Julie Morineau's "La Cartographe des énigmes" Turns Silicon Valley Noir on the French Tech Scene

Published by Métailié noir, "La Cartographe des énigmes" marks the debut novel of information designer Julie Morineau, who builds cultural mediation tools for science and technology. Her protagonist Zoé works as a freelance information cartographer on a European project, mapping connections the way film detectives string photos together with colored thread, and remains largely immune to start-up folklore and managerial newspeak. During a team trip to Sophia Antipolis, described as the French Silicon Valley, Zoé learns that women employed by the host start-up have taken their own lives; back home, the old friend she had put up is found murdered. Following link after link, she uncovers a sordid professional reality concealed behind labels of "flexibility" and "innovation." The thriller probes hidden and destructive ties binding digital innovation to politics, finance and even military interests, and sets its action among think tanks and start-ups. Morineau's Zoé embodies a quiet but stubborn resistance to systems of power and social, psychological and political violence, lending the plot unusual psychological and intellectual depth. The publisher frames the book as a noir exploring professional milieus rarely treated in the genre, revealing the exoticism of contemporary workplaces. The novel was published on 22 October 2026.