ROOKIES

Marie Talvat and Alex Laloue

(Plon, 320 pages, 2018)

A pregnant woman has been killed, her fetus thrown in the toilet. Arsène Galien, the latest recruit of the prestigious Judicial Police in charge of the investigation, is eager to show his skills, and thus win his superiors’ trust.

 Conducting interviews in the building where the murder occurred, he meets Pauline Raumann, a neighbor of the victim. The attraction between them is immediate. Pauline is a journalist working for a media outlet that is not liked by either the government or the police. Taking in the fact that the victim is the daughter of a star of the bar, and the next elections are approaching, the press is under fire.

Arsène and Pauline are full of ideals and doubts. But they behave like who they really are: rookies. Arsène is manipulated by someone he can’t suspect, and Pauline ends up being a suspect in the case. This fast-paced and original thriller leads the reader to several clues before the surprising end.

Marie Talvat and Alex Laloue are both twenty-eight years old. They live and write together. Rookies is their first novel. Alex, after a stint as an actor, spent several years as a cop inside the Judicial Police of Paris responsible for investigating and fighting serious crime. He now dedicates his time to writing. Marie Talvat has a degree in cultural management and journalism. She is a writer, a tattoo artist, and a videographer, and is known for her Youtube channel L’instant inutile (The Unnecessary Moment).