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L'homme de Kaboul
Certains secrets sont plus dangereux que d'autres. Certaines vérités doivent être étouffées.
Dans Kaboul ravagée par la violence et la corruption, Oussama Kandar, chef de la brigade criminelle, croit encore à l'intégrité, à un code de l'honneur désuet et aux vieilles amitiés. Mais la découverte en apparence banale d'un cadavre va tout changer. Il devient l'homme à abattre.
Dans les palais d'État comme dans les ruelles des bazars, on l'épie, on le dénonce, on le traque au nom d'intérêts supérieurs. Oussama est précipité dans une course-poursuite aux confins de l'Afghanistan. À ses trousses, des commandos assassins ; autour de lui, les talibans...
Dans Kaboul ravagée par la violence et la corruption, Oussama Kandar, chef de la brigade criminelle, croit encore à l'intégrité, à un code de l'honneur désuet et aux vieilles amitiés. Mais la découverte en apparence banale d'un cadavre va tout changer. Il devient l'homme à abattre.
Dans les palais d'État comme dans les ruelles des bazars, on l'épie, on le dénonce, on le traque au nom d'intérêts supérieurs. Oussama est précipité dans une course-poursuite aux confins de l'Afghanistan. À ses trousses, des commandos assassins ; autour de lui, les talibans...
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 24, 2023
یک داستان پلیسی جالب با کلی شخصیت خاکستری و جذاب که در یک ماجرای پر از پستی و بلندی شما را درگیر میکنند. فقط حجم کتاب زیاد است ولی به شما کمک میکند افغانستان را از یک دیدگاه جدید ببینید.
January 16, 2024
کتاب فوق العاده ای بود، مخصوصا اینکه نویسنده اش فرانسوی بود و جز به جز پوسته افغانستان آگاه بوده و این کتاب بخشی از زندگی واقعی مردم این کشوره.
بخشی از کتاب میگه: زندگی واقعی خاکستریه، برای بعضیا خاکستری روشن تر برای بعضیا خاکستری تیره و واقعیت همینه.
من از خواندن معمای جنایی این کتاب تلخ بشدت لذت بردم، متاثر شدم و جامعه افغانستان رو بهتر درک کردم
بخشی از کتاب میگه: زندگی واقعی خاکستریه، برای بعضیا خاکستری روشن تر برای بعضیا خاکستری تیره و واقعیت همینه.
من از خواندن معمای جنایی این کتاب تلخ بشدت لذت بردم، متاثر شدم و جامعه افغانستان رو بهتر درک کردم
July 30, 2018
Tannaz Forouhar:
"تو زندگی واقعی، هیچ وقت داستان خوش وجود نداره. فقط داستان های خاکستری وجود داره که گاهی خاکستری روشنه و گاهی خاکستری تیره."ک
"تو زندگی واقعی، هیچ وقت داستان خوش وجود نداره. فقط داستان های خاکستری وجود داره که گاهی خاکستری روشنه و گاهی خاکستری تیره."ک
May 24, 2019
نمای دیگری از افغانستان!
June 2, 2018
در بسیاری از روستاها وقتی کسی میخواست همسر باکره ی دومی اختیار کند باید علاوه بر چندین هزار دلار، یک یا دو راس اسب و چند گوسفند هم پرداخت میکرد.فقیرترین روستایی ها به ایران یا کشورهای حاشیه خلیج فارس مهاجرت میکردند و جان می کندند تا این جهیزیه های احمقانه را بپردازند که حقوق چندین سال کارشان می شد،اگر شوهری از زنش ناامید می شد او را مس سوزاند یا به رویش اسید می پاشید و درخواست میکرد جهیزیه اش بازپرداخت شود.در کابل واقعا" هیچکس به جز طالبان برای لغو این رسوم نمی گنجید...
