the patriarch salutes you!

The 1^is December, Daniel Pennac will celebrate his 80th birthday. Already ! We remember that forty years ago, without having premeditated it, he launched, in the “Série noire”, the Malaussène saga with To the happiness of the ogres. A series in nine volumes finished in 2023. And then no. Here's a little something for the road. Its title is Mon Assassin. On the cover is printed « roman ». We know the song. If the author tells the childhood of the man who will become Pépère, the evil hero of volume 9 (Malaussène Terminus), he takes the opportunity above all to reveal the behind the scenes of the Malaussenian universe. We leave the framework of fiction to move on to that of confessions. The author recognizes it: most of his friends appear in his Books. It even gives their identity. A way to honor those of them who died. That is to say, quite a few.

Mon Assassin is therefore a hybrid of novel and confessions. We buy! Pennac reviews his friends. Those…