Published: 18/03/2021
There have been many fictional explorations of 1940’s Paris but in The Unwanted Dead Chris Lloyd turns the suspicions and deceptions of a nation torn between Occupation and Resistance into the perfect melting pot for a riveting murder mystery.
Waterstones Welsh Book of the Month for September 2022
Shortlisted for the CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger 2021
The day the Nazis march into Paris, making headlines around the globe.
Paris police detective Eddie Giral - a survivor of the last World War - watches helplessly on as his world changes forever.
But there is something he still has control over. Finding whoever is responsible for the murder of four refugees. The unwanted dead, who no one wants to claim.
To do so, he must tread carefully between the Occupation and the Resistance, between truth and lies, between the man he is and the man he was.
All the while becoming whoever he must be to survive in this new and terrible order descending on his home...
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781409190271
Number of pages: 464
Weight: 320 g
Dimensions: 200 x 132 x 32 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
A thoughtful, haunting thriller - Mick Herron
A police story with a difference, sepia-painted to match the time and circumstances, with a convincing background and atmosphere, skilfully drawn to encompass the fates of the lead characters as if you were there by their side. Well-written and carefully researched, it is one to stay with you long after you have finished reading - Adrian Magson, SHOTS Magazine
Lloyd's Second World War Paris is rougher than Alan Furst's, and Eddie Giral, his French detective, is way edgier than Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther. Powerful Stuff - Sunday Times Crime Club
Terrific - The Sunday Times
Lloyd's Second World War Paris is rougher than Alan Furst's, and Eddie Giral, his French detective, is way edgier than Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther . . . Ranks alongside both for its convincingly cloying atmosphere of a city subjugated to a foreign power, a plot that reaches across war-torn Europe and into the rifts in the Nazi factions, and a hero who tries to be a good man in a bad world. Powerful stuff. - The Times
Excellent . . . In Eddie Giral, Lloyd has created a character reminiscent of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther, oozing with attitude and a conflicted morality that powers a complex, polished plot. Historical crime at its finest. - Vaseem Khan, author of Midnight at Malabar House
Such a powerful and morally nuanced crime novel ... Both a gripping murder mystery and a vivid recreation of Paris under German Occupation. - Andrew Taylor
The best kind of crime novel: gripping, thought-provoking and moving. In Detective Eddie Giral, Chris Lloyd has created a flawed hero not just for occupied Paris, but for our own times, too. - Katherine Stansfield
Wartime Paris rises from the page with its seedy bars, gang-ridden train yards, lonely apartments, and across everything falls the terrible shadow of the Great War ... A fantastic novel. - Katherine Stansfield
A terrific read - put me in mind of Alan Furst and Philip Kerr ... Gripping and well-paced. The period atmosphere is excellent. - Mark Ellis
Monumentally impressive . . . I'm blown away. A truly wonderful book. If somebody'd given it to me and told me it was the latest Robert Harris, I wouldn't have been surprised. Eddie Giral is a wonderful creation. - Alis Hawkins
A tense and gripping mystery which hums with menace and dark humour as well as immersing the reader in the life of occupied Paris. - Judges, HWA Gold Crown
You may also be interested in...
“Excellent”
Written in the spirit of Alan Furst, this is a first rate police procedural set in Nazi occupied Paris in which nobody and no-one is quite what they seem to be.
It is atmospheric, historically accurate and boats a...
More
“Great Protagonist, Terrific Storyline!”
On the day the Germans invaded Paris - 14th June 1940, four men (thought to be Polish refugees) were found gassed in a railway truck, and across the city, there were people so desperate, and unable to see a future,... More
“Well written, well researched, highly recommended.”
On the day the Germans invaded Paris - 14th June 1940, four men (thought to be Polish refugees) were found gassed in a railway truck, and across the city, there were people so desperate, and unable to see a future,... More
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In / Register
Sign In
Download the Waterstones App
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?