Death on the Rive Nord

Lucas Rocco #2

by Adrian Magason

Picardie, 1963. A truck drops a group of illegal workers by a deserted stretch of canal in the dead of night near Poissons-les-Marais, desperate travellers in a pipeline, searching for a better life. Days later, one of them surfaces, stabbed to death. For Inspector Lucas Rocco, finding the victim's fellow travellers presents problems. Most Algerian immigrants are welcome, but trawling for any who aren't is a sensitive issue loaded with threats of civil unrest - something which terrifies his bosses in the Ministry. And when Rocco is ordered to stay away from one factory where he suspects illegals are employed, it goes against everything he knows. However, his difficulties have barely begun. One of the illegals is a young woman with a small child, on the run from her brutal husband, Samir Farek, an Algerian gangster who has threatened to kill them both. But Farek has another, bigger to take over as gang lord in Paris. With a history of disposing of anyone who crosses him - a fate he is happy to mete out even to a senior policeman who gets in his way - the potential consequences are frightening. Caught between his instinct to protect a vulnerable woman and her child, of obeying bosses interested only in preserving the status quo, and facing the threat of a dangerous gangster who recognises no boundaries in the murderous pursuit of his plans, Rocco begins to wonder how long he can survive.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Procedural, France, Detective, Ebooks

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 29, 2011

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second Rocco, and I did like it for many and varied reasons. It should be more stars but for my weak stomach when it comes to levels of violence on the part of "the bad guys." As Rocco is the target of some of that violence I can only be glad he survived against all odds to live another day for the next adventure.
Algerians gangsters are featured; the boss of the gang's wife makes an escape - landing in Rocco's world, thus turning Rocco into number one target.
Into the mix of criminal activity is a police official who also targets Rocco for death, so it is a near thing as he must pull off another miracle escape from a sinking boat.
Interesting scene setting all the way through the book.

[Dominic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun, a little rushed at the end, I feel more could have been made of the denouement, but I'm definitely going to continue with this series.

[Frank Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series several years ago and didn't like it. I don't remember why but perhaps it was because a French character was using English idioms. Since then I've completed 3 other series by this author and liked them all so I decided to give it another try. It's good. Whatever I didn't like before has either changed or I just got used to this author's style. In any event, I'll continue this series and watch for new stuff from him. I think there is still a short other series I haven't tried.

[Martina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at Powell's in Portland, OR last year and finally getting around to reading it. Set in 1963 Picardie, France, when a truck driver drops off a group of illegals in the night and discovers one has been killed en route. This is the second Inspector Lucas Rocco case.

It's probably a very high 4 stars, and also more of a thriller I think than only a police procedural. It became quite intense at the end. It's set in an interesting part of France and I enjoyed the role of the canal system as the plot played out.

There's a blurb on the book cover saying you have to love the main policeman, Lucas Rocco, as he's France's answer to Jack Reacher. Which in height and in toughness with criminals and a light touch with people not able to defend themselves may in fact add up to a Reacher type guy. Which is not a bad thing at all.

[Doreen Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Background is refuges and immigration, legal and illegal, a problem we associate with recent times, but one that has been around since the rise of the nation state. And also interesting with the different layers of government and police. Have to love all that internal politics.
And the story moves quickly against that background.

[Gerald H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is
a very good book. Interesting almost all the way through (one brief place is drug a bit for me). If you like murder mysteries Magson is very good. It has interesting characters and plenty of action and suspense.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written with great characters. Didn't want to put it down

[Nelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it's a bit slow in parts, I couldn't put it down and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Megan B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting murder mystery with a lot of noir vibes.

