Head Hunters by
Michel Crespy
pbk out October 02
(Harvill)
at £10.99
Jérôme Carceville is 'on stand-by' – unemployed to you and me – but he
remains secure in the knowledge that he possesses many of those
qualities that are most prized in the corporate world. So he is not
surprised to be subject to the attentions of head-hunters, those
entrusted with the role of seeking out talent, and selling it, often to
the highest bidder. He's flattered too that it is one of the top firms
in the field that selects him first for a seminar and then sends him on
one of those management courses designed to show how executives will
respond under pressure.
What follows is a fast-moving if icily depicted intellectual
thrilller. It also doubles as an analysis of the flaws ('everything
that is not prohibited by law is permitted') of head-to-head
capitalism. And who will come out on top? Will it be the ex-management
consultant, the coolly rational if amoral Carceville, well versed in
the strategic niceties of corporate life, the ex-IT man William Hirsch,
or the lawyer Emmanuel Charriac ('you may call me Chirac - but only
once')? Or will it be the personally assured ex-manageress of 'human resources'
Laurence Carré? And what part will be played by the 'faded redhead'
Brigitte Aubert, written off at one point as one of 'the brace of
zeros' included in the game and who shares, for some unknown reason,
the name of a rival French crime-writer? And is the game's supervisor
and mastermind Joseph Del Rieco a referee – or something more sinister?
A sort of corporate Big Brother then, with additional guns
(though without the headlong satirical flourishes of Series 7: The
Contenders, Daniel Minahan's more recent film). Anyone who has
participated in these management games, even for that most pitiable of
goals, theoretical market domination, will be aware of the lengths to
which some people will go in these situations. You won't like many of
Crespy's characters but as the exercises escalate in complexity and the
first dirty tricks are played, you will come to admire one or two. And
by the time the cynical despairing conclusion of this novel is reached,
you'll also admire the way in which Crespy has marshalled his argument.
A little predictable perhaps, Head Hunters is nonetheless a
notable addition to the illustrious roster of French crime writers
recently published in English. The book won the French Grand Prix de la
Littérature Policière in 2001.
