Riviera Reporter
Riviera Reporter
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE

Paris Night: A political thriller with many layers

Paris NightAt 586 pages, Paris Night (UK: MarbleJoe) might be a tad heavy for toting to the beach, but its weightiness will certainly keep your towel from being blown away. (There is a lighter Kindle version for €6.)

Conspiracy, terror, money, murder and sex (not necessarily in that order) in the underbelly of France are promised by author Roderick d’Entrac (www.roderickdentrac.com), a British journalist who has lived in France for 35 years. Roderick was an independent strategic consultant to the EU
Commission leading up to the launch of the euro and, eleven years ago, he founded a mini think-tank in France.

“For decades France has rejected deep reforms, and a strong smell of decadence is polluting its institutions,” he says in an interview. “There will be an awakening, but the longer the sleepwalking lasts, the greater the shock.”

Paris Night is fiction, yet its “culture of political corruption” is very topical. “The novel gives insights into how France really works, with an environment out of which so many scandals, like DSK, have emerged and continue to emerge almost every week. The most spectacular recent example being the Cahuzac Affair, and the dramatic warning by President Hollande that this climate of scandals could destroy the Fifth Republic.”

The Prologue is a little off-putting and wanton, so maybe skip to Chapter One, knowing a terrorist attack against the West is imminent. D’Entrac’s style fortunately evens out from here as the story spans different regions in France making for a decent, albeit complicated, read.

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