Rue Des Boutiques Obscures (French Edition)

What remains of a man's life? A photo, at the bottom of a box or drawer, administrative documents, sometimes a police record or a name in a directory. And also the memories of those who knew or met him. They will become fewer and their memories will grow vaguer. Thus the echo of a life fades until it is completely extinguished. Supposing that someone could return to earth after their death, what would they find of themselves in the places that were familiar to them and in the memory of others? And what drives a certain Guy Roland, an employee in a private detective agency run by a Baltic baron, to set out in search of a long-disappeared stranger? The need to find himself after years of amnesia? In the course of his search, he gathers fragments of the life of this man who may have been him and with whom, in any case, he ends up identifying. Like in a final turn of the carousel, the witnesses of the youth of this Pedro McEvoy pass by, the only ones who could recognize him: Denise Coudreuse, Freddie Howard de Luz, Gay Orlow, Dédé Wildmer, Scouffi, Rubirosa, Sonachitzé, and others with complicated names and passports, making this book an intrusion of wandering souls into the detective novel.

The life of a man leaves behind little more than a photo, some administrative documents, and the fading memories of those who knew him. Even if someone could return after death, they would find only traces of their former self in the places and minds of others. Guy Roland, an employee of a private detective agency, is driven to search for a long-missing stranger, perhaps in a bid to find himself after years of amnesia. In the course of his investigation, Roland uncovers fragments of the life of this man, Pedro McEvoy, and comes to identify with him. The novel becomes a parade of the characters from McEvoy's youth, the only ones who might still recognize him, their complicated names and passports adding to the sense of wandering souls intruding into the detective story.

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