Bad Conscience

by Michel Quint

One morning a devastating earthquake shakes the residents of Aix-en-Provence, France, out of their beds. When a group of college students decides to take advantage of the ensuing chaos by looting a destroyed jewelry store, they are quickly in over their heads. One by one people around them are dying. Bitter and desperate, survivors are fleeing town in search of a safe haven, complicating the escape path of these unlucky petty thieves.

What started as a get-rich-quick scheme reveals the complex plans of a dangerous criminal mastermind who has evaded capture for years. Professional criminals, amateur thieves, and deranged cops are all racing after jewels. With all their lives in the balance, who will be the last one standing?

152 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2014

About the author

Né en 1949 dans le Pas-de-Calais, Michel Quint obtient le Grand Prix de littérature policière pour Billard à l'étage en 1989 et publie Effroyables Jardins, best-seller international en 2000. Il habite à Lille.

Reviews

[Marie Bouteille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une course poursuite haletante dans les rues d'Aix-en-Provence après un tremblement de terre particulièrement destructeur

[Merenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I want to acknowledge the translator to this book, Alexis Pernsteiner. She did a wonderful job in translating the book from French to English, with nearly no "hiccups" in translation. There we're VERY few times it a showed.

The story takes place moments after a devastating Earthquake strikes the Aix-en Provence, France, early one morning and last approximately 36-40 hours later. There is a very stark awareness of how fast people go from being civil to being downright vile people! There are many crimes that happen within the story. The book gives you a timeline in each chapter of the length of time things are taking place. Along the way, looting, stolen jewels, murder, car chases. The book gives details of acts but is not gory and not gratuitous in un-needed violence.

A plan starts as a sort of prank with a group of friends that leads to an all out frenzy of crimes and double crossing. There are surprises that come about with some characters you at first don't think need to be in the story. But everyone ends up have a place in the story and a ending that explains it all. It keeps a good pace and is a well written story overall. It's a quick read at only 152 pages.

**NOTE: I received a free copy of this book as part of Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

[Amanda Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of the roughly 36 hours after a terrible earthquake hits a city in France. The story of a group of people who take advantage of the situation and after looting a jewelry store, and who survives and who does not. A group of college kids decide to rob the jewelry story when they are interrupted by a local drug dealer/pimp who wants in on the action. After they loot the jewelry, the rest of the book is about the group trying to get out of town and to a safer, less damaged area of the country. The book starts with a violent rape, features plenty of gratuitous murder throughout, and has characters who don't blink an eye at taking anyone out who is in their way. It tries to be Tarantino but falls flatter than Guy Richie. There was virtually no character development, just non-stop action/violence. A nice twist at the end made it worth hanging in there to finish the story, but it's a good thing it was a quick read and didn't waste too much of my time. I won this copy via First Reads.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Bad Conscience, a fiction by Michel Quint, an earthquake hits, bringing the worst in some people in the affected area. Looting begins in the city. The earthquake also gives two officers an unexpected opportunity to try to find the city’s hidden drug labs and lords. The book has a little of everything. Expensive cars, a bag of stolen jewels, high speed car chase and of course murder. The only thing missing from this book was act four. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I rate give this book 4 out of 5 starts, it was crazy, and I like it! It was a very short book and would be great for anyone who would like to finish a book over one evening or one flight.

[Ellen Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a first reads book I won from Goodreads. The book had a lot of violence, crime, and many characters. During a natural disaster (earthquake) in France, there was looting, stolen jewels, prostitution and drugs. There were surprises in the book, and it was well written; however, I found the characters difficult to keep straight, and all the murders were disturbing. The book detailed a robbery plan that went wrong for a group of college students because of many unexpected factors.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book free as part of Goodreads giveaways in exchange for a fair review. The book was initially a little slow getting into it, but as the story progressed and the characters really started to come into play, the pace picked up and I found myself getting pulled further into the story. This is a relatively short read with very well developed characters and many plot twists throughout.