Find on this page all the latest crime fiction news and the books that caught Libé’s eye. And subscribe to the Libé Polar newsletter by clicking here.
Obviously, Hugues Pagan and his double, chief inspector Claude Schneider, believe in Evil. It’s a bit of a thriller’s stock in trade and the disenchanted cop is no exception. Schneider is an old relation. He sported his trench coat in 2022 in the Carré des indigents (Grand Prix for detective literature), but we already encountered him in the early 80s in a twilight novel, Death in a lonely car. No wonder this new opus, the shadow castwritten more than forty years after its first appearance, takes place at approximately the same time, Pagan feels like a fish in water, modernity is not his cup of tea. Dented Zippo, worn suit, his impassive policeman is in town last night and comes across a fire, an old carpentry that burns too easily. There is no doubt about the criminal origin and the arsonist who was quickly arrested is a penniless person who obeyed a mysterious sponsor.
Nothing but classic but we know that with Pagan the plot is less important than the atmosphere, the places, the people. Let’s talk about the characters! Notables as they say, who live in vast properties on the heights of the city, drink Vosne-Romanée 1952 and whose very chic women are named Françoise. Do you believe in the Devil, Mr. Inspector asks the policeman on guard about a certain Christian. “No more than that,” responds Schneider tensely. Corpses pile up and yet the novel remains contemplative, like its jaded and meticulous hero. Former paratrooper, always sad and angry, Schneider has come back from everything and that doesn’t make him likeable with his recurring migraines and his permanent bad mood. We keep repeating that Hugues Pagan is a stylist because he acts of resistance. He likes phrases with panache, behind-the-scenes adjectives, 50s jazz, old Alfa Romeos. He hates cruel women perfumed with sandalwood, gomins with mustaches and ends his stories with expressions that we only hear in black and white films: mass is said. You have to dare.
The Shadow cast, Hugues Pagan, Rivages Noir editions, 452pp, €22.
Related News :