Le French Books
Featuring: Victoire Lariviere; Georgette Noblecourt; John Lariviere
274 pages ISBN: 1939474620 EAN: 9781939474629 Kindle: B01H7TRLPS Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
Having read the somewhat apocalyptic THE
GREENLAND BREACH
by French thriller author Bernard Besson I was keen to grab
his latest offering, which is translated by Sophie Weiner.
A jet plane over France is compromised by downloading a
virus. Tragedy ensues. Way to grab our attention. John
Lariviere is one of the investigating agents linking the
two books.
THE RARE EARTH EXCHANGE uses the strong scenes to draw us
into a story about the rare earth elements (REEs) which are
at the heart of smartphones, jet engines, MRI scanners and
increasingly more tech. Hard to mine, filthy to refine,
REEs are generally processed in China, simply because China
pays no attention to environment, health or safety. Their
trade and uses have created a whole new commodity market,
one with a great deal of money, undercurrents and
bargaining power.
John, now a father, and his wife and work partner Victoire
are sent to the home of Georgette Noblecourt. Her husband,
the former Premier, has hanged himself in their Paris
attic. The reason is unknown, but Georgette believes that
he had escaped from the tragic plane; in fact the reader
knows he was not aboard. I could not see Georgette's
reactions as realistic, as she has left the poor man
hanging and warns the agents that it's untidy up there. The
fact that the widow has not immediately called the police
tells a tale. While John and Victoire silently assume that
corruption is to blame, Victoire is from Cambodia and this
gives her a connection to Georgette, who runs a foundation
to help Cambodian children. Like me, Victoire decides that
Georgette's behavior is not normal. While she investigates
the family, John looks into the terrorist attack. The ex-
premier had started a group to regulate trade in REEs after
he left office.
Regular thriller fans
should be fine with the read, and will enjoy the cyber
snooping into the late premier's smartphone among other
items, and the trip to Kuala Lumpur the capital of
Malaysia. With everything from construction to chess to
cyber startups, Malaysia is on the move. We also worry
about the husband and wife team who surely deserve some
time off with their child. Action and wrenching twists all
the way in Bernard Besson's THE RARE EARTH EXCHANGE.
Panic strikes at the highest levels of the French government
when the former president is found hanging from the rafters
in his home right after a terrorist attack at the airport.
Is it suicide or assassination? Freelance operative John
Spencer Larivière, his karate-trained partner Victoire, and
their computer-genius sidekick Luc must find out what he was
hiding. Quickly, the investigation turns into a
globe-spanning confrontation in a world of high-frequency
trading where manipulation and corruption reign. Larivière
races against the clock to find out who is pulling the strings.
Bernard Besson, an expert in economic intelligence, writes
"masterfully paced and wondrously prescient" modern-day spy
thrillers, set in a post-Panama Papers world.
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