Algerian thrillers are a rare commodity (at least in the French version) and Yasmina Khadra frees herself from the wrong genre collection after leaving the adventures of curator Brahim Llob. We would therefore be very pleased to know for the first time that it was translated from Arabic by a new author who was expatriated first in Italy and then in the United States where he was a professor at Yale University. Amara Lakhous has published four novels with Actes Sud, but translated from Italian.
Southern Story
The impact of terrorism
This report gives us a Series B look at the impact of terrorism in a country that took refuge behind the 2005 Charter to prevent criticism of the regime. That Kamel Daoud transgresses with lyrical forceAmara Lakhous integrates it into an important score-solving plot. Through a tired cop, Soltani, and a group of corrupt people, this dark novel works.
“The Fertility of Evil,” by Amara Lakhoustranslated from Arabic (Algerian) by Lofti Nia, ed. Actes Sud/Actes noirs, 288 pp., €22.50, ebook €16.99.