July 16, 2012
En ouvrant L'homme de Kaboul, je pénétrais en terrain inconnu. Je ne connaissais de l'Afghanistan que très peu de chose, je n'aurais pas su dire avec certitude où le pays se situait sur le globe, je savais que c'était "par là-bas" en pointant vaguement le Moyen-Orient, c'est tout dire! J'ai trouvé le contexte géographie intéressant, enrichissant. J'ai appris plus sur ce pays en mois de 400 pages qu'en regardant les bulletins de nouvelles des 10 dernières années! L'auteur n'a pas lésiné sur les recherches en vue de la préparation de son roman, ce dernier très bien documenté et facile d'approche pour les non-initiés. Mais attention, le tout n'est pas présenté de façon à étaler ses connaissances, c'est fait tout en finesse et là réside le talent de l'auteur. L'Afghanistan est un pays aussi complexe que fascinant et Cédric Bannel, entre les phrase bien tournée, un style fluide et rythmé, une intrigue intense, complexe et bien ficelée, nous a imaginé une histoire crédible aussi terrible que captivante. Un thriller d'espionnage de qualité à ne pas manquer!
January 16, 2023
Co ciekawe, kładzie nacisk na kulturę Afganistanu i podziały w świecie muzułmańskim.
September 24, 2021
کتاب داستنیه خوبیه
داستانش کشش داره
و میتونه چند روز آدم رو مشغول کنه
داستانش کشش داره
و میتونه چند روز آدم رو مشغول کنه
January 24, 2023
L'auteur nous plonge dans un Afghanistan post-talibans, dominé par l'alliance occidentale, où la corruption, les luttes d'influence religieuses, les conflits tribaux et la guérilla et son lot d'attentats dominent la vie quotidienne. L'incorruptible commandant de police Kandar, doit mener son enquête sous la pression de sa hiérarchie corrompue, se rendre dans des régions encore dominées par de dangereux talibans (et il s'en sort toujours alors que tout le monde meurt autour de lui), se disputer avec sa femme qui est une fervente défenseuse de la cause féminine, ...
L'histoire était trop rocambolesque à mon goût. Toutefois, les descriptions de la vie en Afghanistan sont intéressantes.
L'histoire était trop rocambolesque à mon goût. Toutefois, les descriptions de la vie en Afghanistan sont intéressantes.
February 6, 2021
This was not as good as expected. It is more of a thriller than a police-procedural, set in Afghanistan with honest Osama Kandar, head of the murder squad, investigating a killing disguised as a suicide which soon connects with a secret Swiss-based security group tracing a lost file and its owner. Daily life in Kabul and rural areas is compellingly described as the religious Osama and a range of often less devout characters, many of whom meet violent ends, doggedly pursue their goal in an operation which more than strained credulity.
September 8, 2021
Toute la partie qui se passe en Afghanistan est très bonne parce que l’intrigue est bonne et bien traitée et de plus l’auteur a l’air de savoir de quoi il parle lorsqu’il nous décrit ce pays. La partie qui décrit cette société secrète suisse au comportement criminel a un cote mauvais roman de gare. Mais l’auteur se rachète en racontant à la fin du livre un scenario tout à fait plausible.
October 8, 2024
سرم گیج میره،انگار تو مغزم آتیش روشن کردن!
امان از این قصه!
قصهای که فقط قصه نیست و واقعیت تلخیه که هر کسی تاب روبهرویی یا حتی میل به روبهرویی با اون رو نداره!
اسامه قندار رئیس پلیسی افغان و ملی گرا که هر سرزمینی باید برای داشتن چنین افرادی به خود ببالد اما سرانجام این انسانها در این دنیای سراسر زشتی و پلیدی،تنها سرکوب است.
امان از این قصه!
قصهای که فقط قصه نیست و واقعیت تلخیه که هر کسی تاب روبهرویی یا حتی میل به روبهرویی با اون رو نداره!
