Without agreeing it first, Mme Ramla and I stepped over Elvis’s body and went into the apartment. Civility, lurid curiosity, madness. Maybe there was still someone to save. It could only be Halim the older brother. Whilst advancing in the corridor, I was thinking: “I mustn’t pollute the crime scene.” I could still hear the moaning. Stop watching TV series, idiot, try to do something for the bloke.***
This dark humoured book in a similar vein to ‘La Daronne’ treats the subject of a poorly paid fearful government official, in this case a principal education adviser, whose life is plagued by the drug trade and how a chance opportunity changes his temperament and his life as he shows he has a capitalistic streak waiting to appear. This book was read for the Roman de Rochefort 2023.
Thibault moves into a first floor flat in a tower block near his school where nearly everyone is from or descended from parents from North Africa, to find himself living next to drug sales point with spotters everywhere and a lieutenant guarding the entry to his housing block, the whole thing is run by two Albanian brothers Halim and Elvis Mehmeti, everyone joining the queue to enter the building is filtered by Réda, their lieutenant and Thibault has to produce a bill from the electricity company to prove he lives there to access his own flat. Thibault, because of his job, is co-opted into a residents organisation which is run by the local police inspector who tells them how the drug traffic is organised in their housing estate.
Then one day Thibault hears Kalashnikov gun fire outside his apartment door and after a few minutes of hiding he comes out of his apartment as described in the opening quote. Stéphane discovers the dead brothers hidden stash along with his neighbour Mme Ramla. After understanding that the entire housing block survives from the sale of cannabis, they decide to continue the sales, organising it by telephone so that Réda doesn’t know who is supplying him and redistributing the money within the community.
They soon learn that the money needs to be laundered and Thibault’s brother, Simon, has an upmarket restaurant that is failing so he proposes to save his brother’s restaurant and as Simon explains toThibault’s friend Myriam, all is not simple:
Oh, says Simon. It’s quite straightforward I have to buy supplies as if my restaurant was always chock a block, which of course it isn’t. So I fill doggy bags, my freezer at home is full, our parent’s as well. I give some to my neighbours. But I still had to bin I don’t know how many kilos of cod , sides of beef, liver lobes…..
Honestly it sickens me….
Hey Simon, adds Myriam, just a simple question…. You’d be able to make the same recipes with halal meat?***
Things get slowly more complicated, first they crowdfund the next shipment on the estate and decide to turn to the Traorés, a rival outfit for the supply:
The money is safe, but how should I put it….a fat lot of good that’ll do us.
The Traorés chose to shop me, leaving it to the police to put me out of action. By laziness or maybe out of public spirit they preferred to send me to prison rather than to shoot me dead, as simple as that. I applaud their choice. That said, we still find ourselves in a fix, 400000 euros in a stupid bloody suitcase and no supplier.***
Can you work in the drug business without losing sight of your aims? I preferred La Daronne, which spun off a film but this was nevertheless a quick read and I did laugh out loud once or twice.
First published in French by Seuil in 2023 as ‘Shit’
*** my translation
The quotes as read in French before translation
Sans nous concerter, Mme Ramla et moi enjambons le corps d’Elvis et pénétrons dans l’appartement. Civisme, curiosité macabre, folie. Peut-être reste-t-il quelqu’un à sauver. Ce ne peut être que Halim le grand frère. Tout en avançant dans le couloir, je pense: “il ne faut pas polluer un scène de crime.” Toujours ces gémissements. Arrête de mater des séries TV, abruti, et essaie de faire quelque chose pour ce gars.
L’argent est donc à l’abri, mais comment dire…..ça nous fait une belle jambe,
Les Traoré ont choisi de me balancer, laissant à la police le soin de me mettre hors course. Par paresse ou par civisme, ils ont préféré m’envoyer en prison plutôt que de me descendre, purement et simplement. J’applaudis leur choix. Cela dit, nous nous retrouvons donc avec de bien belles jambes, 400000 euros dans une valoche à la con et plus aucun fournisseur.
Ah, fait Simon. C’est très simple, je dois acheter des provisions comme si mon restaurant était blindé, ce qui n’est pas le cas. Alors je fais des doggy bags. Mon congèle est plein à la maison. Celui des parents aussi. J’en refile à mes voisins. Mais j’ai dû foutre à la poubelle je ne sais pas combien de kilos de dos de cabillaud, des pièces de bœuf, des lobes de foie….
Franchement ça me fais mal au cœur…..
Dites Simon, ajoute alors Myriam, juste une question….. Vous seriez pas capable de faire les mêmes recettes avec… de la viande halal?
Ah, fait Simon. C’est très simple, je dois acheter des provisions comme si mon restaurant était blindé, ce qui n’est pas le cas. Alors je fais des doggy bags. Mon congèle est plein à la maison. Celui des parents aussi. J’en refile à mes voisins. Mais j’ai dû foutre à la poubelle je ne sais pas combien de kilos de dos de cabillaud, des pièces de bœuf, des lobes de foie….
Franchement ça me fais mal au cœur…..
Dites Simon, ajoute alors Myriam, juste une question….. Vous seriez pas capable de faire les mêmes recettes avec… de la viande halal?
South of Paris books 