Customer Reviews

Total Chaos (Marseilles Trilogy)

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This first in Izzo's popular Marseille Trilogy (followed by "Chourmo" and "Solea", which are both scheduled to appear in translation in 2007) is an unflinching portrait of France's southern port, dressed up in the trappings of a crime story. Make no mistake, it is a crime story, but despite the gritty local color and bloody action, the story is suffused with a sense of ennui, isolation, and loss -- not unlike the films of Jean-Pierre Melville. The protagonist is Fabio Montale, a disillusioned policeman whose two oldest friends, Manu and Ugo, are killed within days of each other. Twenty years earlier they were growing up together in a rough neighborhood, thick as thieves, chasing girls, and headed for a steady life of crime. But Montale didn't see in a future in it and opted out, first serving overseas in the Army, and then joining the police force.

Now, he's left to pick up the pieces after Manu is killed by one of the various mafias vying for control of the city's vice, and Ugo returns from Paris only to be killed by the police in what looks to be a set-up. A subplot of almost equal importance involves the disappearance of Leila, a beautiful, bright young Arab that Montale has a chaste love for. She's only one of the many, many beautiful women that seem to hover around Montale in various forms (friend, lover, mother, hooker). In this regard, the story is a cliche, the tough loner cop who can never allow himself to truly love. In any event, the two various story strands intertwine, but the plot is so totally convoluted as to defy explanation. This is something I've found with a good deal of crime novels from outside the U.S. and U.K., they tend to either very stripped down and simple, or totally tangled and labyrinthine. However, in this case, the actual plot is of much less importance than the tone and the setting.

Like his protagonist, the author was born and raised in the seedy city of Marseille, and watched it turn from a Southern European melting pot to a post-colonial melting pot of 1.5 million people. Like his protagonist, he had a front-row seat (as a journalist, not a cop) to the major social and economic shifts of the last several decades, and the xenophobia they have engendered. Here, he takes the reader deep into the world of Italian and Sicilian mafia, Arab ghettos, corrupt cops, pimps and prostitutes of all persuasions, and a very Gallic sense of disenchantment and fatalism. It's a complicated portrait, loving and nostalgic, yet sad and angry. In that sense, the book works much better as a social portrait of a city than it does as a crime story. I'd really recommend it much more to those with an interest in Southern France or who might be visiting Marseille, than I would to crime buffs. It would also, along with the film Hate, be useful for those seeking to understand the recent Paris riots.

Note: The novel was made into a film in France under its original title, "Total Kheops", but it is not available in the U.S. There was also an Italian television miniseries called "Fabio Montale" based on the trilogy. A recent Hollywood film that shows some of the seedy side of modern multi-ethnic Marseille is The Good Thief, which is a loose remake of Melville's Bob le Flambeur.

Picked this up on the strength of the reviews and in light of a general interest in police procedurals. The fact that the book was written by a French author and set in Marseilles (a city that in my experience is so unique that it almost qualifies as a country of its own) were added bonuses.

Given the expectations set by the reviews, I would characterize my reaction to the novel as muted and somewhat disappointed.

On the positive side, the prose is spare (reminiscent of Alan Furst in some ways, as a point of comparison) and strong, and the atmospherics are powerful. The author is in his element in terms of bringing to life the feel and specifics of Marseilles, and were the reader to be satisfied with Marseilles as the end all and be all purpose of the novel, he or she would leave very satisfied.

Unfortunately, when it comes to characterization of the personalities in the book, the spareness of the prose that is an asset elsewhere becomes a hindrance. Our protagonist is conflicted and taciturn; that's about it. He isn't brushed out fully, which in many novels is fine, but here, where his motivations and single minded purpose carry the plot of the novel, the unfinished portrait doesn't resonate properly with his actions.

In terms of plot, we have a police officer seeking revenge for the murder of two of his childhood friends who long ago turned into hoods, and as the novel opens meet or have recently met their demise. Alone aside from several women with whom he has various dalliances, our police officer negotiates his way towards his revenge through the Arab underworld, the mafia, and a crooked police department. The stage and background of the novel are powerful and tangible; the protagonist and the plot he follows less so.

Of interest to this reader in particular is the author's focus on the racism within French society, and Marseilles in particular. Themes of immigration and assimilation (successful and not) run through the proceedings. The disaffection of the Arab underclass is particularly compelling, and in light of the events last summer in France, are quite interesting and apropos in today's world.

This is the first of a trilogy. Interesting but not entirely compelling. Don't know if I'll pick up number 2.

Zinedine Zidane

Jean-Claude Izzo, like French footballer Zidane, is a native of Marseilles. He was born in Marseille in 1945. Because he was the son of Spanish and Italian immigrants, Izzo was streamed into vocational school where he trained to be a lathe operator. After serving in the military he returned to Marseilles where he eventually turned to writing. His books have been remarkably successful in France and have been the subject of films and t.v. shows. He died, at age 54, in Marseilles.

