The drama of Sept-Sorts at the heart of the first book by journalist Justin Morin

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On August 14, 2017, the life of the Jakov family switches in a fraction of a second. On the terrace at the Cesena pizzeria in Sept-Sorts (Seine-et-Marne)Betty, Sacha, and their three children are violently hit by a car that is traveling at high speed and heading directly towards them. Their daughter Angela, aged 13, died instantly. His brother Dimitri and their father, Sacha, are seriously injured. The mother, Betty, will not escape unscathed either. As for the trauma, it is indescribable. Both for this family and for the dozen other victims present. This act of gratuitous violence was quickly described as a deliberate attack, but questions remained unanswered…

This tragic event is the starting point of Justin Morin’s first novel, We are no longer normal peoplepublished by La Manufacture de livres in August 2024, i.e. seven years after the fact.

Former journalist at Europe 1, Justin Morin meets the Jakov family in 2021, during the trial at the Melun Assizes of the assassin, a man who, after rushing onto the terrace, would have justified his action by a feeling of persecution. He also meets the culprit’s sister there. The journalist, deeply marked by what he sees and hears in courtdecides to go further, to write and tell the story of this devastated family. It is moreover alongside them that he will write the beginning of his work. However, at the end of the trial, he was unable to put an end to his story. So the novelist takes over to try to understand and reinvent a family story. It then switches into the fiction by recreating the character of Lisa, the sister of the culprit. And hybrid text between documentary and fiction

The pain of a family

In the book, Justin Morin immerses the reader, in the first part of the story, through the journey of the Jakov family after the tragedy. The author focuses on the pain of these parents, who not only have to deal with the physical and psychological injuries of their son Dimitri, but also deal with the insurmountable loss of their daughter. A extremely painful story. Through scenes of great emotion, the book pays tribute to the resilience of this family, united despite everything by love and solidarity.

The journalist and novelist, whose involvement was “total”, does not stop at the facts, but is interested in the psychology of the characters. We enter in the thoughts and emotions of Betty and Sachatheir daily life as victims, their endless questioning about what could have been different. The grieving process, the guilt, the “what ifs”, which haunt parents, are approached with great sensitivity.

According to Justin Morin, it isa “deeply collective” textin his own words, because “Betty and Sacha populate it”.

Betty and Sacha populate the text.

Indeed, Angela’s parents were with him throughout the writing of the book. A collaboration that they accepted to continue to make it exist. “I have a very special bond with them. There were ups and downs during the writing of this text. I am proud of the journey we have made together. Every time I talk about this book, I think of them first and foremost. This book has been released, it is not a joy for them that this text exists, but they accept it because a relationship of trust has been born between them and me. I wanted to live up to that and what we have covered,” explained the author in an interview conducted by the Mollat ​​bookstore, the first independent bookstore in France created in 1896 in Bordeaux.

The second part of the book focuses on the trial of the assassin, David Patterson. The trial, which takes place in 2021, four years after the events, is marked by a confrontation of the suffering of the victims and the indifference of the attacker, who struggles to express remorse. It was during this period that Justin Morin met the Jakovs, and it was at this moment that he decided to begin writing this work to take more time with the victims, touched by “the force that they release. »

It traces the mechanisms of justice and its incomprehension in the face of the criminal’s act.

From reality to imagination

It is then that he ventures into the third part of the book, where he reveals the portrait of the accused’s sisterto try to understand how David Patterson could get there. It is then that the book takes on a more romantic twist. Fascinated by this figure who attends the hearings while taking notes, Justin Morin tries to enter his world to understand his links with his brother. However, the sister refuses to speak to him and collaborate, leaving the author unable to paint a faithful portrait. The author then decides to invent the life of this family and the mechanisms that led his brother to commit the unthinkable. Fiction, here, allows the novelist to fill in the blanks left by reality.

Through these 256 pagesJustin Morin delivers a powerful work, in which pain, the quest for justice and the need to understand are subtly intertwined. A strong, poignant, and deeply human first novel.

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