First published 2018
Vernon Subutex lies feverish on a park bench in Buttes Chaumont, the former record store owner now a homeless guru with devoted followers. He alone can unlock the mystery surrounding dead rock star Alexandre Bleach's final secret. Aicha hunts for the truth about her mother Vodka Satana's death and plans revenge on those responsible. Celeste tries to pull Aicha away from Vernon's growing band of disciples. The Hyena searches for the crucial Bleach tapes while hiding her betrayal of boss Laurent Dopalet and wrestling with feelings for his assistant Anais. Dopalet desperately wants those same tapes destroyed and denies any connection to Vodka Satana's fate. Graffiti covers his apartment with accusations he claims are false. Multiple lives converge around Vernon and the dangerous knowledge he possesses about Bleach's final recordings. Each character pursues their own agenda while the tapes remain the key to secrets that could destroy reputations and reveal long-buried truths about death and complicity.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: multiple-perspectives, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Buttes Chaumont, Paris
Period: 21st-century
336 pages · Paperback · Quercus Publishing
Content warnings: death, violence