In the midst of a string of bombings that have tensions with France and without running high, a young man on a motorcycle is hit by a truck. In his possession are official minutes of a government defense meeting he absolutely shouldn't have. It falls to Alfred Baum of the French DST to figure out how the young man (who is killed soon after) got those documents, and what it means.
Kartun is focused on two aspects of the investigation. One is how easily things can change for the better or the worse. Baum's men try on two different occasions to apprehend people connected to young man (and the bombings, as the two are connected). Despite all the manpower he's able to assemble, all the instructions, planning, back-ups to avoid the tail being spotted, both attempts fail miserably. Partially because he and his agency underestimate who they're dealing with, but also, bluntly, because shit happens.
Likewise, things turn because Baum can't let go of an entirely different problem that's been nagging at him, which offers another avenue. Kartun writes Baum as very good at maintaining an outward even keel. Only his wife sees that he's troubled, and that because he complains his liver is bothering him and keeping him from enjoying food as much as he would like. He doesn't lose patience, doesn't press risky plans unless there's no better alternative, and he's realistic about how likely certain actions are to produce results.
Which is an ideal attitude for this work, because Kartun's other area of interest is how much in-fighting and rivalry there is within the government. The DST is only meant to deal with external threats, so they have to tread carefully. Use the police where possible, but not too much, or they'll get in the way and louse things up. Certain people must be handled delicately, because they're too important. The people truly responsible for everything get off scot-free because it would bring too much discredit and embarrassment to the country for them to actually face consequences that would inevitably become public knowledge.
The United States also sticks its nose in, suspecting Soviet involvement. At least the CIA guys do. Kartun uses Kissinger briefly in the book (this is set in the early 1980s, pre-Reagan), and he doesn't buy it, since the political left parties in France seem ready to make major gains in the upcoming elections, but his sage insight (I'm rolling my eyes as I type that) is ignored. Honestly, I was hoping the big thing the bombers had planned to really put the screws to the government was to try and kill Kissinger while he was visiting. It's fiction, it's fine if it succeeded! Preferable, really.
'Vallat, a cadaverous, pinstriped figure with the sorrowful look of a man who had worked too long with the President of France and would shortly die of it, looked at Wavre and Baum dispassionately. He did not want to know why they had questions to ask. He was totally devoid of curiosity and quite without the normal human desire to impart what he himself knew to others.'
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