Jean-Christophe Grangé

A hellish ride into the heart of African darkness.
No one keeps his dark secrets as well hidden as Grégoire Morvan: family tyrant, unscrupulous businessman and grey eminence of the French Ministry of the Interior. In the 1970s, Morvan brought down a bestial killer in the Congo. Following a cruel ritual, the "nail man" left his victims riddled with nails and shards of mirror.
And now he seems to have a mysterious successor who is threatening Morvan's entire family! Morvan's son Erwan, an inspector with the Paris police, travels to the Congo on his own to find out his father's true story. Little does he realise that he is opening the gates to hell.
What impressed me was that Grangé is able to describe the political events in the Congo and the catastrophic life for the population there so accurately. The tragic thing is that not much has changed to this day.
It was exciting from the very beginning and keeps you guessing until the very end how things will turn out.… (more)

It almost seems like this is going to be my Jean-Christophe Grangé year, but to be honest, his books are addictive and this one is no exception.
Grégoire Morvan, grey eminence of the French Ministry of the Interior, was successful in the seventies with lucrative business deals in the Congo. And he caught the notorious killer Homme-Clou there, who in his time murdered nine people following a bestial ritual. When a dead man is found at a Breton military school, his gruesome disfigurement resembling Homme-Clou's modus operandi, and Morvan's family is acutely threatened, he must use all means to confront the shadows of a past that has never ceased to thirst for blood. He enlists his son Ewan, who is a detective superintendent in Paris, for this purpose. Ewan, knowing full well that his father is 'dirty', threatens to expose him.
This is not only about catching a murderer, but also about the father-son relationship, which is on very shaky ground.… (more)

After seeing The Crimson Rivers as a movie, I was also impressed by the second volume in the Pierre Nieman series.
Niémans and Ivana investigate in the Black Forest. They should support the German investigative team, since the dead Jürgen von Geyersberg was found on Alsatian soil.
The von Geyersberg family live in the Black Forest and hunt in Alsace. There they regularly organize battues, which is forbidden in Germany. Jürgen von Geyersberg is found in the manner of a hunted game. The von Geyersbergs own a fortune worth several million. Laura, the dead man's sister, is not exactly willing to give information to the police. Niémans soon finds out that there is a curse on the family. Is that the reason why Jürgen had to die? A second identical murder soon occurs and Niémans and Ivana as well as their German colleague are in great danger.
This is a very fast paced crime thriller and the suspense is maintained to the very end.… (more)

This book is about a 'homeless man' being admitted to the psychiatric emergency room in Bordeaux in the middle of the night.
The next day, a mutilated corpse is found, draped in a way that bears comparison to the Minotaur myth. Since the homeless man was found nearby, it is suspected that he could be the killer. Only this homeless man seems to have lost his memory and doesn't even like to remember his own name. The psychiatrist protects his patient, even as the young detective pulls out all the stops to learn more. With the help of forensic investigations he finds the homeless man's place of residence. He brings him back, but does not realize that he has been followed for a long time. His pursuers shoot the homeless man and he can only just save himself.
Back in Bordeaux, he realizes that he too suffers from a multiple personality disorder and that he isn't who he says he is. He is also no longer safe in this place and is looking for his true self.
Now the 'cat and mouse' game between him and his pursuers begins. Likewise, the young commissioner sits at his heels. At first she was convinced that he is the killer, over time she realizes that he is a victim.
The first stop is Marseille, where he was a patient in a psychiatric clinic for a while. He often painted there and his paintings brought in a lot of money when they were sold.
From there the path leads to Paris, where he finds out that he was an artist who has a lot of money. He even finds his loft and slips back into that role. But the whole way from Marseille to Paris is paved with corpses, which always have something in common with Greek mythology. In Paris he also realizes that he works for gangsters as a passport forger and that's how he made too much money.
Likewise, on his constant flight he has to realize that he has implanted some kind of chip. He can remove it painfully and can now no longer be tracked.
In his parents' house he finds a box with old documents that help to clarify who he is. So he finds the doctor who once treated his mother and is the real villain to whom he owes his whole misery.

This book captivated me from the first to the last page. I would highly recommend it to anyone.… (more)