اسامه قندار رئیس پلیسی افغان و ملی گرا که هر سرزمینی باید برای داشتن چنین افرادی به خود ببالد اما سرانجام این انسانها در این دنیای سراسر زشتی و پلیدی،تنها سرکوب است.
June 23, 2020
مرد کابل پلات عجیبی نداره.در زمینهٔ شخصیت هم اونقدر شگفت انگیز عمل نمیکنه اما در کل راضی کنندست.اما نکتهٔ جذاب کار فضای داستانه.نویسنده صرفا فضا رو محدود به فضای جنایی داستان نکرده و باهاش کلی از سنت ها و وضعیت زندگی در افغانستان رو می شکافه و تشریح میکنه.
May 1, 2022
Très très bon. Premier tome d’une trilogie sur l’Afghanistan. Ambiance talibane et CIA comme on aime. Du genre Pukhtu de DOA en moins déjanté. Un must.
June 11, 2022
Côté afghan excellent
Côté suisse pas convaincant
Côté suisse pas convaincant
February 14, 2025
Ma serie préférée
February 1, 2015
I hadn't heard of either this book or this author before being sent a review copy. I'm really grateful to have been introduced to them. Having read The Mandrake File, I am now itching to read more from this author.
The Mandrake File is based primarily in and around Afghanistan. The two main characters are Osama Kandar, an Afghan policeman who heads up the Kabul murder squad, and Nick Snee, an analyst for a shadowy private intelligence outfit called "The Entity". Other colourful characters include the main hit man for The Entity, members of the cop's murder squad and a shadowy former head of the Taliban's governing council.
The story itself details an investigation into a mysterious file, The Mandrake File. The investigation is kicked off after Kandar goes to the scene of a prominent Afghan businessman's supposed suicide, only to conclude that it's murder. The rest of the book involves Kandar determinedly following the case, Nick Snee trying to help him, with The Entity and it's hitman trying to stop the investigation by any means possible.
The author Cédric Bannel is a former French diplomat who served in Afghanistan and it shows. The strength of this novel is in it's portrayal of Afghanistan and how dysfunctional it is post the overthrow of the Taliban by the coalition. The picture painted is of corruption and morally dubious compromises. Everyone has an eye on the coalition's eventual withdrawal - which the Afghans know to be coming - and what will happen after the corrupt and ineffectual Karzai regime goes. The assumption of many Afghans is that the Taliban will return in some form, the only questions being whether they will seize power entirely or join some kind of coalition, and whether when they do return the clock will wind back to the bad old days of pre-9/11.
In fact the author's knowledge of Afghanistan and Afghan society is such that his portrayal of the Afghan characters is much more convincing than that of the Western characters. I was much more taken with the sections of the book dealing with Osama Kandar, than I was with those dealing with Nick Snee and The Entity. I really hope that Kandar will appear in other novels by the author as I would love to see how his story progresses.
There's a concept in screenwriting popularised by Alfred Hitchcock, the MacGuffin. Wikipedia defines the MacGuffin as: "a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation." More often than not this is found in films more than books, think of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction where the briefcase is opened giving off a golden glow. We never learn what is in the briefcase, but various characters fight to possess it. In this novel The Mandrake File is like that. I don't think I'm giving away too many spoilers in saying that we never truly find out what it is, just that it has something to do with international corruption regarding Afghanistan. At first this bothered me, but in hindsight I kind of like it. It avoided having to spoil a perfectly good novel by the need to shoehorn in a reason strong enough to justify the actions of the characters. The Entity and it's hitman goes to extraordinary lengths to stop Osama Kandar, commissioning a suicide bombing and then a drone strike to blow him up. While reading I was worrying just what could be in the Mandrake File to justify all this. If there had been a big reveal at the end, as in so many books and films, I think I would have been disappointed. I think it would be difficult to come up with something both plausible and serious enough a justification. But as with Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Bannel's use of the MacGuffin as a plot device allows him to neatly sidestep this thorny problem. Some readers might feel cheated but personally I felt that this worked.
