After “Sauf” (Fleuve Éditions, 2018), Hervé Commère returns with “Regarde”, a thriller that is also a love story. Nice Premium takes you to meet Mylène..
A long time ago, Mylène loved a man madly, passionately, until a terrible day in Spain when their lives were turned upside down. They were imprisoned, each on their own, but while Mylène survived, Paco was stabbed. She never saw him again.
That was 8 years ago. Today, she works in a consignment shop in the suburbs of Paris and to escape her daily life, which sometimes feels overwhelmingly heavy, she takes a few days’ break in a rental.
This time, she is in Dordogne, in a charming trailer. A trailer in which every memory brings her back to Paco: the furniture, the objects, the decor, a postcard, and even his photo on the wall… How is this possible? Back in Paris, shaken, she will do everything she can to try to understand what is really going on.
In Regarde, Hervé Commère introduces us to Mylène, the secretive and discreet employee of Mat, the orphan from his previous novel Sauf. We also meet his wife, Anna, and his second employee, Gary.
This time, Hervé Commère focuses his plot on Mylène and takes us into the world of this mysterious woman in her sixties. With great skill and sensitivity, Commère constructs his story and reveals how Mylène, who belonged to the high bourgeoisie and was a brilliant businesswoman, threw everything away for a passionate love affair with Pascal, a drummer 20 years her junior.
Through the chapters, the reader discovers Mylène’s story and her touching reintegration, her simple relationship with Mat, and her supportive and almost sensual relationship with Gary. Mat’s consignment shop serves as a sort of haven for these characters marked by life.
Regarde is constructed similarly to Sauf and, through short and intense chapters, alternating past and present, the reader is drawn close to the characters. Once again, Hervé Commère’s empathetic and moving writing reveals a beautiful humanity and powerful strength amid the darkness of the thriller.
