Im not sure how I felt about this book, Its political, feels a little voyeuristic, almost like going to a wedding with a friend when you dont know anyone else, but get pulled into their drama.
there is deception and secrets but it didnt intrigue me enough to preorder the next book.

An ambitious novel set within the parameters of one day. while 2 Algerian families gather for a wedding party the French nation prepares for the election of the century where there is the possibility that France May get an Arab president. There is a 5hreat of racial violence and a possible terrorist attAck. There is a myriad of characters to meet in this first novel of a series. It tries to combine family saga with political thriller.

Brilliant. I was holding my breath by the end of the book. The suspense builds up beautifully. I liked everything about this story. I wanted to keep reading. This is a really well put together and thought out story that kept me reading and held my attention the whole way through. There is the perfect combination of love, hate, family and politics all rolled into a great story. I could visualise every scene as everything was so well described. I am really looking forward to reading the next instalment.

This is the first in the Saint Etienne quartet translated from the French, a tense family drama and gripping political thriller. It is set over the period of just over a day with a huge cast of characters set to become established for the forthcoming sequels for the reader. It's the eve of the French Presidential elections amidst a febrile atmosphere in the country, the secular Idder Chaoch, has an Algerian background, and is on the verge of becoming France's first Arab president. Esconced in a hotel in Nimes, he is having dinner with his wife, Esther and his daughter, Jasmine. Jasmine's boyfriend, is the famous actor, Fouad Nerrouche, who has given his celebrity endorsement of Chaoch. In a complex and intricately plotted tale, Louatah gives an insightful and thoughtful look at family and country.

In St Etienne, the Nerrouche family is celebrating a huge wedding with all the arguments and tension that characterise family dynamics at such an event. However, there is someone missing, Nazir, Fouad's brother, a man with a shady background, and who has 'helped' Krim, a cousin in trouble. As we are given insights into the campaign trail and the unhappiness that rages in certain sectors of France, the fate of Chaoch and the nation intertwine. This fast paced and vibrant novel ends on a cliffhanger, and is full of secrets, deceptions, intrigue and lies. It confronts many of the issues that beset contemporary France, of race, identity, religion and poverty. This is a fascinating story with a compelling narrative that has me hungry to read the next! Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

This book is dense involving well written and has something important to say . it however left me slightly cold emotionally by the ending

This is book one in a four book series that has just recently been translated into English with, hopefully, the following three parts coming soon. As with most series, finite or otherwise there is quite a lot of scene setting and character introductions to be found in part one and, at times I did find the every increasing cast a bit overwhelming, especially as their names were obviously not familiar to me. This was exacerbated by the fact that several of the characters had nicknames as well as given names; sigh. As with other books that introduce many characters quite quickly, I found they did garner their own identities as I got to know them better as the story went on so I wasn't as worried about this as I might have been.
Our story centres on two main events; a huge family wedding and the French Presidential election. These two things are linked by one of our characters who is a member of the wedding family and also dating one of the main Presidential candidates, tipped to potentially to be the first Arab President; something that is not an overly popular outcome to certain factions. At the wedding, we mostly follow a young man, Krim, who is a bit of a black sheep with his family as he appears to be wasting his life. As we are introduced to him, we find out that he is moving in somewhat dark circles but then, as we meet the rest of his family, he seems not to be the only one who welcomes controversy. Other family members are set on making the day go smoothly, even taking the law into their own hands in the execution of this duty. Sounds convoluted... heck yeah! There's definitely a lot going on around and about in this book. Mostly interconnected though as time does tell.
Obviously originally written in French, the translation is on the whole smooth. There are some great colloquial phrases included that really impressed me but, every so often, there's a strange word thrown in that did jar a little with me. Thankfully these are few and far between and so didn't really irk me too much.
Characterisation was good, I was especially impressed with the way that the author handled so many characters giving each and every one of them an individual voice; no mean feat given the sheer quantity. I have trouble with big casts in books, especially when introduced to a multitude in a short space of time but, as I already said, any initial difficulty was swiftly overcome.
The story itself, convolution apart, was relatively easy to follow. Obviously given that this is book one of four, there is quite a bit left simmering, but this part closes at a good time, albeit on a bit of a cliffhanger. Hopefully I won't have too long to wait for part two.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Volume 1 in a politico-thriller from France where all 4 volumes have been published: Idder Chaouch is about to be elected as France's first Arab president, 'the "French Obama" as the American media had dubbed Chaouch' - but not everyone is celebrating his predicted victory...

This first part introduces a huge range of characters from the Nerrouche family gathered together for a wedding on election day: from Fouad who is dating the presidential candidate's daughter, to his sinister brother, and their troubled young cousin, Krim, who is out of his depth and embroiled in a criminal conspiracy that will culminate at the election.

This reminds me of the first series of 24 with the multiple plot lines and tangled relationships that coalesce around a controversial election candidate. Louatah's writing is energetic throughout, though there are a lot of characters to get to grips with. With a cliff-hanger of an ending, I hope the following volumes appear in English soon.

A political thriller written with intelligence and cultural nuance.