A quick word on the translation. Some foreign novels are let down by the translation but the publishers have excelled themselves. The translation here is flawless and there was none of that clunky turn of phrase all too often found in a translated novel.
I've googled the author and found that Cédric Bannel has written a number of novels. This is the only one to be translated into English so far. Please, please, please Scribe publish some more.
The Mandrake File is based primarily in and around Afghanistan. The two main characters are Osama Kandar, an Afghan policeman who heads up the Kabul murder squad, and Nick Snee, an analyst for a shadowy private intelligence outfit called "The Entity". Other colourful characters include the main hit man for The Entity, members of the cop's murder squad and a shadowy former head of the Taliban's governing council.
The story itself details an investigation into a mysterious file, The Mandrake File. The investigation is kicked off after Kandar goes to the scene of a prominent Afghan businessman's supposed suicide, only to conclude that it's murder. The rest of the book involves Kandar determinedly following the case, Nick Snee trying to help him, with The Entity and it's hitman trying to stop the investigation by any means possible.
The author Cédric Bannel is a former French diplomat who served in Afghanistan and it shows. The strength of this novel is in it's portrayal of Afghanistan and how dysfunctional it is post the overthrow of the Taliban by the coalition. The picture painted is of corruption and morally dubious compromises. Everyone has an eye on the coalition's eventual withdrawal - which the Afghans know to be coming - and what will happen after the corrupt and ineffectual Karzai regime goes. The assumption of many Afghans is that the Taliban will return in some form, the only questions being whether they will seize power entirely or join some kind of coalition, and whether when they do return the clock will wind back to the bad old days of pre-9/11.
In fact the author's knowledge of Afghanistan and Afghan society is such that his portrayal of the Afghan characters is much more convincing than that of the Western characters. I was much more taken with the sections of the book dealing with Osama Kandar, than I was with those dealing with Nick Snee and The Entity. I really hope that Kandar will appear in other novels by the author as I would love to see how his story progresses.
There's a concept in screenwriting popularised by Alfred Hitchcock, the MacGuffin. Wikipedia defines the MacGuffin as: "a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation." More often than not this is found in films more than books, think of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction where the briefcase is opened giving off a golden glow. We never learn what is in the briefcase, but various characters fight to possess it. In this novel The Mandrake File is like that. I don't think I'm giving away too many spoilers in saying that we never truly find out what it is, just that it has something to do with international corruption regarding Afghanistan. At first this bothered me, but in hindsight I kind of like it. It avoided having to spoil a perfectly good novel by the need to shoehorn in a reason strong enough to justify the actions of the characters. The Entity and it's hitman goes to extraordinary lengths to stop Osama Kandar, commissioning a suicide bombing and then a drone strike to blow him up. While reading I was worrying just what could be in the Mandrake File to justify all this. If there had been a big reveal at the end, as in so many books and films, I think I would have been disappointed. I think it would be difficult to come up with something both plausible and serious enough a justification. But as with Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Bannel's use of the MacGuffin as a plot device allows him to neatly sidestep this thorny problem. Some readers might feel cheated but personally I felt that this worked.
A quick word on the translation. Some foreign novels are let down by the translation but the publishers have excelled themselves. The translation here is flawless and there was none of that clunky turn of phrase all too often found in a translated novel.
I've googled the author and found that Cédric Bannel has written a number of novels. This is the only one to be translated into English so far. Please, please, please Scribe publish some more.
December 14, 2014
I am quite a hard reviewer but overall I really liked this book.
The genera is probably crime and police procedural but there is also a heady mix of espionage and under-cover special operations - all good stuff. The story takes place in Afghanistan (Kabul and the remote areas to the south and north of the country) and Switzerland.
