Emmanuel Carrère
L' avversario

After reading this book, the question everyone should ask themselves is: Are we really convinced we know well the people around us? Our neighbor, the high school friend, our work colleague, and yes, even our husband, father, or son. It was probably also the question of all those who, before January 9, 1993, knew the impeccable Jean-Claude Romand, a respected doctor and exemplary father and husband, who grew up as a calm and obedient boy but on that day decided to completely exterminate his family, wife, children, and parents, before attempting unsuccessfully to take his own life.

But paradoxically, what strikes about this story is not the final outcome, as shocking as it is, but how a man can build his entire existence on lies. A lie upheld by countless other lies, a house of cards that inevitably ends up collapsing with the most tragic of endings. A man who chooses horror over admitting his own faults. How long can a man maintain his mask? Can a person pretend every day of their life for years? A fragile balance, a thin line breached by chance that drives that man beyond the borders of hell.

A book masterfully written by Emmanuel Carrère, a French writer, director, and screenwriter who manages to have the opportunity to interview Jean-Claude Romand in an attempt to look into the void of a man and his madness. To understand what lies behind "the adversary," the biblical Satan, disguised as a respectable person.

A book at times distressing but intense. The meticulous reconstruction of one of the most disturbing crimes of recent years.