Praised by the great Russian writer and dissident Ludmila Oulitskaia, journalist Chevelev's second novel begins with minor larceny. Tires, passed under the coat, that is to say from one car trunk to another, on the black market. The narrator, Vladimir, gets caught red-handed. It happens to the best, but this non-event turns into latent blackmail, in a Moscow police office in 1984. A deadly threat, in the event of a revelation. Vladimir signs what he is asked to sign, buys silence. The Soviet method. And times have changed, in 2014, in 2018. The old communist world, closed, has burst into an international capitalist jungle. But the method remained. This is what Chevelev tells, through this novel with accents of political thriller. The way you trap a man endlessly, out of nothing. “The only thing that allows them to control us is our fear,” says Vladimir, lucid and yet unable to escape it.
Number One by Mikhail Shevelev. Translated from Russian by Christine Zeytounian-Beloüs (From around the world, Gallimard, 170 p., €18).
The killer quote: Hello, Vladimir Lvovitch, excuse this slight setback. I'm a KGB captain, my name is Nikolai Nikolaevich, and we're going to have a little chat, you and me. You smoke, I see? No no, you can smoke, I'll find you an ashtray. Me, I'm a non-smoker, but I understand that it must be painful to abstain for too long when you have this habit. A pleasant man, which is not the case for the organization for which he works. Unpleasant as possible. And I really wonder what they can want from me. Illegal petty trade is not their responsibility at all. Anti-Soviet activities? They're not going to accuse me of having told funny stories with political overtones, everyone tells them, nor of having read Solzhenitsyn: they would have to prove it first and I don't care. forbidden books in my house... Someone reported me? But to have done what? And why here? Why not on their premises? Do not worry, announces Nikolai Nikolaevich. Our meeting is the result of chance. We have more important tasks than dealing with petty economic offences. But, since we're both here, let's get to know each other a little better. We have some information that concerns you, of course, but maybe you have something to tell us yourself? But no, I don't think so, nothing that might interest you. it's up to us to decide if it's interesting, so tell.
Consult our file: Le coin du polar
