This rhythmic thriller moves at the speed of a competitive sailboat launched on the Atlantic. Sailing is the universe in which you sail Crimes in the Sandsnew thriller by Niort-based journalist and novelist Frédéric Bodin. His “3 Capes race” is a Vendée Globe which does not say its name: a solo race around the world which starts from Les Sables-d'Olonne.
One year before departure, two bodies are found on board a sailboat entered in the race. Starting point of the plot. Implicit in this is the atmosphere of Les Sables, a city to which Frédéric Bodin had already dedicated a thriller in 2020. “I wanted to return to Les Sables because among the books I wrote, the one set there met the most readers, even four years after its release. And then, that was my first job as a journalist. I am really attached to this city, the fishing environment, its special atmosphere. »
“I write about cities I know well”
The investigation of Crimes in the Sands takes us behind the scenes of a global race and its financial challenges. Frédéric Bodin admits that although he is capable of steering a sailboat, he does not belong to the tribe of “sailors”. He drew a wealth of information on this environment from the specialized press: “The goal was to talk as little about technique as possible. » Enough detail to make it true, but not too much to discourage the uninitiated. To read at home in the warmth while following the stages of the event with a different eye all winter long: the Vendée Globe will start on November 10.
The author who until his retirement in 2020 was part of the editorial staff of The New Republic in Niort, is on his sixth novel. The Niort of the Popular Front, the slave trade in La Rochelle, the big strikes of the summer of 1955 in Nantes, rugby again in La Rochelle, and this time sailing in Les Sables-d'Olonne: little by little, the seemingly a romantic geography, along the Atlantic coast and its hinterland. “I only write about cities I know well. I don't see myself making a novel based on Google Earth. »
The same mechanics
Several of his novels are built on the same mechanism: a fact located in the historical past but an investigation carried out today. Frédéric Bodin plays with memory: “When I spoke about the destruction of the La Chaume bridge (1) in Les Sables-d'Olonne, people relived the event as if it were yesterday even though it dates back to 1978. I was told : “Your description of the La Chaume district was exactly that.” At that moment, we say to ourselves that we have achieved something a little. »
In the same vein, after Murders in Niort in 2016, “a certain number of people told me they recognized the Niort of 1936 as their parents had described it to them. » Because we carry within ourselves our own memory but also that of our parents. One day, Frédéric Bodin received a message via Facebook. Someone wanted to verify the statements of a loved one. He claimed to have “well known” one of the characters. But the character was pure fiction. The reader was in good faith: a book is sometimes more true than true.
“Crimes in the Sands”, Frédéric Bodin, Le Geste noir, 307 pages. Price: €13.90.
(1) The bridge linking Les Sables-d'Olonne to the ancient village of La Chaume was destroyed to create the marina.
