By continuing his series on “The Reindeer Police”, the French author continues to accompany the story of an oppressed culture and people without neglecting the detective intrigue.
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In 2012, journalist Olivier Truc published The Last Lapp. On this occasion he created a series entitled Reindeer Police which continues, twelve years later, to take us on a journey to the Great North in the company of two cops, Klemet the Sami and Nina the Norwegian. From this first thriller, the novelist wanted to move away from local color to accompany the story of an oppressed culture and people. He achieves his goal once again in this new opus, The First Reindeerand never disdains the police investigation perfectly integrated into his ethnographic and political work.
It is June, in Swedish Lapland. Klemet discovers a herd of decimated reindeer on the railway line. The spectacle is epic and has nothing to do with chance. In addition to the permanent conflict between clans, power struggles and competition, the discovery of rare metals on Sami lands represents other global issues, leads to other more political struggles. What is the value of a handful of breeders compared to the famous “well-being of the planet”? Olivier Truc succeeds in the last minute in developing a human adventure but also in scrutinizing a little-known society where young farmers commit suicide for lack of hope and prospects. His work remains very subtle when it defines the characters. In addition to Nina and Klemet, a new heroine appears, Anja, a shaman who is both sunny and charismatic and who is afraid of nothing. “She lay down near the scattered stones, arms crossed, feet turned toward the wolf’s final resting place, in the shade of the birch tree twisted by the wrath of the Great North… She was communing. Her religion. Five minutes of active communication. Where she exchanged with the soul of the wolf.”
Refusing descriptions for travelers on a spree, Olivier Truc immerses us in the fascinating study of a complicated territory that is fighting for its survival. He never forgets that he is a documentarian by refusing approximation. His characters bring a strong emotion and certain scenes, such as the marking of fawns in the middle of the summer solstice, are as moving as they are precise. This first reindeer is an important step in his novelistic work and in our pleasure as readers.
