Crime novel set in FRANCE (and North Africa)

14th June 2022

The Rift by Rachel Lynch, crime novel set in France (and North Africa)

“To save one life, she risks many others”

The Rift is a stand-alone crime fiction novel from author Rachel Lynch, who is known for her DI Kelly Porter novels. It follows Major Helen Scott who must deploy all the detective skills she has gained during her career in the military police as she combats a double threat of terror and violence. She is tasked with ensuring the security of international VIPs at a NATO summit in the Palace of Versailles in Paris, but she finds the task stifling as her male senior officer seems determined to put her down. When the Hakim, the student son of an Algerian oil billionaire Khalil Dalmani, is kidnapped, Helen is urgently seconded to an Interpol team in Lyon to discover who has the boy – and why. She relishes the fresh challenge and the professionalism of her new colleagues, but she feels torn between her human instinct to rescue the hostage and her original commitment to keep the British Prime Minister and other VIPs safe.

Helen’s investigations take her to the seedier parts of Lyon and Marseille, while other powerful influences conspire in the deserts of North Africa. Helen quickly realises that the security of the NATO summit and the kidnapping of the boy are linked. She is surrounded by colleagues she has never worked with before, and she discovers that her former lover, Grant Tennyson, is part of Dalmani’s security team, so she must decide who she can trust. The lives of many people depend on her making the right call.

Although the novel begins slowly, it soon gathers pace. Author Rachel Lynch skilfully guides the reader through contrasting settings in France; from the historic details of the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles; to the anonymity of immigrant communities in the old town of  Lyon, with its traboules or secret passageways, and on to the bustling commercial port of Marseille. The action moves on to the elegant luxury of an oil-billionaire’s estate in Algiers, and then the dusty, oppressive heat and poverty of North African countries such as Mali and Mauritania, as this tense story winds up to its climax.

The author describes the methods employed by the detectives in their investigation fascinating detail and the book will certainly appeal to fans of modern police procedural novels. The characters are complex and skilfully drawn – it’s not easy to tell which are to be trusted and which are being deceptive, and this is further increases the tension. Helen Scott is a strong and professional detective and it’s easy to admire these characteristics, especially her restraint in dealing with the attitudes of her some of her male colleagues. In a poignant twist, Helen’s past surfaces and she is forced to confront her emotions regarding the death of her own son five years earlier. It is the gradual revelation of her back story that makes Helen a more rounded and sympathetic character: we truly want her to succeed.

In summary, this book is highly recommended for travellers to France or North Africa, particularly those who enjoy spotting clues and solving the mystery alongside the detectives.

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