QUE TOMBE LE SILENCE

The harsh reality of daily life in the police. The world of drug traffickers and the hell of gambling, but also a window onto foreign parts: New Caledonia.

The Kanak is back in the regional crime squad in Toulouse during a heatwave when the urban developments flare up and dealers prosper. Everything around him is going up in smoke: the racing and gambling squad is reduced to zero, and Six, his partner, is being held for questioning: his old service weapon, which he'd declared lost, has been used in the execution of a dealer in the Mirail quarter. The Kanak knows its secret history when the internal police inspectorate is called into the case. But he'll never abandon a friend in need.

At a frenetic pace, and much to the displeasure of the hierarchy, this giant with a big heart throws himself into a demanding investigation that will spare neither his personal life nor his loved ones. Grand-Mama, a former dancer at the Moulin Rouge who had long ago turned his grandfather's head, withholds a startling secret, a bomb ready to explode in the private world of the Kanak who, despite himself, is dragged into a maelstrom of events. The settling of scores piles up. Electricity is in the air, police headquarters are at boiling point, and the Kanak calls for silence. . .

Christophe Guillaumot is a police captain in the Toulouse regional criminal investigation service where he heads the racing and gambling squad. In 2009, he won the Quai des Orfèvres Prize for Chasses à l'homme. Following Abattez les grands arbres (Sud-Ouest Thriller Prize) and La Chance du perdant (Michel-Lebrun Thriller Prize, 2018), he here offers a further episode in his series featuring the endearing character of the Kanak, loosely based on a colleague no longer with us.