[Lizzie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Death on the Rive Nord’ by Adrian Magson
Published by Allison & Busby, August 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7490-0839-0

The discovery of a dead Algerian in a canal sets Inspector Lucas Rocco on the tail of an organised group of people traffickers. Rocco is a city cop who has been moved from Paris to the French countryside - Picardie, not quite what he is used to, either for him or his new colleagues, although, he has established a friendship with Claude Lamotte, the local garde champetre, who has helped his acceptance with the villagers. Unfortunately he has served with his new boss Commissaire Francois Massin in a different capacity. Rocco knows things about Massin that he, Massin would not like made public, so they exist in an uneasy unspoken thinly veiled hostility. In 1963 Algerian immigrants are welcome in France, but not illegals. However, as Massin points out the whole Algerian thing is a sensitive issue and not one in which he wants to get caught up.

Whilst investigating the death in the canal Rocco meets the beautiful Nicole, which brings him to the attention of the chilling Algerian gangster Samir Ferek, and his enforcer the huge killer Bouhassa, who seem to be moving up from the south leaving a trail of death in their wake. As more killings occur Rocco realises that Ferek is moving ever closer, killing anyone who stands in the way of his plans to extend his empire. Rocco is in his way, can he survive Ferek.

So trying to track down people traffickers and keeping out of the path of Ferek, not to mention his boss Massin, Rocco has his work cut out.

A stunningly atmospheric follow up to Death in the Maris, which introduced Inspector Lucas Rocco, the story moves at a cracking pace, with the tension mounting with every page, I couldn’t read fast enough. A definite entry for your ‘not to be missed’ list.
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Lizzie Hayes

[Cerisaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just realised I forgot to add a review for this novel. Another fun outing for Inspector Lucas Rocco with his natty suits and English shoes (a dress sense he shares with my other new favourite detective Jan Fabel), playful fruit bats in the attic and an attentive neighbour who proves handily resourceful.

The crime plot certainly has contemporary resonance though the setting is 1963, with illegal immigrants being trafficked as cheap labour into France from North Africa. Attention is drawn when one turns up dead near Poissons-les-Marais, Rocco's patch. Rocco uncovers inks to organised crime and then there's the arrival from Algiers of a new Mr Big in the Paris underworld, searching for his runaway wife and son, a matter of honour and 'face'. Rocco's chivalry and sense of justice conflict with his duties as a policeman due to his dealings with this beautiful lady in need of assistance to escape her brutal gangster husband...or is she really as helpless as she appears? I like the enigmatic nature of this character.

As in the first Rocco novel there are tensions between the police and politicians, intensified by conflict in Algeria in this period and the potential for unrest in France, something I admit to not knowing much about; but that's one of the attractions of reading historical crime fiction, isn't it, to explore the history and culture of other countries.

Tense and involving, gritty but not without humour, well written and paced. I am becoming very fond of Inspector Lucas Rocco and can't wait to read the rest of the series.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't usually read a book with such energy more akin to my long forgotten teenage years but here is a real page turner for even a 50+ year old like me. The second book in this excellent series of detective work in rural France in the 1960s. No attempt to dwell in a less troubled era; real crime here more Maigret than Heartbeat certainly but closer still in the story telling and mood created. Not just a police procedural novel but a genuine crime thriller with characters slowly emerging enhancing its richness not overwhelming the narrative that rubbles on a pace. Love the French setting and context of the stories and as at the end of any good book feel a sense of loss and eagerness for the development of this wonderful new detective.

[ronald hogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book !

I am new to this author and took a chance because it was set in France and wasn't set in present time.
I have since read two books and a short story .
It is the kind of book that is a pleasure to read , and you don't want to put down .
The illegal immigrant theme resonates with today .
Loved it !

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent police procedural. I am re-reading this series and loving it.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was probably my favourite so far of the Inspector Lucas Rocco series, but I do like all of them, great sense of period, local atmosphere, French mindset.

[Melinda Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was your run of the mill crime novel, nothing surprising and nothing out of the ordinary.

[Mark Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent second novel in the Inspector Rocco series. Gripping story and great atmosphere in early sixties France.

[Maggie Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great series , can't wait for the next one to read

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat too blokey and violent for my taste but not too much of either to stop it being an interesting read from a particular time in French history.

[Robert Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rocco and the To be Nord

The descriptions of the Paris underworld were vivid and shocking, making you read on and on. An excellent story