Gaël Viaud is a chief warrant officer at the Montfrin gendarmerie brigade. Passionate about literature and writing since his childhood, the gendarme released a thriller on October 12, 2024 entitled Le mas des ombres. In 2023, during an arrest, a man drives towards him in a car. This event pushed him to bounce back and accomplish his dream: to publish his first novel.
“I have been passionate about literature since I was little. I particularly liked books where you had the choice, at the end of a passage, to take the desired direction. Then, I was very interested in the books of Jules Verne”remembers Gaël Viaud, chief warrant officer at the Montfrin gendarmerie brigade. As a child, he enjoyed writing fictional stories.
Then, when he entered gendarmerie school in 1997, the agent put his passion aside to devote himself to his professional career.
During his activity as a gendarme, Gaël Viaud traveled extensively throughout France. He was assigned to Dreux for seven years then nine years to Annonay in Ardèche. In 2009, he successfully passed the technical examination as a judicial police officer (OPJ) of the gendarmerie. Direction Belley in Ain to start his new position as superior. Originally from Beaucaire, Gaël wants to get closer to Gard. He was then transferred to the Saint-Ambroix gendarmerie in 2016, as brigade commander.
Gaël Viaud has been assigned to the Montfrin gendarmerie brigade since last July. • DR
He rushes towards the policeman
“I still have psychological aftereffects from this incident. Death brushed past me »confides Gaël Viaud. On September 11, 2023, the chief warrant officer was scouting with two colleagues in the town of Saint-Ambroix. They see a dealer who was doing “ubershit”. He was delivering drugs by car. “We come across his vehicle and follow him. I was a front passenger and I asked my fellow driver not to pursue a chase. The car was at risk of a hit-and-run so we wanted to prevent it from running over pedestrians in the village”says the professional.
The offender's car takes a dead end street. The gendarmes put their vehicle across in order to block it. “He turns around so I’m getting off. I leave my door open. I point my gun at him and tell him “stop or I’ll shoot”. He stops in front of me for the first time but the front passenger shouts “speed up, go for it!”. So he accelerated and if I don't hold on to my vehicle… I'm under the wheels. I didn't shoot even though I could have because I was in self-defense.”explains, in a trembling voice, the Gardois. Hit in the arm and traumatized, Gaël Viaud will take legal action but will not take time off work.
The investigation lasts eight months because the dealer is in hiding. He was arrested in May 2024 in Nîmes before the Alès criminal court, the defendant was sentenced to six years. He appealed and the court of appeal sentenced him to seven years in prison. “Before the hearing, I saw him several times so it was complicated for me. Following this incident, I continued to work to try to think of something else but it was too hard… I had to leave Saint-Ambroix,” he assures. The memories are still complicated for the victim: “I have this feeling that death has failed me and that it would like to get me back. Fortunately I am supported by my wife and my two children. » For a new start, Gaël Viaud was transferred to the Montfrin gendarmerie brigade on July 1, 2024, as chief warrant officer.
A dream fulfilled
The fear of leaving was what triggered him. “This event pushed me to bounce back and I wanted to realize my dream: to publish my book”explains the gendarme. The latter began writing his novel in 2004. “My thriller is 20 years in the making. At the beginning, it was a fantastic fiction then I reworked it gradually but without real diligence. And this year, I worked hard to finish it”he maintains. After various misadventures, the thriller Le mas des ombres has been released on Amazon since October 12, 2024. Indeed, in 2020, Gaël Viaud had the chance to sign a contract with a publishing house but it went bankrupt in 2023.
“I tried to sign with several publishing houses but the responses were negative. So, I told myself that I was going to self-publish my book and that if it worked, they would call on me”explains the author.
The story of the thriller is intriguing. During an accident that occurred 16 years previously, a woman suffered from amnesia. She no longer remembers her life before. She is bored with her daily life and leaves Vienna with her daughter to settle in a Provençal farmhouse in Salon-de-Provence.
A few months after moving in, paranormal and supernatural phenomena will occur in his new home. A gendarme will therefore intervene and do everything to unravel the mysteries. This thriller oscillates between the paranormal and the real. It mixes fiction and anecdotes inspired by Gaël Viaud's journey, thus offering an immersion in the daily life of the gendarmes. The author's name of Beaucairois is GV Batista, in reference to his wife.
A message of support
“In my novel, I was keen to talk about violence against women. I remind you that in 2019, in France, 149 women died following femicide. Victims should not hesitate to talk about it and come see us to file a complaint, supports the chief warrant officer. Before, battered women were not necessarily taken care of by the police, today that has evolved a lot”. Each year, monitoring is improved, notably with the anti-reconciliation bracelet, the survival telephone and removal measures. “As I am not published, I have to make arrangements myself with booksellers, book festivals and fairs, indicates the enthusiast. In any case, I hope that my book will be popular. I'm not a writer, I'm a storyteller.”.
Le mas des ombres is on sale on Amazon for 16.90 euros. • DR
The farm of shadows
