Le guetteur

When Christophe Boltanski's mother died, he found among her papers the beginnings of detective novels featuring a terrifying stalker.
But who's stalking who?

"Whodunnit File". This labelled folder languishing in a drawer suddenly caught his attention: a tale of serial killers, epidemics, a butcher, twin girls and dank fog... so his mother was writing crime fiction with just her Olivetti typewriter and her dog Chips for company. And nobody knew. At least, she started these books, but never finished them, like dark daydreams left in suspense.
Now that she's dead, the mystery around her deepens. How did this thrill-seeking woman fill the years, shut away in her Paris apartment? She was once a rebellious teenager and a militant student, why did she cut herself off from the world?
The enigma of his mother becomes an obsession for Christophe Boltanski. So he decides to follow some leads and turn the clock back. When did the spark fade from her personality, was it during her student years at the Sorbonne, in the middle of the Algerian war, when people were lead along and had to hide, when caution could tip over into paranoia?
The Stalker is a very touching novel about a woman who inventoried every cigarette she smoked, was convinced her neighbours were spying on her, and lost herself along the way. A son's quest to reclaim his mother.

Auteur de ce titre culte qu’est devenu La Cache (Prix Femina 2015, récemment adapté au cinéma), de plusieurs livres dont King Kasaï (Collection Ma nuit au Musée), de Le Guetteur ou encore de Les Vies de Jacob, Christophe Boltanski est écrivain, a longtemps été grand reporter. Il vit à Paris.