Only seven months after the release of Lontano, Congo Requiem has just been published by Albin Michel. The adventures of the Morvan clan continue relentlessly in the heart of Congo, with Erwan, more than ever in search of truth, delving into his family’s history.
Jean-Christophe Grangé did not let impatience settle among his readers with the release of the sequel to Lontano, Congo Requiem, only a few months after the first volume, which concludes the adventures of the Morvan family.
Believing he has finished with today’s Nail Man, Erwan decides to go to Africa, to the Congo, to clarify a point about the first Nail Man’s case. A matter concerning the distance between the murderer and his victim, Catherine Fontana, leads him to think that the Nail Man could not have been present at the crime scene and therefore could not have committed the crime. He is determined to discover the truth no matter the cost.
His father, Grégoire Morvan, is just as determined to ensure that Erwan learns nothing about this old story. Under the guise of monitoring the exploitation of new Coltan deposits in North Katanga, he accompanies Erwan to keep an eye on him.
In Europe, Gaëlle is slowly recovering from the Nail Man’s attack, and Loïc is battling his demons and struggling with withdrawal. But a dramatic event leads him to Florence, where he reconnects with his ex-wife, Sofia.
Once again, Grangé delivers a high-quality crime novel, a thriller set against the backdrop of civil war and family revelations. The Padre and Erwan will spend a long time in Africa and will not come out unscathed. Through his persistence, Erwan finally uncovers what has been hidden from him about the first Nail Man’s story, revealing a whole chapter of his father’s history…
By setting the entire first part in Congo, Grangé immerses readers with the heroes in red. The red of laterite, the earth soaked by late-afternoon rains. The red of the victims’ blood. The red of the mines, the earth excavated from its bowels.
Between ethnic conflicts and the race for profit — Grégoire Morvan is not the only one coveting the Coltan — Erwan will witness everything in this Congo hell. A disorienting and intense first part that sets the pace, rhythmic and tense, of Congo Requiem.
In this volume, much more than in Lontano, the heroes walk a tightrope, a precarious path above the void. They will be shaken, troubled, and will reveal themselves not only to each other but especially to themselves. Erwan, Loïc, Gaëlle, the Morvan children, may have been broken by their father, but they possess unexpected strengths.
Jean-Christophe Grangé offers a second volume less political, much more centered on the Morvan family and its secrets, with effective writing that fully immerses the reader both in the Congolese jungle and in the Florentine alleys or the Breton moors… Brutal, violent, unflinching, Congo Requiem puts a final point to the story of the Morvan clan.
