“Maïssa Thabet, a Franco-Palestinian police officer, celebrates at the French consulate general in Jerusalem the dismantling of a network of drug traffickers in Ramallah. The celebration turns into a nightmare: an attack leaves Maïssa seriously injured. When she returns to normal life after two years of hospitalization, a new drug wreaks havoc in the West, Captagon. The ‘jihadist drug’ kills even in Brittany where one of his old acquaintances, Léanne Vallauri, a PJ cop from Brest (Finistère), is investigating. Between Brest, Paris, Dubai and Damascus, the two Breton heroines will try to unravel an international network at the heart of a most contemporary geopolitical network…”
This is the plot of “Captagonia”, the brand new and 26th novel by Pierre Pouchairet, a former cop who worked in narcotics and internationally, available from this Thursday, October 10, 2024 in bookstores. One day after winning, this Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at the town hall of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, the Spy Novel Prize!
Awarded by the Association of Former Special Services of National Defense (AASSDN) and published by La Manufacture de Livres, this prize rewards an “unpublished novel in the French language linked to the genre of espionage and relating to secret war” . Last year, the first edition was won by Pierre Olivier for his book “When all will betray”.
“This year, the godmother was Marion de Villiers (the daughter of Gérard de Villiers, author of “SAS”, Editor’s note)”says Pierre Pouchairet, delighted. “The president of the Association is a former head of the DGSE, which is also the case for several members, both senior officials and generals. After the prize I won in 2016, it’s a great recognition. »
Pierre Pouchairet, based in Île-Tudy (Finistère), in the Bigouden region, for years, had in fact won, at the end of 2016, the Quai des Orfèvres 2017 Prize for “Mortels Trafics”. This thriller was subsequently adapted by Olivier Marchal under the title “Overdose”, in 2022 (on Prime Video). Olivier Marchal, who had, by coincidence, worked at the same time as him, at the start of his career, within the Versailles PJ!
A very real drug, but imaginary trafficking
This recognition has not stopped the very prolific author of thrillers and avidly read in France by many fans of the genre. Former high-ranking commander of the national police, he notably worked at the Nice branch of the PJ of Marseille (in an international group fighting against drug trafficking) or in the criminal section of Grenoble, but also at the abroad, in the Middle East, until the end of his career.
So many experiences that nourish his stories. “My book mixes fiction and reality. It deals with the very real trafficking of captagon, a drug mainly produced in Syria which has been flooding the Middle Eastern market for a long time, which does not cost much to produce and which is damaging relations with neighboring countries. Which is also supervised by the Syrian authorities…”, says the author. In his novel, he anticipates what would happen if this trafficking went much further: “We imagine that the Russians, who are very present in Syria, join forces with drug traffickers to amplify the creation of captagon and that this it is also sold in Europe and on the Western market… and thus transform this drug into a lethal drug. »
It is there that Maïssa and Léhanne, two of the Finistère heroines who appear in other of his novels – notably in his series “Les Trois Brestoises”, published by Palémon, the publishing house of regional thrillers of Jean Failler, based in Quimper – intervene again.
Moreover, the 14th volume of this series of books with 350,000 copies sold, “We must save Paul McCartney”, which will take place during the Vieilles Charrues festival, will be published on November 10. And the case is far from closed: “We hope that Les Trois Brestoises will soon give rise to a television series,” slips Pierre Pouchairet with a mysterious smile. To be continued.
