With this fifth novel, after The Little Refrain of Horror or The Chaos in Our Veins, Cécile Cabanac is now well established in the landscape of French crime fiction. This spring of 2024, she will indeed be present at the Quais du Polar festival in Lyon from April 5th to 7th. She returns with the release of To Cry Everything Condemns Us (Fleuve Éditions, 03/07/2024), a noir, oppressive rural crime novel.
Young parliamentary assistant, Alice Broca, has been subjected to harassment by her superior for far too long. Exhausted, she seeks refuge in a family home in the Basque Country, in Saint-Just-Ibarre, hoping to find some peace.
However, the past weighs heavily in this house, and the memory of Diane, Alice’s disappeared aunt, fills the space. Realizing that this taboo drama is increasingly suffocating her, and in need of a salvatory escape, Alice embarks on a quest to finally discover what happened to her aunt 20 years ago.
Indeed, one evening in January 2001, Diane, a doctor devoted to her patients, vanishes. Blood traces and an open door are found at her home. Despite all the resources and volunteers actively searching for her, nothing is found, almost no trace, and especially no body. The mystery has remained intact all this time.
Choking Familial Cold Case
With an alternation of timelines, Cécile Cabanac allows us to trace back the threads of this cold case. Between the secrets of this village, where Alice’s questions are unwelcome, and her parents who fiercely oppose her investigation, Alice feels compelled to pursue this path. The hostility of the villagers won’t make her task easy, and trusting anyone will be complicated as everyone has an interest in keeping things vague regarding this matter. Yet, she will throw herself wholeheartedly into this investigation, both to stop thinking and to uncover the truth.
The two central figures of Diane and Alice reflect each other through Alice’s work, as in a mirror game, and this heroine remains endearing, albeit sometimes a bit young and naive. The ensemble cast is successful, with many mysterious and even unsettling characters…
Basque legends, a rural area where the weight of lies and secrets lingers, wild and untamable nature—all these elements add depth to this crime novel while imparting a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
This novel revisits themes already explored by the author, notably unfinished tragedies and investigators haunted by one life-defining case. Cécile Cabanac knows how to lead the reader into the darkness of the human soul; with her breathless and fluid writing, the reader will eagerly turn the pages towards the next twist!
A psychological thriller with a subtly crafted plot, To Cry Everything Condemns Us reveals the near-total omerta of a small French village and the devastating effects of unspoken truths.
