Saturday 3 January 2015

ANTONIN VARENNE - LOSER'S CORNER


Synopsis/blurb…..

2008. George “The Wall” Crozat has racked up thirty-eight victories (twenty-three of them by knock-out), eight defeats, and an empty bank account. Finally ready to hang up the gloves and focus on his career as a police officer, his chief concern is how to fund his prostitution habit.

When a shady bouncer offers him a photograph, an address and a chance to finally turn a profit with his fists, the temptation is irresistible. Before long the money is flowing, but Crozat has unknowingly become a pawn in a very dangerous game.

Powerful forces are using his brutality to keep their own secrets, and Crozat teeters on the precipice of an abyss that stretches fifty years into the past, to the darkest chapter of France’s colonial history.

Switching effortlessly between past and present, and drawing on his own father’s experience of the Algerian War, Antonin Varenne’s darkly personal thriller shines a light on corruption, torture, conspiracy and revenge.

My first encounter with this French author, though his previously translated Bed of Nails (2012) lurks somewhere on the shelves.

This is dark, fierce, brooding, violent and very, very good, with the additional bonus of coming in at around 300-odd pages. Varenne delivers a fantastic tale and for me a history lesson into the bargain as well; increasing my previously zero knowledge of the Algerian War, which waged from 1954 to 1962, before De Gaulle granted Algeria its independence.  

We have a split narrative with our present day boxing, police officer, George “The Wall” Crozat lurching from one bout to the next and from one joyless encounter with a prostitute to another, gradually finding himself manipulated into inflicting violence on named targets in return for the regular white envelopes of cash pushed through his door.

In our other timeframe, we follow reluctant conscript, Pascal Verini and live through the brutality of his two year’s participation in the conflict….his friendships, his disconnection from his family in France, the perils and dangers of his role as a driver, his involvement with his Algerian prostitute/girlfriend and their unrealistic dreams for a future together when the war has finished. We see the contempt he is held in by most of his comrades for his unwillingness to debase himself and join in with the mistreatment and torture of the Algerians held prisoner at his base. Dark arts at which the brutal Rubio is extremely skilled and proficient at. We wonder at his friendship with the mysterious, manipulative Algerian Rachid. We follow him on his journey home when his two-year stint has finished.

For long periods of reading, I was puzzled at the alternating time narratives because of the lack of a common protagonist connecting the two together. I was needlessly fretting though, as Varenne joins the dots up and weaves a coherent climax where all the bits of the puzzle fall satisfyingly into place.

Great setting, decent plot albeit a tad confusing until the last section of the book. Interesting characters that are never truly likeable. No out and out heroes here with the bad guys fully dressed head to toe in black and the good guys wearing various shades of grey. Probably all the more real because of that.

5 from 5

Loser’s Corner - best book of last month for me, though it may tie with another read December yet to appear on the blog.


Acquired via Net Galley

16 comments:

  1. Almost as good as reading a review that makes you want to rush out and grab a copy is reading a review that makes you know you can cross this title off your list forever. I hate sitting on the fence :) Boxing, Brutality, Police Officer funding their prostitution habits...none of this sounds appealing to me at all. But I love your enthusiasm for it

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    1. Bernadette, definitely more me than you. Glad to see you avoid bum splinters......haha!

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  2. Glad you enjoyed this one as much as you did, Col. It's honestly not my cuppa, but I do agree with you that real life is almost never 'white hat/black hat.'

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    1. Margot cheers. I really liked the realism of the characters. It was very good on a few different levels, not least increasing my knowledge of a little known war

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  3. I don't think it is my kind of book either, although I do like the idea of learning about the Algerian War. Maybe too realistic for me.

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    1. Tracy, I think this aspect was the most rewarding part for me. I knew next to nothing previously. I'm no expert now but have a slighter better understanding. It obviously has more relevance to France and the French psyche though.

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  4. Looking forward to reading Loser's Corner. I enjoyed Bed of Nails, too, but that one's a little different from this one. Thanks for the review.

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    1. Keishon, I think Varenne only appeared on my radar after you made a comment about Bed of Nails somewhere or other - thanks for the (long ago) tip-off. Bed of Nails does seem a totally different story. Hope you like Loser's Corner when you get there! Cheers

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  5. Col, it's your reviews of novels like these that put me in a quandary — do I read them or do I not? Considering that I enjoy reading such fiction, Maybe, I'll toss a coin.

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    1. I would definitely recommend this one Prashant. Maybe books blogs should carry a warning similar to the health ones on cigarettes....READING COULD BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR FINANCES!

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    1. Paul, well worth a look in my opinion. Nice to see the shoe on the other foot for a change - seeing as I'm usually driven to purchase after reading your blog!

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  7. I'm with Bernadette, Margot and Tracy: glad to read the review, unlikely to read the book....

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    1. No problem Moira. Maybe Bed of Nails when I get there.

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  8. I've been meaning to read this one. I was a bit on the fence about Bed of Nails - liked certain aspects of it, but found it a little copy-cat in its crime fiction aspect. But this sounds different and the Algerian War is a fascinating subject. I didn't know it had been translated.

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    1. Marina, thanks for stopping by. I'm a bit shaky on my French colonial history, so it entertained me as well as instructed. I have high hopes for Bed of Nails when I get there. I'm hoping I don't have the same issues as you, but we'll see.
      I don't know if there are further books to come from him in translation, but I hope so.

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