Fabrice Humbert

Born in 1969 in Mar­seille, he teach­es lit­er­a­ture. He is the author of sev­er­al nov­els, includ­ing, from Gal­li­mard Edi­tions, Eden Utopia (white col­lec­tion, 2015, Folio n° 6174) and How to Live Like a Hero (white col­lec­tion, 2017, Folio n° 6663).

Just imag­ine: you find your­self in Times Square, in mid­town New York, when sud­den­ly a pho­to of your child­hood best friend appears on the giant screens. It’s real­ly him, Ethan Shaw, the high school gold­en boy, ris­ing star from the small town of Drys­den. For the nar­ra­tor, Adam Voll­mann, Ethan was a sav­ior: by extend­ing his friend­ship, he enabled Adam to fit in. And this same man now stands accused of rap­ing and killing an ado­les­cent, want­ed across the country!

Adam, a jour­nal­ist, will launch an inves­ti­ga­tion and head back to where it all start­ed. But no one can retrace their past unscathed. And what Adam will dis­cov­er about Ethan, the vic­tim and him­self could change every­thing. In this nov­el con­ceived as a thriller by design, noth­ing is famil­iar: the char­ac­ters prove elu­sive, the hall of mir­rors per­fect, and real­i­ty, in the land of Don­ald Trump, dan­ger­ous­ly resem­bles fic­tion. Amidst a David Lynch-like atmos­phere and against a back­drop of fake news, the author inter­ro­gates iden­ti­ty, what lies hid­den behind names, and our rela­tion­ship with the truth. A fas­ci­nat­ing trea­sure hunt in which we get lan­guid­ly lost and where sus­pense and manip­u­la­tion reign supreme. An inspired masterwork.

Ari­ane Bois
Jour­nal­ist & jury mem­ber of the Lucien-Bar­rière Lit­er­ary Award