Paris se lève - Armand Delpierre
Being situated in La Défence however, the business district of Paris, you would think that Commissioner Philippe Lenfant's SRPJ 92 team is not exactly going to be caught up in the same kind of suburban murder, drugs and violent crime that you find in the SRPJ 93 neighbourhood of Olivier Norek's Captain Coste series but there is nonetheless a high concentration of people in a relatively small area and in a city like Paris, that can lead to a variety of unexpected situations. Murder isn't something that they would normally have to deal with - the on-going investigation of the theft of car parts that Michel Poirier has been working on for a while is more in their line - but the murder of Mme Françoise Laborde, a lady in her 60s in her apartment in Neuilly throws up a number of unexpected areas of investigation, from her background in San Francisco to a seemingly improbable connection with illegal dog fights.
That's perhaps more than Lieutenant Pierre-Louis Madec, known as PLM throughout, has bargained for. He has just joined the team having worked previously in Marseille, London, Boston and Brest. He perhaps expects things to be quieter with his transfer to Commissariat de la Defense in Courbevoie and find an opportunity to improve relations in his marriage, but his first week in the team is an eventful one, to say the least. For a while however, it all seems quite procedural, getting to know the personalities and daily routines in the unit, seeing how they work together in a department. As well as the murder of Mme Laborde, there is a rape case to investigate, but it does seem relatively low-key criminal investigation compared to other districts of Paris.
There is a clue however to how things are going to develop as we get some perspectives of two Islamic terrorists planning action and another man on the streets to admires Anders Breivik, but more than anything what is significant is the fact that PLM joins the team on the 5th January 2015. As you might know, or will soon find out, the seven days that are covered between the 5th and the 11th January 2015 in Paris se lève are among the most turbulent and violent days experienced in France in recent times. On the 7th January 2015 two gunmen carried out an attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, and this was followed soon after by another terrorist-related hostage situation in a supermarket. These real life events are threaded into the story without any of SRPJ 92 being directly involved, but it definitely has an impact on the direction the novel takes. From the moment we get to that point, things escalate rapidly on all fronts.
The pressures of dealing with a National Emergency means changes of priorities, but as they try to investigate and solve the other regular cases they are working on, PLM and his colleagues find themselves under other pressures and in dangerous situations that leave them with some some of the team down. Their cases are not only important from a perspective of working against time to get the necessary evidence to prosecute, but they are also related to the wider terrorist alerts that go on while the rest of Paris mount 'Je suis Charlie' demonstrations. It all leads to a thrilling conclusion that is all the more realistic for the real-life background feeding into the regular police crime investigation. It's superbly handled by Armand Delpierre, who defines his characters well and brings contemporary Paris and its issues around this time vividly to life through them.
Paris se lève is still not Code 93 then nor, even though it involves a new guy on the team having a series of busy days going through a variety of cases in different teams, is it even close to the overheated stressful and potentially explosive situations in Maïwenn's film Polisse. Confronting contemporary, real-life issues and the interrelated concerns of living in a multicultural city like Paris, Paris se lève however finds its own unique place in police unit crime investigation, seeing the city in a broader context as well as from the individual and personal lives of the team. Perhaps most intriguing is the untypical role Commissioner Lenfant has to play in the team. He seems like the usual stickler for rules, regulations and with an eye on the political pressures, but the conclusion here hints that there are many other interesting sides of 'le Vieux' - and the backgrounds of individuals in his team - yet to be explored.
Reading notes: Paris se lève by Armand Delpierrre is published in France by Plon on the 22nd September 2022. My thanks to the publisher and French NetGalley for the Kindle review copy.
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