged access to females and food. Then there are Djeke, Groucho, Chico and Harpo, high-ranking males, each with their own little harem of females, except Harpo who prefers males. Everyone covets Darwin's place. The day Chico is about to make a very big mistake, he pulls out at the last moment and “starts to roll on the ground while uttering little yelps, like a crafty footballer in the penalty area”. Welcome to the merciless world of baboons in a zoo, somewhere in France on a hot day.

In the zoo, there is also Emma, ​​a female orangutan who was a resident of a brothel in Jakarta before being exfiltrated by an NGO. And Anil, a yak from China who is literally dying of heat. His condition does not improve when he bites a mercury thermometer provided by the Ecuadorian trainee. There are also 27 species of snakes, a turtle more than a century old, a marabout with the head of an old notary, a lion, his three lionesses and their cubs. We learn in passing that, in the wild, many lion cubs die before the age of one, victims of hyenas. “or their father, as in Greek tragedies or alcohol dramas.” There is also and above all an Argentine puma with different eyes (one blue, one yellow). By tracking visitors and