As every year, Benzinemag offers you a selection of 10 black novels, thrillers or thrillers published during the first half of the current year, in very varied genres and styles.
Benzinemag’s literary writing has selected its “favorites” in terms of thrillers, thrillers and other black novels … some of which will be in our annual top. Which ones? Mystery … In the meantime, we wish you a very beautiful summer, lots of good novels!
Night taxi, Jack Clark
Hyper realistic urban chronicle: the memories of an old Chicago taxi driver, where Jack Clark was a long night taxi. A prose at the fines of the bitumen, minimalist, factual, which recalls that of Bukowski. By dint of an almost throbbing repetition, humanity transpires from the story to create a unique atmosphere around the character. The police intrigue keeps the reader in suspense but is here only a pretext to browse the grid plan of Chicago, from the in the process of gentrification to the half abandoned cities. A black novel written in the 90s but only translated today in French. (Sonatine – 240 pages, 21 €) – Complete chronicle
A delay, by Franck Thilliez
From the theme of psychiatric diseases, Franck Thilliez manages to breathe a fresh look to compose an intrigue with Machiavellian sophistication which keeps in suspense until the last pages. And it impresses by its ability to work this theme by digging it thoroughly, by pulling all the possible wires so that it appears in all its dimensions, each time with expert documentation which it manages to slip into a story which retains its fluidity. Thus, there is talk of science, art, while seizing with nuances of burning social debates like that of criminal responsibility. A Thilliez Grand Cru! (Black River – 456 pages, € 22.90) – Full chronicle
All the nuances of the night, from Chris Whitacker
If only one, all kinds of confused, could be this one. Beyond its 800 pages, this book is much larger than what you can expect when reading its back cover. And that’s good! The reader will thus plunge into a crazy novel which is freed from all the literary assignments, both a melodrama featuring a story of epic love and friendship, family saga but also thriller turning around the hunt for a serial killer removing young girls, all on a large temporality spanning the decades from 1975 to 2001. The end is superb, The reader viscerally permeates. (Sonatine – 816 pages, € 24.90) – Complete chronicle
The last step, by Guillaume Guéraud
Very nice surprise this little book of Guillaume Guéraud in the singular style. It is visual from the first pages. We quickly understand that things will revolve around a somewhat lost brewery in the middle of nowhere, under a lead heat. An unknown place between Nîmes and Marseille. The writing to the bone and the details given on the weapons, the trajectories or the atmosphere make this novel remarkable. We guess that Guillaume Guéraud knows his ranges. It pays a very beautiful tribute to the black novel and in particular that where the action is dissected in a brutal, cold realism. To discover without hesitation. (The Manufacture of Books / Coll. La Manuf – 192 pages – € 12.90) – Full chronicle
All animals, from Morgan Greene
Without revolutionizing the world of thriller, this survey – between confused and present past – is reappearing – is exciting. We don’t bother with the “who killed?” “Since the culprits are revealed from the start, but” why? »… Morgan Greene We make us reconstruct a twisted puzzle, between original elements and new evidence of the relaunched case, with strong characters and a writing, feverish and malignant writing. All the ingredients to devour this book this summer, for whom not yet discovered it. (Sonatine – 416 pages, € 23) – Complete chronicle
The Girl with Golden Eyes, Fabrice Jamois
This thriller in the title borrowed from Balzac is undoubtedly one of the best thrillers of this first half. A young girl kidnapped and kidnapped for three years by a dangerous psychopath, a radical environmental group who is about to commit a spectacular action, a journalist who is investigating a serial killer and a family father who sees his relationship with her son deteriorate: these are the beginnings of a novel difficult to let go Fabrice Jamois control the art of story. Somewhere between the Blood line of DOA et The roots of evil of Maurice G. Dantec, Girl with golden eyes is an undeniable success. (The Book Manufacture – 464 pages, € 21.90) – Complete Chronicle
Loching Noir, Peter May
Peter May offers us a moving return to Lewis, the island with dark memories. He takes up the pen to embark on the Hebrides islands again, fifteen years after the publication of the three thrillers that made up the previously mannerly named Scottish trilogy. Peter May has lost none of his storyteller to make the reader feel the spray and the smell of peat of the most northern island in Scotland. The come back is brilliantly successful. The reader slips into the plot as he finds an old friend whom he has not seen for fifteen years while having the impression of having left him the day before. (Editions du Rouergue / Rouergue Noir – 368 pages, € 23) – Full chronicle
Blue, whites, red, from Benjamin Dierstein
First part of an announced trilogy, Blue, white, red We plunge back into France in 1978, where we follow the journey of two young cops, freshly graduated from the police school, who will quickly be faced with the most resounding criminal affairs of the moment, whose hunt for the number one public enemy: Jacques Mesrine. It is an abundant, and richly documented novel that offers us there Benjamin dierstein. A political thriller of 750 pages, breathless, nervous and without dead time, in which we meet lots of characters, real or fictitious. A treat! (Flammarion – 794 pages, € 24.90) – Full chronicle
Die in June, from Alan Parks
It is now a habit: each year, we rush to the new novel ofAlan Parks And, for the moment, we have never been disappointed. Die in Junethe sixth investigation by the taciturn Harry McCoy, is impeccable. Glasgow 1975: The Scottish capital is changing and a tramp killer attacks the homeless, among whom McCoy’s own father. Beyond its intrigue, this new volume is mainly valid for the portrait of this complex and endearing cop. And Alan Parks confirms that it is indeed a classic future of police literature. (Shores / black – 368 pages, € 22) – Complete chronicle
Le Goût Du Sanang
When he manages to get out of prison long before the 30th anniversary, Salvatore Procopio, says Sasà, has a plan: recovering the gold he put aside and taking his wife and daughter (whom he has not seen for five years) live elsewhere. Obviously, nothing goes as planned. His wife does not want to follow him (we understand her, Sasà has never been tender with what), and gold has disappeared. So, before leaving despite everything, Sasà takes revenge and everything ends up in a bloodbath, under the tight gaze of the police and Inspector Ferraro. Blood taste Talk about organized crime, drugs, violence, milan, and the contrast between these poor districts (like Quarto Oggiaro, where Sasà) and the luxurious residential buildings of Citylife comes. It is outraged, desperate with darkness, grotesque – with any light of hope. (Metalié – 360 pages, € 22.50)