"Total Chaos" is the first volume in the aptly-named "Marseilles Trilogy". The second, Chourmo, and third, Solea (Marseilles Trilogy)complete the triloy. There are two primary characters in Total Chaos. The first is Fabio Montale. Montale is a cop. The child of immigrants, Montale had a hard life growing up on Marseilles' mean streets. He ran with a "bad-crowd" a crowd that included the two friends. Manu and Ugu, with whom he shared a bond cemented by petty thefts and days spent in an around the harbor. There is also the girl, Lole, who they all loved in one way or the other. Montale escaped his childhood, joined the army and ended up a cop. The others never left escaped the life they were born into. That life results in Manu and Ugu both being killed. Montale spends the rest of the book seeking answers to the question of who killed Manu and Ugu and why. He is a cop and that is what he does. Montale knows there is no justice in the criminal justice system. He knows that life is nasty brutish and short. He knows that, even as intimate as his feelings for his city are that generations of immigrants to Marseilles from around the world (particularly now from the Middle East) are treated in much the same way as the children of Sicilian immigrants used to be treated. Montale (and Izzo of course) is both cynical and fatalistic but, nevertheless, he plods on.

The other primary character is Marseilles itself. I think it fair to say that Izzo loved his native place. Izzo's love for Marseilles imbues Total Chaos almost to the point of consuming it. However, Izzo's feeling for his city does not preclude his viewing his love through rose-colored glasses. Izzo's love for Marseilles is not the puppy love that a teenager has for his first real girl friend. No, Izzo's feelings are more those of someone who has lasted through a long marriage, who has hurt and been hurt. He sees the flaws and the pain but still can see the beauty and the passion.

I very much enjoyed "Total Chaos". This is noir, Marseilles style. While Izzo is a bit more expansive in terms of setting out in print the thoughts and feelings of his characters than a Georges Simenon for example, he does not get excessively florid. He is terser than most and that is to his credit. Izzo also provides some nice atmospherics. His references to both food (its preparation and its consumption) and to music (Montale's taste in jazz and music in general s both provocative and scene-setting) add some very nice touches to the writing. At the end of the day I think a reader's feeling about Total Chaos will depend on whether or not they like the idea of a city playing a central role in the story. It worked for me. Izzo does a remarkably good job of giving the reader a sense of place. You can almost feel the dark streets and smell the aromas of the cafes in the harbor as you read the book. In that sense Total Chaos reminded me of Naguib Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library) which left me feeling I'd actually been to the alleys in Cairo Mahouz wrote about with such passion. Comparing any writer to Mahfouz is higih praise.

Highly recommended. L. Fleisig

You want gritty noir with a sentimental twist? You've got it! This is the first volume in a masterful trilogy by French author Jean-Claude Izzo (unfortunately deceased). Taking place in and around Marseilles this story involves a retired cop, French mafia, North African immigrants and more. The main character, the retired cop Fabio Montale himself the son of Italian immigrants, has to deal with the death of a friend as well as unresolved childhood issues. While doing this he introduces us to Marseilles and we can almost smell the sea, the "pistou" soup and the mandatory pastis apéritif. The feelings are strong, the story is hard and people are hurt. If you like this book keep an eye out for volumes 2 and 3 of the trilogy which have now been published in English. The French title: "Total Khéops" comes from a Marseilles rap group called IAM. Highly recommended!

Total Chaos is the first installment of the Marseilles Trilogy and is the best. Izzo's storytelling of immigration's impact to Marseilles is just spot on.

Hats off to Howard Curtis for his flawless translation evident in the fluidity of all three books.

Makes you wish Izzo were still alive to write more of these.

I was looking for a new series to read after workimng my way through the Donna Leon / Commissario Brunetti books. The owner of Partners and Crime in NYC recommended Izzo's short series because, he said, it had crisp writing (true) and a strong sense of place (also true). The plot, such as it is, revolves around family, honor, revenge, race and love (or lust). As Fabio Montale - a model French anti-hero - staggers from scene to scene, made crazy by drink, the heat, lack of sleep and desperation, we see the filthy underbelly of France's racial politics. People love and hate, live and die for nothing more complex than the color of someone's skin or a few words on a passport. In Marseilles, we learn, many of the police are to be feared as much as the bad actors. Not exactly a picture the local chamber of commerce would appreciate but the dark writing, intense detail and passion shown by Montale for his friends and his sense of honor makes, for me, an interesting read.

