François Vallejo
Auteur van Ouest
Over de Auteur
Werken van François Vallejo
Gerelateerde werken
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Geboortedatum
- 1960
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- France
- Geboorteplaats
- Le Mans, Sarthe, France
- Beroepen
- novelist
Leden
Besprekingen
Prijzen
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
Gerelateerde auteurs
Statistieken
- Werken
- 22
- Ook door
- 1
- Leden
- 166
- Populariteit
- #127,845
- Waardering
- 3.6
- Besprekingen
- 6
- ISBNs
- 42
- Talen
- 3
Françoise Vallejo writes his novel from the p.o.v. of Alix as she struggles to gain more information on her estranged brother, she has carved out a career for herself in art restoration and has a contract to restore some early frescoes in a romanesque church deep in the countryside. She writes a journal on her laptop of her attempts to contact Alban and when she starts to make some progress, she is warned off by acquaintances that she may be causing trouble for Alban/Abdelkrim within his new community. One wonders if Alix is as obsessional as her brother, especially when she visits a doctor with whom she has heard there may be a connection with her brother, pretending she has a stomach complaint. Her concerns seem to be realised when she finds evidence of Alban travelling to the Maghreb and then to Waziristan followed by a terrorist attack at Orly airport some time after.
Vallejo's novels main theme is the indoctrination of a young Parisian susceptible to involvement in terrorist activities, but this is not explored in any great depth, because he is more concerned with the relationship with his sister. We only hear snippets of Abdelkrims new life and his reasons for being a Jihadist are as shadowy as the community in which he serves. The book becomes a sort of mystery thriller with Alix determined to find a way to save her half brother. There are some interesting juxtapositions, Alix is an atheist, but finds herself intimately involved in religious art, while her brother has embraced a new religion, but finds difficulty in being accepted, because of his nationality and catholic upbringing. Alix working partner betrays her, when she reveals the contents of Alix's laptop journal to the DCRI an agency gathering information for the Secret Service.
Françoise Vallejo is a professor of literature and has published several novels. His expertise is probably not in radicalisation or the secret service, but his writing skills carry along this novel: published in 2012 well enough and it succeeds in being a thoughtful psychological mystery. After a slow start I found it an entertaining read and so 4 stars.… (meer)