Savages: the Saint-Etienne Quartet
2 total works
A Saturday in May. Paris.
It's the eve of the French presidential elections - 'The Election of the Century' say the newspaper headlines - and Chaouch, the nation's first Arab candidate, has victory in his sights. It has been a long campaign, and with his wife Esther and daughter Jasmine by his side, he spends the remaining hours with close advisors in a hotel in Nimes. Much of the dinner table chatter revolves around Jasmine's boyfriend; Fouad Nerrouche, a well-known actor with the same Algerian origins as her father, who has just publicly endorsed Chaouch's candidacy. However shallow it may seem, it's difficult to ignore the influence of celebrity support in this complex and unpredictable race . . .
The same day. Saint-Etienne.
The Nerrouche family is frantically preparing for a grand wedding, and Fouad himself is there to help out. But younger cousin Krim - who has recently lost his job - is becoming increasingly agitated, and no one knows why. As the day goes on, it becomes clear that the cousin's problems go far deeper than unemployment. Krim has been stealing from a local gang leader and after being discovered, found himself indebted to his powerful cousin, Nazir - Fouad's brother. Nazir is a very shady figure, and is heavily involved in a dark underworld of crime. Together, their plans will cause Fouad's two very different worlds to meet in a way no one would have dared to imagine. Within a few hours, the threads start to unravel, and the collision between the destiny of a family and the hopes of a country becomes inevitable.
With the pacing of a thriller, Louatah melds the tense atmosphere of a family saga with the gripping suspense of a political drama into one breathtaking read.
In an already tense crowd on election night, France's first Arab presidential candidate Chaouch is shot at close range by the young and naïve Krim Nerrouche. As shock pulses through the nation, Paris is put on high alert, because although Krim's finger pulled the trigger, it becomes clear he was not the mastermind behind the attack. Now, he must survive endless interrogations with the anti-terrorist police without revealing the location of the cousin he is fiercely protecting.
As investigations get underway, Chaouch is transferred to intensive care, hovering between life and death with his heartbroken family at his side. Later that evening, it is announced that he received the most votes in the election, but he might not ever wake up to this news. Meanwhile his daughter is facing the fact that not only is her father in a critical condition, she may not be allowed to see her boyfriend again - for he is a member of the sprawling Nerrouche family, who are currently all being treated as suspects by the authorities.
Savages 2: The Spectre takes us on an electrifying journey behind the scenes of power and into the heart of a state undermined by the most unprecedented attack in recent history. A family is torn apart and riots are breaking out in the housing projects of the Nerrouche family's home in Saint Etienne, as relations become fraught with tension. Louatah builds the pace in this gripping sequel that will keep you turning its pages to the end to discover the future of a family and the destiny of a nation on the verge of a dangerously explosive moment in time.
***
'This is not the first time that the scenario of a French Arab president has been in a French-language novel - this was also the conceit of Michel Houellebecq's Submission . . . Savages is, however, a far superior book, having more in common with the complex and crafted plotting of The Sopranos or The Wire than the arch, sarcasm of Houellebecq's dystopia. [Louatah] promises no happy ending to the tensions that still plague France , but the book manages to thrill and entertain, while never losing the sharp political edge that also makes it important' The Observer