François Vallejo

What would your reaction be if your half brother, with whom you had a close relationship in your teenage years converted to Islam? It might be a shrug of the shoulders in typical french fashion, but if you knew that your half brother was obsessional and that he had distanced himself from you recently then you might be a little more concerned. This is the situation in which Alix finds herself when she hears from a close friend that Alban has converted and changed his name to Abdelkrim Yousef and is no longer taking her calls. Their parents are far too busy running a travel agency business in Paris to be concerned with Alix and Alban and Alix who has acted as a parental figure to her younger brother feels responsible. She remembers Alban being obsessed with the thrilling rides in Disneyland Parks when they were teenagers; their parents happy to dish out complementary tickets and pack their children off to various cities in France where there were amusement parks. Since those days Alban had studied chemistry and was at the point of writing a thesis when suddenly he dropped out of college.

Françoise Vallejo writes his novel from the p.o.v. of Alix as she struggles to gain more information on her estranged brother, she has carved out a career for herself in art restoration and has a contract to restore some early frescoes in a romanesque church deep in the countryside. She writes a journal on her laptop of her attempts to contact Alban and when she starts to make some progress, she is warned off by acquaintances that she may be causing trouble for Alban/Abdelkrim within his new community. One wonders if Alix is as obsessional as her brother, especially when she visits a doctor with whom she has heard there may be a connection with her brother, pretending she has a stomach complaint. Her concerns seem to be realised when she finds evidence of Alban travelling to the Maghreb and then to Waziristan followed by a terrorist attack at Orly airport some time after.

Vallejo's novels main theme is the indoctrination of a young Parisian susceptible to involvement in terrorist activities, but this is not explored in any great depth, because he is more concerned with the relationship with his sister. We only hear snippets of Abdelkrims new life and his reasons for being a Jihadist are as shadowy as the community in which he serves. The book becomes a sort of mystery thriller with Alix determined to find a way to save her half brother. There are some interesting juxtapositions, Alix is an atheist, but finds herself intimately involved in religious art, while her brother has embraced a new religion, but finds difficulty in being accepted, because of his nationality and catholic upbringing. Alix working partner betrays her, when she reveals the contents of Alix's laptop journal to the DCRI an agency gathering information for the Secret Service.

Françoise Vallejo is a professor of literature and has published several novels. His expertise is probably not in radicalisation or the secret service, but his writing skills carry along this novel: published in 2012 well enough and it succeeds in being a thoughtful psychological mystery. After a slow start I found it an entertaining read and so 4 stars.… (mer)

Un dangereux plaisir raconte l'itinéraire d'Elie Elian, cuisinier parti de rien, qui découvrit le plaisir des saveurs, des textures, et l'art de les marier, un jour où la voisine lui offrit une part de tarte aux fraises. D'abord cuisinier pour les oiseaux (fantastique trouvaille de Vallejo !) il finit, après moult péripéties, par se trouver à la tête d'un restaurant, après avoir usurpé l'identité d'un mort et s'être invité dans les cuisines d'une veuve, et dans son lit. Car tout est entremêlé : sexualité ou cuisine, tout est affaire de fringale et de sensualité.
C'est un roman très réussi. Vallejo nous dépeint un personnage plutôt sympathique malgré ses travers, qu'on excuse par la grande précarité dans laquelle il vit. Mais on ne peut pas s'empêcher de ressentir un certain malaise, jusqu'à la fin, très bien amenée, et dont on ne sait pas trop... si c'est du lard ou du cochon.
A lire au plus vite !
(Nelly)… (mer)

Que feriez-vous si votre frère se convertissait à la religion musulmane ? Vous l'accompagneriez dans sa démarche, vous le persuaderiez d'abandonner l'idée, vous le soupçonneriez d'être un terroriste prêt à accomplir un acte irréversible ou vous le dénonceriez purement et simplement à la DCRI ?
Alix la demi-soeur d'Alban passe par toutes ces phases et mène son enquête en écrivant ses états d'âme dans un manuscrit informatique. Elle gratte le passé et essaie de consolider le présent de son "demi" comme elle le fait dans sa profession de restauratrice de fresques chrétiennes.
Où veut en venir l'auteur, je ne l'ai pas deviné, un sujet à la mode où l'on devient "parano" très vite… (mer)