Rouge Karma, the new historical thriller by Jean-Christophe Grangé, plunges the reader into the hearts of 1968 France and India. Setting a serial killer in the worlds of yoga, Hinduism and flower power results in particularly interesting and frightening contradictions. 

 

At the height of the Paris demonstrations the naked, mutilated, body of a young female student is found in a yoga position. Jean-Louis, a cop, is put in charge of the investigation. He is helped by Hervé and Nicole, history students and friends of the victim. Maoists, hippies, yogis... The trio interrogates, flounders and eventually discovers that the motive for the now multiple murders is on the other side of the world, in India. From Calcutta to Benares, the adventurers travel back in time and space, until they discover the astonishing truth on the banks of the Ganges, among the dilapidated palaces and funeral pyres. 

 

"Carnage in the shadow of the demonstrations (...); what energy, what spirit, what imagination" raves Le Figaro about Jean-Christophe Grangé's latest book, which keeps readers on the edges of their seats. 

 

 "The author intertwines cultures (Indian and French) and religions (Hinduism and Catholicism). His exploration of the hippie movement through the prism of the criminal investigation carried out by the protagonists, young Westerners who have gone to India on a spiritual quest, is fascinating. This story has aroused great interest among our international partners," explains Solène Chabanais, Rights Director at Albin Michel. 

 

More than 150,000 copies have been sold, to date, in France. The translation rights have been sold in Germany, Turkey, Italy, Ukraine, Russia and Greece. Jean-Christophe Grangé’s works have been translated into twenty-five languages and he is a star in countries as varied as Turkey, Italy and Germany.

 

"With over twenty novels, many of which have been adapted for film or television, Jean-Christophe Grangé occupies a special place in the French thriller landscape. With Les promises (Albin Michel, 2021), he broaches a new subject, where History questions our fascination with Evil. Rouge Karma continues this theme and joins the great novels of French literature," adds Solène Chabanais. 

 

Katja Petrovic, Solène Chabanais
June 2024