V13

Emmanuel Carrère is one of my favourite writers and in V13 he returns to what he - in my opinion - does best: a mix of reportage, law and memoir that is humane, accessible and chilling at the same time.

V13 is the term the French use to refer to the horrific terrorist attacks of Friday 13 November 2015 in Paris (Bataclan, terraces, Stade de France) in which 130 people lost their lives.

In 2021, the 'trial of the century' started and Carrère followed it intensively, attending the court hearings almost daily for a year.

The book follows the chronological set-up of the trial, starting from the victims and their harrowing testimonies.

Next are the perpetrators, Salah Abdeslam being the only surviving member of the suicide commando, but there are quite a few aides in the box too and their guilt is not always clear. Here the facts of the case are presented, the preparation, but also their personalities and their defense strategies. The third and final part of about the organisation of the court and the French criminal system and how it comes to a judgment.

The book makes an impression, because of its subject matter. But Carrère also manages to find little interesting details, he is touched, he doubts he suffers and the reader with him. I couldn't put it away.

I have always found Carrère's writing evocative and concise. Perfect for telling complete, well-crafted, emotional, yet objective reports. There’s a touch of the personal, almost fictional, that helps maintain the pace and immerse the reader in what is being written.

V13 is no exception. It is a well-crafted, engaging, and tragic report, perfectly capable of allowing emotions to shine through and guiding the reader to understand what has happened, to live with their thoughts, and to question them.

It addresses death, life, guilt, victims and perpetrators, justice, and mistakes. Many errors, many blunders and oversights, but also resilience. The reader is pushed to look beyond what emotions compel them to see; this book invites introspection before confronting reality, challenging what one has always believed and imagined, and offering a different perspective on the same issues.

This book is highly recommended because it encourages reasoning, deepening one's thoughts, and the responsibility of being reflective, of having to look at painful things with an external gaze. It is a book for people who are not afraid to change their opinions, nor of the gray areas between good and evil, between victims and perpetrators. And as is often the case with his books, one ends up realizing that there is a life before reading Carrère and a life after.

A special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the English edition in advance. The complete article on this book will be published on my Medium profile on November 21, 2024.

My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this advanced copy of a book that looks at the trial of those suspected for being a part of the terrorist incident in France that left lives destroyed, families torn asunder, and what justice and human life actually mean in this era we find ourselves in.

We live in a time when countries can bomb other countries, reducing cities to powder, humans to dust, and civility to become passé. This is considered diplomacy by other means. When a government is attacked, its populous used as targets as revenge for these acts, it is a barbarity that must be meet by the highest justice in the land. Those who are murdered, or maimed for life physically and psychologically are assigned a value to be paid to them for these acts, leaving people to argue for almost pain payments. Prosecutions and defense fight tooth and nail in the courtroom, and drink together at night, praising each others arguments. This is the world we find ourselves in all documented in this incredible book. V13: Chronicle of a Trial by writer, journalist, screenwriter and director Emmanuel Carrère, translated from French by John Lambert, is a look at the French trial of the century, dealing with the terrorist attack on the 13th of November, a trial that was the longest and most expensive in French history.

The author is not a full-time journalist but has worked on a lot of law related cases in France, as well as directing films, and writing both fiction and nonfiction. Barring an incident with COVID, Carrère attended everyday of this trial, one that lasted 10 months from opening statements to final verdict. Carrère assignment was about 1,400 words a week about what was happening. Carrère covers all the events of the trial, from the plaintiffs statements, accounts of what happened the night men attacked a concert hall, set off suicide bombs outside a stadium, and murdered over 130 people. These opening will break your heart. Stories that start with such promise, ending in violence, and pain that will not go away. Carrère goes into what made these men decide to become martyrs, why one did not, and those caught in the wake of their flood of violence. Carrère looks also in the justice system, and the system used to pay out victims, where trauma is monetized, the more trauma, the higher the payout. And of course the trial results.

I first became aware of Carrère when I read his book on the author Philip K. Dick. I have also read his book on Yoga and spiritualism. I still can't get over this is the same author. Carrère brings almost a Truman Capote feel, along with a strong French feeling to the writing. Writing about those who survived what happened and the pain they still feel, has to be some of the best writing I have ever come across. Carrère's empathy, his feeling for these people comes off the page, and overwhelms in many ways. Carrère is also a bit sympathetic to some of the defendants. People who got swept up, doing bad things but not expecting a murder spree to come up. Carrère discusses the philosophy, and the human feeling about murder and violence as politics, and how government policy and righteous revenge seem to be in the eye of the government in power.

This book has a narrative that is hard to break away from. Once started, no matter how sad, mad, or even outraged at how the protectors, ie the police and intelligence services messed up, one does not want to stop reading. A book that floods the reader with a lot of emotions, the worst being uncertainty. Is this justice? Can there be justice. Especially when both sides seem to think of this as a sports game, praising each other for good arguments, or legal actions. I'm know I will be thinking about this book for quite a long time.