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A review by pauldaly
Chourmo by Jean-Claude Izzo
4.0
The second of Jean-Claude Izzo's Marseille Trilogy pushes one classic noir button after another -- rampant corruption, both personal and political; murder for hire, for vengeance, for money; blackmail and cover-ups, layered together; the sins of the fathers- and mothers- visited upon their offspring; the debts owed to family and the ties that bind; and the city where it all plays out, a character in itself. The churn, the chourmo of the title, threatens to capsize the vessel, but throughout Izzo steers his hero Montale into calmer waters, if only for short interludes, just so he and we too, can catch our breath.
No icy cold Scandinavian noir this; Montale remarks that he, after all, is Latin, a son of the Mediterranean, and he lets his temper boil and his rage burn brightly, and why not? Righteous anger is the only light here, where even the warmth of a Mediterranean sun can't penetrate the darkness.
No icy cold Scandinavian noir this; Montale remarks that he, after all, is Latin, a son of the Mediterranean, and he lets his temper boil and his rage burn brightly, and why not? Righteous anger is the only light here, where even the warmth of a Mediterranean sun can't penetrate the darkness.