The "cop" is Commandant Osama Kandar, head of the Kabul Murder Squad. Like all those in his position he is honest and up-right and afraid of nobody. His former life as a mujahadeen fighting first the Russians and then the Taliban gives him an acute insight into the murky realpolitik of present day Afghanistan. His appurtenant is Nick Snee; an Anglo/Swiss security analyst working for the mysterious organisation known as The Entity.
Osama is drawn into an international hunt for the Mandrake File and its reclusive Swiss banker author. A hunt initiated by Nick's employer.
The Swiss part of the plot is, in my view, the least satisfying part of the plot. The real action and compelling storyline happens in Afghanistan. I wont go any further because I may give away the outcome. For most of this book I found it to be a compulsive page turner (or should that be "page swiper" given I read it on my Kindle).
There is one other "character" that I need to mention before I end my review - Afghanistan. I have never read a work of fiction set in this fascinating but ravaged country. The way Cèdric Bannel (the author of this fine book) brings out the lives of the people of this country, their customs and its geography is just remarkable. His prose (translated from the original French) is a picture book in words. The "place" or setting of this book helps make it such a compelling read.
Regards,
Peter
The genera is probably crime and police procedural but there is also a heady mix of espionage and under-cover special operations - all good stuff. The story takes place in Afghanistan (Kabul and the remote areas to the south and north of the country) and Switzerland.
The "cop" is Commandant Osama Kandar, head of the Kabul Murder Squad. Like all those in his position he is honest and up-right and afraid of nobody. His former life as a mujahadeen fighting first the Russians and then the Taliban gives him an acute insight into the murky realpolitik of present day Afghanistan. His appurtenant is Nick Snee; an Anglo/Swiss security analyst working for the mysterious organisation known as The Entity.
Osama is drawn into an international hunt for the Mandrake File and its reclusive Swiss banker author. A hunt initiated by Nick's employer.
The Swiss part of the plot is, in my view, the least satisfying part of the plot. The real action and compelling storyline happens in Afghanistan. I wont go any further because I may give away the outcome. For most of this book I found it to be a compulsive page turner (or should that be "page swiper" given I read it on my Kindle).
There is one other "character" that I need to mention before I end my review - Afghanistan. I have never read a work of fiction set in this fascinating but ravaged country. The way Cèdric Bannel (the author of this fine book) brings out the lives of the people of this country, their customs and its geography is just remarkable. His prose (translated from the original French) is a picture book in words. The "place" or setting of this book helps make it such a compelling read.
Regards,
Peter
July 6, 2016
Interesting but uncomfortable story with a way of life and thinking very hard for someone like me to envisage. The plot horrific in many ways but the living conditions and the plight of women a lot worse. The situation in Kabul explosive. Too many factions, no peace only fear and corruption. Innocence couldn't protect you. Kandar, a police officer true to his beliefs, justice and loyal to his men, is determined to solve the murder of Wali Wadi and solve the mystery surrounding the Mandrake files regardless of the risks.
Read
August 3, 2011Un roman policier qui fait vraiment voyager et dans un pays complexe : l'Afghanistan. Oussama (le flic kabouli qui a un souci avec son prénom depuis le 11 Septembre!) nous entraîne dans les coins les plus reculés qui ne donne pas trop envie d'y passer des vacances ! Un livre très bien documenté et aux multiples rebondissements. La fin m'a un peu déçue cependant. Style un peu trop journalistique parfois également. Mais on apprend beaucoup.
April 25, 2022
Definitiv spannend zu lesen, gibt einiges von der Realität des Lebens in Afghanistan wieder, reproduziert leider auch viele rassistische Stereotype und Narrative. Der Autor gibt vor allem westliche Quellen als Recherchematerial an und es ist zweifelhaft, ob er Erfahrungen aus erster Hand bezüglich Afghanistan hat und jemals selbst dort war. Drei Sterne weil die Geschichte so packend ist.
June 27, 2013
Good Read
June 1, 2015
A solid 3.75 stars. One of the best thrillers I've read in recent years. An interesting story. Well written and a very smooth translation.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews