Jean-Pierre Ostende's 'Voie express' Explores Violence Through a Serial Killer Lens

Jean-Pierre Ostende's new novel 'Voie express' follows protagonist Philippe Gué, who transforms into a 'true-false' Hannibal Lecter of French highways. The book examines how real-life crime stories become illegitimate children of fiction, with the serial killer as a Don Juan figure turning disruption into order. Ostende, known for his endoscopic scrutiny of normopaths, works with mortiferous models from TV series, advertising, and social networks to capture diffuse violence. The narrative uses the expressway as a screen and filming location where Gué loves to shoot. Published by Éditions Gallimard, the novel refuses consolation, instead dispossessing readers of the familiar. The review by Raya Baudinet appeared in artpress.