Deuils de miel - Franck Thilliez

I wouldn't say that he works to a formula, but there are a number of familiar Franck Thilliez features evident at the start of his third novel Deuils de miel, published in 2006 following the Sharko debut Train d'enfer pour ange rouge and the Lucie Henebelle debut La chambre des morts. Aside from Sharko's dark brooding violence, to be expected after Train d’enfer pour ange rouge, there is the discovery of the body of a naked dead woman in an elaborately staged scene in a church confessional. Like another exchange that I referred to in the later novel Atom[ka] indicating the way ahead for a disturbing case, Sharko observes early on here that "en est parti pour une longue et macabre affaire".

Knowing Thilliez that will certainly be backed up, but it's already evident in the bizarre nature of the opening scene. Found dead and naked in a church confessional is the least of it. The victim here has had live butterflies stuck to her shaved head, and indeed all hair removed from her body. There is no immediate indication of cause of death, the victim's ankles tied and positioned with a finger pointing to a pillar high above where an ominous inscription has been left; a prophesy and a warning. Commissioner Franck Sharko knows that they are clearly dealing with a game player -  as is indeed often the case in Sharko - one leaving clues, who wants to show his imagination and creativity for killing, but someone who also wants to inflict indescribable pain on his victims. The question is why. There is indeed a long and macabre affair ahead. 

As usual Thilliez has done his research, inventively tying in historical, scientific, theological and biological matters. So yes, you learn a lot more about the human body, its tolerances and its weaknesses, as well as - in as far as this book is concerned - lepidoptery, apiculture, arachnophilia, mosquitos and malaria, as well as dark underground networks of esoteric criminal activity. Thilliez’s skill of course is in how he imaginatively and gruesomely brings these elements together to shocking effect. Although there are threats of a biblical plague being unleashed, it’s not a simple case of ecoterrorism by any means. Nothing is ever that simple, particularly as the killer appears to be targeting the police, or perhaps playing with them.

There's not much breathing room here in Deuils de miel: little time to consider implications of what it all might mean or even room for dwelling on personal matters, but Sharko is still grieving and clearly impacted from the events in Ange rouge. I personally prefer Sharko more mysterious in third-person than as a first-person narrator, but I have to say that seeing his mental and physical breakdown from inside while trying to come to grips with the twisted machinations of a deranged killer takes us into some surreal schizophrenic and hallucinogenic territory. The path to the conclusion takes on even greater momentum as the identification and history of  'la naissance d'un monstre' and the scale of their derangement and crime becomes clear.

Reading notes: Deuils de miel by Franck Thilliez was originally published in France in 2006. I read a French language Kindle edition purchased from Amazon. I don't believe there is an English translation of the novel, and indeed the title itself doesn't translate easily. 'Lune de miel' is 'honeymoon' in French (quite literally), so 'deuils de miel' would suggest a 'honey-mourning - or 'mourning honeymoon', which you could say probably applies to Franck Sharko after 'Train d'enfer pour ange rouge'.