Maxime Vivas

Caracas capital city of Venezuela is currently a city that has this warning about safety and security for tourists on the UK Governments website:

There is a high threat from violent crime and kidnapping throughout Venezuela, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Armed robbery, mugging, carjacking, and burglary are all common and are often accompanied by extreme levels of violence – do not resist an attacker. These crimes can occur on the street or the beach, in supermarket queues or when travelling in private vehicles or public transport, or indoors. Remain alert and avoid using your mobile phone or displaying other electronic equipment or valuables on the street or in a vehicle.

This novel is written in the form of an investigation by a French free-lance journalist (Gaya) who is both attractive and has a back belt in Aikido. She is employed to spend two weeks in Caracas to write articles on the freedom of the press, and she takes a commission to search for one of the "disparados". She soon finds herself caught up in a political coup to topple president Hugo Chavez. It is May 2007 and she is lured into a barrio where a kidnapping attempt is made, she escapes and her contacts in the press and TV stations soon piece together; from arrests made, that there is a plot to assassinate Chavez at the Theatre Teresa Carreño. Arrangements are made for Gaya to be minded by Ricardo a Cuban during her eventful two weeks. There are CIA agents involved as well as agents from the TV stations owned by Oligarchs. Gaya feels herself under surveillance and does not know who to trust, every appointment or contact involves perilous journeys across the city.

The novel which weaves a story around the volatile situation in Caracas in 2007 is fascinating for the portrayal of a city where violence always seems to be just around the corner. People disappear, demonstrations can quickly turn violent as supporters and opponents of Hugo Chavez turn events for their own advantage. A world very different from the streets of Paris where Gaya lives. Of course the political situation takes centre stage, including all the ramifications of hostile agents from outside the country, but also a major theme in the book is the freedom of the press. In 2007 Chavez banned the television channel RCTV which was owned by fabulously rich Oligarchs that were hostile to Chavez popular movement and had been implicated in a plot to overthrow him some five years earlier.

I found the novel a little overwritten in places, attempting to tie up all the loose ends in such a complicated scenario can be exhausting to read. It is obviously a french novel because of the detail included about food and drink in Caracas. At the denouement of the story where recent events are discussed in a bar between Gaya and the Venezuelan journalists we are told about the bottle of wine that is ordered:

" The grape was Cabernet Sauvignon. A very explosive fruit with blackcurrant and raspberry notes. After agitation, sandalwood and smoke notes appear. A firm attack with ripe tannins. A very present and persistent woodiness. A finish with notes of nut kernels"

I was thinking, thank you for that, now can we get on with the story. Maxime Vivas is a french writer essayist and cyber-journalist, he has written detective novels and thrillers and this one was published in 2015 by Les éditions Arcane 17. It proved to be informative on a country for which I had only some vague knowledge and so 3.5 stars.… (mehr)

Ce livre m'a éclairée sur l'opinion du Dalaï-Lama des technologies, l'évolution de son discours par rapport à la place du Tibet en Chine et les relations entre le Dalaï-Lama et la CIA (ainsi que les actions de cette dernière au travers d'organisations "démocratiques").
D'un autre côté, le ton du livre provoque un certain malaise chez moi: le ton est agressif et je trouve le parti-pris clairement anti-Dalaï-Lamaiste désagréable. J'aurais préféré un style plus journalistique et plus objectif/neutre.… (mehr)