The Lost and The Damned is a gritty and gruesome tale that introduces the reader to Capitaine Victor Coste, who is trying to connect and solve some bizarre Parisian crimes. It's an addictive read that benefits greatly from the author's real-life experiences. It's also excitingly the first in a trilogy of books.

Some bits are a bit clunky but I put that down to translation. The way the crime is woven together is gritty and great.

Fascinating crime novel with a detective defying normal tropes. Perhaps a little too violent for me. Full review in link below.

I loved Olivier Norek’s The Lost and the Damned, the first of a French crime series which in the spirit of brevity I would describe as like Pierre Lemaitre on speed! Gruesome killings, a breakneck pace and some interesting characters.

This is a fast paced, tough and gritty police procedural novel set in the notorious northern suburb of Paris, Seine-Saint Denis, which is vividly portrayed in the book. The author is an ex police officer who was the technical advisor on Spiral, so the narrative feels authentic and the characters of Capitaine Coste and his team are superbly crafted. It’s quite gory in parts and some of the depicted scenes and violent crimes are a tough read, so it’s perhaps not for the faint hearted.
I thought it was terrific, with plenty of twists and turns and the excellent translation flowed without any jarring notes.
I hope the remaining two books in the trilogy will also be translated into English as I definitely want to hear more from Cap. Coste and his team.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Quercus/Maclehose Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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.

Turf wars by Olivier Norek.
The Banlieues Trilogy book 2.
The summary execution of three dealers - one murdered in full view of a police surveillance team - is the signal for hell to be unleashed in France's most notorious suburb.
A good read with good characters. Slow but readable. 3*.

This is book one of a trilogy so be prepared to invest in further books for the complete story. Although, that said, the main threads are self contained within this book.
Set in a district of Paris - Seine-St Denis - and featuring Capitaine Victor Coste, head of the murder squad, we hit the ground running when a corpse suddenly wakes up as he is being autopsied. This crime leads back to another weird one - that of supposed human spontaneous combustion. This really does have Victor and his team running around trying to figure out what is happening. For us, the reader, we also have to try and work out what everything has to do with the opening scenes of a family denying they recognise the body of a young dead junkie when it is obvious they do.
It's all a bit interconnected and convoluted so I will stop there. Suffice to say that it went places I really did see it going and uncovered stuff that I never in a million years would have guessed. It definitely kept me on my toes throughout.
What I really did like was the team that the author has built. Along with Victor, we also have Ronan and Sam who are chalk and cheese and bicker accordingly. Add to them a rookie in Johanna whose inclusion takes a bit of bedding in. It's clear how well they work as a team and how quickly they close the gaps.
The translation I have to say was, for me anyway, a tad clunky. I read a lot of translated books and usually it all appears pretty seamless. But here it was often obvious that the book wasn't in its natural language. And I'm not just referring to the footnotes explaining the French judicial system. It was never a completely fluent read for me. But it definitely didn't irk me enough to not be looking forward to the second in the trilogy.
It's brutal and hard hitting and goes along at a bit of a pace. Ramping up towards the end to what is a very satisfying episode ending.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I though it was another book by this author but I already read and reviewed it.
Here was my review:
"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"

This starts off with a bang & never really lets up! It's gruesome, gritty & shocking, and I kept turning the pages because I had to know what was going on. I enjoyed the dynamics between Capitaine Victor Costa & his team, and am looking forward to reading the rest of this hard hitting trilogy. Olivier Norek is a new author for me, and I will definately be reading more of his work. This was superbly translated by Nick Caistor.

Police Capitaine Victor Coste is having a difficult time solving some murders. There are some gruesome murders and detailed torture scenes not easy to digest.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author of this book.

Splendid French crime novel hopefully introducing a new cast of characters with more to come. The author seemingly worked on the Spiral t.v show and it shows with the darkly humorous tone amongst the principals. A corpse who wakes up on the autopsy table, a body seemingly self combusted plus various underworld victims whose cases were buried with no investigation taking place. All these events take place in Seine St. Dennis an area on the outskirts of Paris with a dubious reputation. The detectives are brilliantly described and the dark atmosphere fully drags you in as the body count builds it all races to an exciting denouement that leaves one waiting for more.Impressive.

The Lost and the Damned is the first crime thriller by Olivier Norek to be translated into English...........and after finishing it I hope there are many,many more.
Set in one of the roughest areas of Paris the book is full of black humour, toe-curling violence and bleak social commentary on the side of Paris the tourists don't see. An ex-Cop himself Norek's characters are flawed, cynical and flexible about sticking to the rules but also totally loyal to each other.

