Lead Review

• Book: Turf Wars
• Location: Paris
• Author: Olivier Norek

Review Author: Tina Hartas

Saint-Denis is a rough and largely immigrant suburb of Paris. It is a long way (in every sense) from the glamorous centre. Organised crime and a drug culture are all pervasive. Olivier Norek spent 18 years in the French police – much of it in Saint-Denis, so he knows his subject really well.

The local mayor has an ‘arrangement’ with those in charge – she lets them be, in order to guarantee peace on the streets in exchange for block votes being delivered for her at election time. It is a system that suits both sides. Then, one day, all hell is let loose. A rival syndicate seeks to take over Saint-Denis – and start by executing three senior members of the old syndicate very violently and in plain view. The status quo is greatly disturbed. Neither the police, nor the mayor, know who they are supposed to be dealing with. Capitaine Victor Coste of the Saint-Denis police department leads the enquiry. There is conflict within the police and between the police and the mayor. The mayor is worried that too many of her secrets might soon be in the public domain. The new enforcers are ruthless and brutal in their efforts to take over.

The book is fast paced and convincing in its view of Saint-Denis. The characters are real (if not exactly desirable). An atmosphere of corruption based on dirty deeds to protect the ungodly pervades everything, and the infighting between various elements of law enforcement is, I presume, based on Norek’s experience. It is indeed scary how such a violent sub-culture can exist so close to the centre of a fashionable European city. There are possibly around 500,000 North African Moslems living in Paris – and rarely in the smart central residential areas. They have tended over the years to live in ghetto suburbs with high unemployment rates and low wages when employment can in fact be found. Of course only a minority turn to drug dealing and violent crime – but their influence over the communities in which they live can be massive. Turf Wars is a thriller for our times.

Highly recommended.

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