3 out of 4 stars
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Thirst is a crime thriller by Thierry Sagnier. This is its third release; it was previously published as Wasted Miracles (2012) and The Girl, the Drugs and the Man Who Couldn't Drink (2013). Drug dealer Herbie is "accidentally" murdered by Nigerian thugs working for cocaine kingpin The Zulu. It begins when the van they are travelling in hits a pothole and Akim's knife slips into Herbie's chest. Herbie screams, Akim panics, and Herbie ends up stabbed and shot to death. The Zulu is less than pleased, given Herbie was meant to surrender information worth a million dollars. Arriving at Herbie's apartment to find it full of police, his girlfriend Josie finds she no longer needs to break up with him; someone has split them "terminally". Unfortunately, that someone also believes Herbie has provided Josie with the crucial information he needs. Soon, Josie herself goes missing...
Sagnier's writing was solid and well-edited, making the story fluent and readable. There were examples of elegant prose: "Catherine saw whirlpools of sadness in her daughter's eyes"; high-quality characterisation: "He thought she looked haggard; her eyes were old and her lips made one thin line. She was wearing jeans and a short leather jacket and her hair was disarrayed"; and subtlety: "She stared out the window, seeing blurry trees and blurry grass" (a neat way to say her eyes filled with tears). With concise sentences and description that quickly got to the point, I breezed through the chapters.
The interaction between characters featured great dialogue and body language, making these scenes very natural. There was a gritty sense of realism throughout; I got a sense of genuine characters with genuine problems. Each had their own idiosynchrasies woven through the tapestry of the tale; for example: "Orin looked disgusted, sucked hard on his pipe, stuck out his tongue, and spat a small piece of tobacco." Small details like these really brought scenes to life in my mind. The action scenes were exciting, with plenty of tension in the lead-up to one particular scene - very well done.
Unfortunately, I found ten minor errors in the first 200 pages of Thirst. There was an occasional incorrect word (such as "discrete" instead of "discreet") but the rest were simple typographical errors: missing punctuation or a missing letter, which could be easily fixed. Though fifteen to twenty errors in total isn't a huge amount, this is the third release of this book under a third different title, so some readers might expect to have these wrinkles ironed out by now.
Aside from these errors, I found nothing else to dislike about this book. The story was captivating, the characters vivid and three-dimensional, and the ending clever. With the typographical errors fixed, I would definitely give it 4 stars. In its current state, I rate Thirst 3 out of 4 stars. I think any fan of crime thrillers would enjoy this book. It does contain violence and drug use, but nothing too gory. Sagnier adds a brief autobiography at the end, featuring his own view on writing: "Thick skin is a prerequisite; writers live amidst rejection, from agents, publishing houses, editors and readers. This being said, writing is also the only endeavor where I refuse to indulge in false modesty. I think I’m pretty good." On this, he is absolutely right.
******
Thirst
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