A fascinating read with more twists than a pretzel!
Roar Back (An Émile Cinq-Mars thriller #8) by John Farrow
What is it about Canadian French noir? Possibly that gritty, understated humor, or the 'no holds barred' exposé of the underbelly of 1978 Québécois Montreal, the rivalry of gangs--the Italian Mafiosa, The Biker Gangs, and the newer guys on the block, the Russians/ Eastern bloc coteries.
Sergeant-Detective Émile Cinq-Mars enters a new phase of his career, and courtesy of his old boss Armand Touton, he's at the pointy end of a problem that will spread into the gang situation.
Touton wants him to lookout for a deeply embedded agent in the gang arena. Coalface, as Touton dubbed the mole, has been there for over twenty years. A situation that's been on total blackout and unknown to all except for Touton, and now Émile. Now that Touton has retired how and whom does Coalface contact if needed?
A call out to a simple robbery leads to some dangerous places, including the mole's apartment block. Things take a darker when the stolen toasters call out is upgraded to murder with the discovery of a body in a closet. More bodies, police corruption, and internal gang wrangles erupt with international overtones.
What can I say? I was totally involved, totally present and cynically sold on the politics of it all in this 'in your face' read.
A Severn House ARC via NetGalley
*****
What is it about Canadian French noir? Possibly that gritty, understated humor, or the 'no holds barred' exposé of the underbelly of 1978 Québécois Montreal, the rivalry of gangs--the Italian Mafiosa, The Biker Gangs, and the newer guys on the block, the Russians/ Eastern bloc coteries.
Sergeant-Detective Émile Cinq-Mars enters a new phase of his career, and courtesy of his old boss Armand Touton, he's at the pointy end of a problem that will spread into the gang situation.
Touton wants him to lookout for a deeply embedded agent in the gang arena. Coalface, as Touton dubbed the mole, has been there for over twenty years. A situation that's been on total blackout and unknown to all except for Touton, and now Émile. Now that Touton has retired how and whom does Coalface contact if needed?
A call out to a simple robbery leads to some dangerous places, including the mole's apartment block. Things take a darker when the stolen toasters call out is upgraded to murder with the discovery of a body in a closet. More bodies, police corruption, and internal gang wrangles erupt with international overtones.
What can I say? I was totally involved, totally present and cynically sold on the politics of it all in this 'in your face' read.
A Severn House ARC via NetGalley
*****
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