His name is Claude Tremblay. He was born in Montreal, shortly after the political crisis of October 1970. He grew up far from the world’s bustle, anxious only to meet his loving parents’ expectations. The world, however, has come to him. On television, at school, he glimpses injustice and horror, which too often afflict the disadvantaged who live far, very far from the middle-class neighbourhoods where he lived as a child.

After graduating from law school, Claude works as a political analyst at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Through his research, he contributes to the prosecution’s case in a criminal trial against a Congolese warlord accused of turning children into killers and rapists. Then one day this man, Kabanga, is released due to a procedural error and sent back to his country. 

Claude resigns in order to hunt the man down, whom he knows is guilty. He has decided to turn his childhood dream of justice into concrete action. But once he has come face to face with these blood-and-flesh beings, executioners or child soldiers, what will remain of his ideals?

In his third novel, Gil Courtemanche has drawn inspiration from his recent experience as a consultant for the prosecuting attorney at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. More than ever, he shows that he is a peerless stylist, always finding the word, the rhythm, the colour and achieving the balance between objectivity and compassion that allow his readers to share his characters’ feelings. An immensely moving novel.