SHADOWS AND GRACE

Ann Scott

(Calmann-Levy, 320 pages, 2020)

The day that the American journalist James Foley was beheaded by ISIS, Chris realized that his two sisters, both foreign correspondents who often travel from France to the Middle East, had been protecting him from the extent of the danger they face. And now, so far removed from their world, Chris begins to feel the burden of his stasis: He has made no major strides with his music, he has no vocation, and all his time seems to slip away in front of his computer as a recruit of the cyber-militant collective, the Katiba des Narvalos.

The Narvalos—undercover hackers, civil servants, former soldiers, and psychologists—infiltrate ISIS recruiters’ social media groups. This work—his work—means hours at the computer screening and flagging grisly content and glorified violence. Chris starts withdrawing from the outside world, sleeping during the day and staying up all night, scouring Twitter and Telegram. To miss one post may mean failing to prevent another attack.

 Chris’s mother and sisters seem to think, or to hope, that Chris is destined for a life outside of war zones. His mother, Collette, had covered the Vietnam War as a war photographer, and Claire and Cass have followed her lead. They fly frequently to Kuwait, Iraq, and Tehran, with the instructions, “Avoid narrow streets, remain at the periphery of crowds, make note of an exit in case of an attack.” But they are unaware of what Chris is part of, and that he has been downplaying the psychological ramifications of “anti-terro” work.

 Chris’s dark dive into jihadism networks is interwoven with nightmares of the Vietnam War, daydreams of his ideal girl, the music he is not writing, and the comings and goings of his sisters, whose adrenaline-filled assignments contrast starkly with his depression. What remains of Chris’s life outside of the Narvalos? Does his nocturnal watch redeem him, despite the personal cost?

 With taut prose that incorporates audio recording transcripts, advisories, memories, and shaky cam footage, Ann Scott exposes the darkest corners of the web to reveal lost souls drifting, lonely martyrs, and how what happens online bleeds into the real world. Chris’s story is one of grace, finally leaving the Narvalos behind, for a future where there may be hope and music.

Ann Scott is an author with a cult following in France. Her novel Superstar was celebrated as “the first credible French [postmodern] pop novel” by Jacques Braunstein for Technikart. Her novels frequently explore rock and roll, sexuality, and the lives of modern enfants terribles, themes similarly explored by her friend and former roommate Virginie Despentes. Shadows and Grace is her ninth novel.