Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Coste is an amazing creation. I felt I knew him so well by the end of the book, with all his flaws and foibles. This is more than a police procedural - the descriptive style of writing brings the story to life in a way which adds depth to the reading experience and really makes you feel part of the investigative team. I loved the setting and felt that this added colour to the whole thing, taking me away from my comfort zone of thrillers set in the UK and USA.

My thanks to the Author publisher's and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
Well written or should it be translated never sure where a foreign language book is concerned. Atmospheric clever descriptive engaging from the first page until the end, and with one of the most shocking surprising starts I recall in over forty years of thriller reading. A Police procedural set in the depressing grim underbelly of Paris that hopefully the average tourist does not see. Gruesome violence at times but also witty banter between colleagues, sometimes laugh out loud humour, and quality characterisation throughout. Not a great mystery full of plot twists, and ends all too soon, but I totally recommended this short quirky story.

An excellent and gripping French noir that kept me hooked.
I loved the great character development, the solid plot and how the author deals with social issues.
it's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

First published in his native France as Code 93 in 2013, The Lost and the Damned by Olivier Norek is the first book of the Banlieues Trilogy to be translated into English (by Nick Caistor). Introducing homicide police Capitaine Victor Coste, Norek draws on his twenty five years of experience as a lieutenant in the investigations department in one of the toughest precincts in Paris in this gritty police procedural.

During the early hours of the morning in a derelict warehouse on the banks of the Canal de L'Ourcq, the body of a large black man is found. To Capitaine Victor Coste it appears he has been shot three times in the chest, but not before he was tortured and his testicles were crudely removed. The body is transferred to the forensic morgue, but as Dr Lea Marquant makes her first cuts, the man lurches from her autopsy table. Quickly identified as a local drug dealer, Bébé Coulibaly, the bloody, bullet pierced sweater he was wearing indicates that there is likely another victim to be found, and tests suggest it’s Franck Samoy, a drug addict. Tracing his mobile phone leads Coste and his team, Ronan, Sam and rookie Johanna, to a vacant villa where they find the badly burned body of Samoy on a folding plastic chair. It’s clear the two unusual cases are linked, and Coste suspects they may have something to do with the anonymous notes he has received directing him to the files of two murdered woman. As Coste investigates the possibilities, a troubling connection to his recently departed lieutenant and an irregularity in police records develops, and he finds himself caught in a web of conspiracy, corruption, and murder.

The Lost and the Damned is a well plotted crime novel that leads the reader through the seedy outskirts of Paris and into the enclaves of the wealthy and powerful, exposing the devious machinations of authority that has triggered the rage of a serial killer. Though it’s a little dark and brutal, with a touch of cynicism, it’s offset by sly humour, and Coste’s earnest search for answers. Though I’m not familiar with the procedures of the French gendarme, the actions of Coste and his team during the investigation seem authentic, as does the motivation and behaviour of the killer.

Coste is an interesting character, principled but not uncompromising, he is a dedicated detective who believes in the integrity of policing. He has a somewhat tortured back story, and as such lives alone, though Dr Lea Marquant piques his interest. Coste’s colleagues generally admire him, and his team are as determined to have his back, as he is to protect theirs. Norek provides a basic sketch of the Groupe 1 members, enough to make sense of their role, though perhaps not quite enough yet to determine who they are.

Nick Caistor deserves praise for his translation which never feels stilted or clumsy, it’s always a concern that nuance or tone will be affected, but I noticed none of that here. I sincerely hope that the second and third books in the trilogy will also be made available in English.

I found The Lost and Damned to be an engrossing and satisfying police procedural I’d definitely recommend to fans of the genre.

The Lost and the Damned is an explosive police procedural/ thriller, set in Seine-Saint-Denis, one of the more scuzzy northern outskirts of Paris - all tower blocks, dereliction and the camps of refugees and outcasts. Here, Capitaine Victor Coste is about to lose one of his most experienced officers, fleeing the city for a quieter life in the country, and to gain a new recruit in his place.

This happens just as a perplexing series of murders begins - murders with a hint of the supernatural, murders that seem staged, with the Press informed of every detail. At the same time, Coste begins to receive anonymous letters, pointing to something rotten in his own department...

I loved this book - the characters, the seedy atmosphere, the air of cynicism. Coste is an honest cop, as these things go, but he's living in a very dirty world and it's impossible to pretend that all is well. Sometimes corners have to be cut. But we know - Norek uses several viewpoints in this book - that Coste and his team are crossing paths with monsters whose depravity would astound even him, world-weary cynic or not. Stumbling around in the same maze are a crusading journalist and a hard-bitten PI. Each has fragments of the story, but very different interests.

It's an enjoyable book on several levels. There is the unfolding of the devilish events - events Norek traces to their roots in his own good time. There's the depiction of Coste and his team (in which I include Dr Léa Marquant, who clearly fancies the pants off him only he doesn't realise). There's Seine-Saint-Denis as almost a character in its own right, lovingly (if that is the world - it's a grim place) described and explored. The cop's-eye view (Norek is a former police officer) is unsentimental, but still manages to be empathetic to the the plight of those who wash up there - and knowing of the political shenanigans that make that plight worse.

Re-reading that last paragraph you might doubt my use of the word "enjoy". This isn't "nice" Paris, tourist Paris, smart Paris. But it feels real, it tells a truly gripping story and it makes you care about the people there.

