[Critique Livre] The Black Tears of the Storks

Clearly, the disappearances of children inspire Stephane Schmucker ! Three years later The Shadow of the Tightrope Walkerwhich already featured the character of Lieutenant Breuil, the Alsatian author returns with a new thriller entitled THE Black tears of storkspublished by Prisma editions.

A double-temporal investigation

The year 2003 was a difficult year for Lieutenant Breuil: while he was investigating “the mutilated killer”, his little daughter Charlotte was kidnapped, before finally being found safe and sound in the forest. Twenty years later, when the family has managed to overcome this trauma, strangely similar events bring back the ghosts of the past…

Alternating two temporalities, 2003 and 2022, Stéphane Schmucker constructs a skillful and gripping intrigue between past and present. Little Charlotte becomes a main character in the case, now an adult and author of successful fairy tales, while Lieutenant Breuil no longer has the same reflexes as before, struggling more and more to regain his memories.

A good thriller with a twisted plot

With a good sense of rhythm and narration, Stéphane Schmucker offers us an effective and pleasant novel that can be read in one go. The chapters are rather short, with numerous dialogues which make the reading fluid, but also beautiful immersive descriptions which sometimes immerse us in his native Alsace – which is a pleasant change from the many Parisian thrillers – and sometimes in the psychology of his characters.

The plot is skillfully written, and the pieces of the puzzle fall into place gradually, many clues being slipped in thanks to the embedded temporalities. Schmucker creates a feeling of strangeness in the reader, who first feels lost, before reading the missing element for his understanding. Rather disconcerting, but also very clever on the part of the author!

Inventive writing that knows how to renew itself

Another rather judicious choice, Stéphane Schmucker uses multiple narrators in order to further confuse the issue, lead the reader or manipulate him. Alternating internal and external focus depending on the chapters, it only allows us access to certain elements of the investigation, in order to delay the long-awaited outcome. Certainly, our suspension of disbelief is put to the test at times, but we forgive it, because the novel remains very pleasant and addictive.

To these changes in points of view and temporality are finally added a regular renewal in the form of the novel: it begins with a newspaper article, then interjects into its story numerous extracts from the children’s story written by Charlotte, nicely calligraphed, and written in elegant rhymes. The tale obviously provides other keys to understanding the young woman’s past, to be deciphered as you read.

The Black Tears of the Storks is therefore an ingeniously constructed thriller, with inventive writing. Based on a past/present alternation and good psychological suspense, it constitutes an addictive and pleasant read. We will follow this author with interest, for whom this is only his second novel.