I will probably read the next two books in the series, the writing is that good. But fair warning, this is not an uplifting novel. The depths of humanity - abuse of drugs, sex, alcohol - are all on display and in lurid detail. if you can can find enjoyment in that kind of tale, read on. Otherwise, look else where.

Fabio Montale, the protagonist/narrator of this murder mystery cum love story, is a cop in the French port city of Marseille. Son of Italian immigrants, he had a chequered career with the military that landed him eventually the job of neighbourhood cop. Not any neighbourhood, mind you, but the Arab ghetto, the centre of the city's large underbelly. The recent murders of his closest friends challenge his soft mediator mentality and revenge is increasingly on his mind. Jean-Claude Izzo, a native of Marseille himself, has created a memorable portrait of the city, torn between beauty and opportunity on the one hand and racism, corruption and violence on the other. TOTAL CHAOS is the first volume of a trilogy, a very promising opening for the whole series.

In his youth Fabio had been hanging out with a crowd on the wrong side of the law, gang related petty mostly. While he straightened out later on, his close friends, Manu and Ugo continued in the same vein. With no education to speak of both wanted to strike it rich through strengthening their ties to the underworld. Complicating their relationship was the love for the same woman. While he was the more distant admirer in the past, now that Fabio is the only one left, his need, strong desperate need, for Lole is stronger than ever. But she is not where she is supposed to be. Two other women complicate his life as well, his on and off lover, a high class hooker, and his young protégé friend Leila. Love and urge for physical intimacy are often on Fabio's mind as he wanders the intricate network of Marseille streets, but there is much else that keeps the reader gripped by the story. Sections of introvert musings, alternate with fast action. The familiarity of Marseille and the complex reality of this port city that is seething with racial and social conflicts and challenges speaks out of every page.

Jean-Claude Izzo who died in 2000 at age 55, leaves a short yet lasting body of intriguing and well written stories behind. On to volume two... [Friederike Knabe]

Jean-Claude Izzo's Spartan writing hits the perfect pitch in this classic hardboiled detective story. The first volume of the Marseilles Trilogy, "Total Chaos" introduces Fabio Montale, a disillusioned cop attempting to resolve the murders of his boyhood chums, Ugo and Manu. By a quirk of fate Fabio became a cop while his pals followed a path of crime that led to their deaths.

Along the way the reader gets an account of these sons of Italian immigrants growing up on the hard streets of Marseilles's seedier neighborhoods where they knew "their bodies and clothes smelled of mildew ... But they didn't give a damn. They loved life. They were good looking. And they knew how to fight."

But that was the past. Not only are Ugo and Manu gone, but Fabio must face a lost love, Lole, and investigate the brutal rape and murder of Leila, the daughter of a good friend. Feeling like an exile, Fabio haunts the city -- "In which dawn is merely an illusion that the world is beautiful." -- eating, drinking, having his way with beautiful women, spurning deep relationships, and occasionally escaping for some fishing in the Mediterranean.

Through Fabio's eyes, Izzo paints a sentimental portrait of the city in all its beauty and brutality. His portrayal of Marseilles's seaport, neighborhoods, food, music, politics, and racial tensions raise this novel above the classic hardboiled crime story.

"Total Chaos" will satisfy most mystery readers and probably seriously please any francophile or Marseilles-phile. First and foremost, the book is a biography of the city of Marseilles, with its history, geography, demography and cuisine front and center. Imposed on this intensely interesting backdrop is a very dark crime/police procedural that takes the reader through a labyrinth of relationships and characters before arriving at a very creative ending. Love, lust, betrayal and hatred are part of the story's mix, and all in abundance. There is an appropriately cynical antagonist in Fabio Montale, a cop with scruples who is bent on revenging the deaths of two childhood friends.

A secondary, but very important part of the novel, is author Jean-Claude Izzo's sympathetic presentation of Marseilles' underclass communities and their limited prospects in life. His descriptions of the housing projects where the city's poor lived in the 1980s are pretty much in sync with what we were reading about the same places and people in the past couple of years. Not many changes have been made in the interim.

This is a first rate book that should appeal to a lot of readers. Marseilles has not been so endearingly and accurately described since M.F.K. Fisher's memoir, "Two Towns in Provence."

I fell victim to the brilliant marketing of 'Total Chaos' by Europa Editions - great cover art with a hook line front and center calling it "the first book in the legendary Marseilles Trilogy" and an 'About the Author' blurb on the back flap telling me that Jean-Claude Izzo "achieved astounding and immediate success with his Marseilles Trilogy."

It's difficult to live up to hype like that...and this book doesn't. I found the storyline here to be confusing (new characters appear at random it seems) and formulaic (hard-boiled cop who can never love and denies closeness, etc.). The only thing of note and worthwhile is the descriptions of the teeming projects and streets of the city. It sheds some light on the roots of the recent riots in France.