The book begins with 2 autopsies attended by Police Capitaine Victor Coste , neither of which turn out quite how he'd expected ,to put it mildly in one case. Shortly afterwards a man is found burned to death and to make Coste's life even more complex he receives anonymous letters questioning the way the murders of 2 women were investigated in the past by his squad.

This is a great read and as the rather complex plot unfolds we meet Coste's small and diverse team and learn about his background. Norek's cynical "City Cop" view of life makes for some cutting observations on the lot of the less fortunate, the street people,the migrants . the crime-ridden tower blocks of Paris and not least those who subvert the law but have the connections, the suits ,the fancy job titles and the money to get away with it There's murder,intrigue,conspiracy and political shenanigans..

Some might be offended by the language and there's some quite explicit descriptions of any number of unsavoury and quite horrific events but I loved it and I'm looking forward to reading more books in what I'm sure is going to be a very successful series.

This is a real gritty police procedural that starts with a bang and then never slows down it’s just brilliant. Excellently written by Olivier Norek and translated by Nick Caistor it pulls no punches with some gruesome crimes and depictions of torture it makes for a read that I flew through.
The author was a Lieutenant in the french police and this is evident from the descriptions of police procedure and settings it really adds to just how real the book felt both authentic with some great characters and a terrific plot line. I particularly liked the the main character of Capitaine Victor Coste right from the off I warmed to him and this grew as the book progressed there was a lot of humour between him and the other members of the team which I really enjoyed.
So I look forward to to reading the next in was promises to be an excellent series and can highly recommend it.
My thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books, MacLehose Press for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Olivier Norek maybe new to most English speaking crime readers, however you may know him from his work on the spectacular French crime series Spiral. The Lost and the Damned is the first in The Banlieues Trilogy, it is hard hitting French crime noir at it's absolute finest. With a fine host of characters, a intelligent plot and a city brought to life Norek ticks all the boxes for a novel which deserves to become a modern crime classic. The multiple plots all pull together to ensure you have a heartstopping read, with characters who engage with you, Norek has provided us with a great read, if you loved Spiral (who doesn't?) then this is the novel for you. If you love great procedural crime...this is the novel for you. Great for fans of intelligent, character driven crime think Stieg Larsson, just treat yourself and enjoy the ride.

*4.5 stars *

It’s plain to see that French author Olivier Norek, draws on his experience as a lieutenant in the Police Judiciaire du 93, (a very tough Paris suburb) in this excellent debut novel.

The opening chapter gives details of a young female drug addict’s autopsy, performed by forensic pathologist, Dr Léa Marquant, causing her to exclaim “How on earth has it come to this”?
A second autopsy on a male victim, provides a complete and utter shock for both the pathologist and Police Capitaine Victor Coste, and something they’ve never encountered before!

Coste and his team are investigating the murder of a man who has been mutilated and shot, followed closely by the discovery of a man burned to death in very unusual circumstances - but are the deaths related? - Coste believes so, but trying to prove it is difficult.

At the same time, Coste has received anonymous tip offs about some previous deaths of unidentified victims, (in particular two young women), who’s deaths were never officially recognised or explained), and he doesn’t like the feel of this at all. It’s fair to say that the mother of all investigations is awaiting Coste and his team!

It didn’t take long for me to feel right at home with Capitaine Victor Coste and his team, they were immediately relatable, all of them interesting characters. The plot was grim, gritty and brutal, but ultimately it was unputdownable, and highly recommended. Olivier Norek is certainly an author to look out for!
A shout out too for Nick Caistor who translated it into English - great job!

It's hard to believe (and also very exciting) that this was the debut of Mr. Norek. This was a police thriller that had a bit of everything and the execution left me more than satisfied.
The characters were for me the strongest part of this book. Well developed, believable and the police team's chemistry worked like a charm.
The plot kept the story going in a quick enough pace and it was very interesting from start to finish.
Also the humour in this book was clever and just the right amount. Never distracting from the plot but keeping it from getting overly dark.
Finally the atmosphere of Paris's not so fancy suburbs, was well described and I liked that the writer touched on some political corruption issues.
Of course not everything was perfect and my biggest complain would be that some of the smaller side-plots were not nearly enough explored and as a result in the end they felt a bit needless. Of course those side plots could be further developed in the next installments of the series.
Speaking of next instalments, I'm totally sold on this series and can't wait for them to be translated.

An excellent gritty story translated to English.
Fast paced and great characters.
Look forward to reading the next book by author.
Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for the ARC

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.