It did take some time, however.
I actually purchased No Room At The Morgue late last year and didn't quite get it (or maybe I'd grown bored with crime fiction at that time, as sometimes happens to me). I'd heard that he was one of the most acclaimed authors of crime fiction in France who had revolutionized the genre by giving it a highly political shot in the arm…but that particular book didn't really sell it.
That changed when I got a hold of a copy of his first book The N'Gustro Affair, which is not only highly political but also uses actual history as its inspiration (the abduction and murder of Moroccan activist Mehdi Ben Barka), and it finally clicked for me. That book in particular is incredibly brutal because it's largely told from the perspective of a wannabe Fascist who assists in the Barka equivalent's capture and murder. I then followed that up with Fatale, a particularly infamous little novella that became a cult hit in its own right due to its experimental nature (so much so that it wasn't published originally as a 'crime' novel due to its mostly psychological narrative). Now, I'm currently in the midst of arguably his most famous book Nada, which itself is heavily inspired by the Years of Lead that rocked Western Europe in the 60s and 70s. I'm also taking a another stab at No Room…and honestly finding it clicking much better this time around.
by Adonisus