Victor Crescas is willing to try anything to reconnect with his son, Tom, who has been estranged from him for years. He starts by approaching those who are close to Tom: first Ava, Tom’s girlfriend, then Jade, the young woman’s mother. Deep, complex yet fragile ties gradually come to be woven between Victor, Ava and Jade.

Several hundred kilometers from there, on November 19, 2011, the burned body of a 13-year-old girl who has been murdered by a vicious 17-and-a-half-year-old schoolmate is found. People across France are horrified by the tragedy in Chambon-sur-Lignon, and it will have an impact on that atypical circle as well. How can a news story from across the country slip into ordinary people’s lives to the point of early overwhelming them?

Rather than examining the details of the case, Laurence Werner David has chosen to keep her distance – the better to observe the horror through the effects it has on the lives of other people. The tension is palpable in this text in which subtle, poetic language serves to explore absolute evil.

An unusual point of view on a crime that affected France deeply. A fast-paced narrative that explores our fascination with murder and killers.