Nick Caistor's translation is open, readable and strikes a good balance, I think, between retaining the sense (for an English reader) that this is a book about a foreign and different place and making the text familiar and readable.

I'm very glad this is the start of a trilogy, I am looking forward to meeting Capitaine Victor Coste and his team again.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of The Lost and the Damned, the first novel to feature Capitaine Victor Coste of the Seine Saint-Denis Police Judiciaire.

Coste and his team are called out to a murder where a man has been found mutilated and shot to death. Then, in what may be a related murder, a man is found burned to death in unusual circumstances. At the same time Coste is receiving anonymous notes about the deaths of unidentified victims. It’s all very puzzling and he’s out of his comfort zone.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Lost and the Damned although it is not quite what I expected it to be, i.e. a straightforward police procedural, and I’m not quite sure how to describe it. The author is a former police officer in the district the novel is set in so that gives him an authority and the reader a confidence in his setting. It is a hard world as departement 93 (as it is known) is a deprived area with the attendant crime, drug use and poverty. There is no room for sentiment and the novel is unflinching in its portrayal of tough choices and practical policing. It opened my eyes to the practicalities in a way I haven’t seen before in fiction. Yet, it isn’t without its moments of black humour, like when the corpse wakes up on the mortuary slab. More please.

The novel has two plot lines, the murders and the anonymous letters. Both end up having universal motives that we’ve all seen before, but they are inventive in their detail and engrossing in their execution.

The characterisation is interesting. Obviously it revolves around Coste, who is a loner in his personal life and is still trying to deal with the loss of his girlfriend but what really comes across is the team’s loyalty and unquestioning support of one another. It could be seen as claustrophobic but it’s probably necessary in the treacherous waters of police politics and unrelenting crime.

The Lost and the Damned is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I felt that I knew Coste by the end of this book. Displays the difference between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' perfectly.
It shows that inequality is still prevalent in today's society.
Loved it.

Olivier Norak was a writer for a TV series some readers might be familiar with, the compulsive gritty French crime show, Spiral. This is his fantastic translated debut trawling in the dark corners of the human soul in the outer Paris district of Seine-St Denis, with its French equivalent of crime ridden council estates, featuring Capitaine Victor Coste, head of the homicide unit, 93 Police Judiciare. In 2011, the police led by Lieutenant Mathias Aubin, discover the body of a junkie who had OD'd in a squat at Les Lilas, the woman had been so badly sexually assaulted that her injuries are devastating. The family of the girl, Camille, have been torn apart by loss and grief and decide not to identify her. Coste has been at St Denis for 15 years, there is nothing in terms of petty and violent crime that he has not seen in his time, and for 10 of those years Aubin has been there with him, there is nobody he trusts more than his deputy.

It is 2012, and Coste finds himself at the derelict warehouses on the banks of the Canal de L'Ourcq where the body of a giant black man has been discovered, apparently shot 3 times elsewhere and badly tortured. There is a disturbing shock coming for Coste and the pathologist, Dr Lea Marquant, when she cuts the victim at the mortuary, the giant comes back to life. This is the first of a series of sensational events, the Zombie coming to life, followed by spectacular headline inducing murders, of spontaneous human combustion, the vampiric draining of the blood, all culminating in a bloody massacre. Coste finds himself caught up in a dark web of police corruption, dirty tricks, hidden political ambitions, and disparate connections, anonymous letters that point him to the erasing of invisible victims, the homeless, addicts, with no families, from the crime figures. The killer is a troubled and tortured figure hellbent on revenge that takes in a exclusive, invitation only club of a powerful cabal of masked men engaging in sadistic sexual depravity with nothing to stop them going to unspeakable extremes.

Coste loses Aubin as he moves on, only for him to be replaced by the disreputable Lucien Malbert, and a rookie joins the team, Johanna De Ritter, who finds herself facing a baptism of fire that sees her forge her place in the team of Lieutenant Ronan Scaglia and Sam Dorfrey. As the pressure on Coste grows, he will do anything to protect his team, but they are just as determined to be there for him. Coste is an interesting figure with his sparsely furnished home, feeling himself compromised by an old friend, suffering the consequences of the trauma of losing a girlfriend, and reluctant ever since to get involved with another woman. This is a hard hitting and gritty French crime read that makes an impact, Norek intends it to be the first of a trilogy, and I really cannot wait for the next upcoming book. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

Brilliant! The synopsis covers it all: "Olivier Norek's first novel draws on all his experience as a police officer in one of France's toughest suburbs."

Through the eyes of Capitaine Vincent Coste and his team, we accompany the Groupe Crime 1 of the Seine-Saint-Denis as they deal with some disturbing murders - even more than they are used to. What do they have in common, will there be any more, will Coste be able to find the truth or will it be conveniently covered up and swept under the carpet.

This is my first real foray into modern French crime fiction, having been introduced to this genre much earlier with Georges Simenon's "Maigret. I loved every page of this crime thriller - and Norek's experiences and knowledge come to the fore when weaving this dark tale that is far removed from the gentile Parisian sidewalks of "Maigret". The writing flows so well that the chapters fly by and you find yourself fully immersed in the lives of Coste and his team as they try and solve these grisly crimes.

I am hoping that this is merely the first in a series that is being translated from the original French into English for a new generations of crime aficionados. Dip your toe in, you wont be disappointed.