the decision

Karine Tuil

(Editions Gallimard, 288 pages, 2022)

*** RIGHTS SOLD TO GERMANY AND ITALY ***

An immediate best-seller with +120,000 copies sold in three months

Paris, May 2016, in the heart of the counterterrorism unit: this is where, in a top-security wing of the Courthouse, examining magistrates under the coordination of the charismatic and respected Alma Revel, conduct inquiries and investigations, and interrogate all those who have been arrested and charged with acts of terrorism.

But at the age of 49, Alma, mother of three children and married to Ezra Halevi, a former bestselling author whose reputation is now fading, is in the midst of a personal crisis: several months earlier, she started an affair with a lawyer who is now representing a young couple accused of joining ISIS in Syria, and who swear this is a mistake and they have done nothing wrong.

Alma has a difficult decision to make, not least deciding whether to release or not suspects against whom she has no proof. And on a more personal level, can she continue a relationship with these suspects’ lawyer, however much in love she does feel? 

This book questions our relationship to freedom, and offers a detailed picture of contemporary violence through an account of the day-to-day life of an anti-terrorist judge. It is also the portrait of a powerful woman, torn between desire and duty.   

Karine Tuil’s previous (2019) novel Les Choses humaines (sold in 17 languages, English language still available) won the “Prix Goncourt des Lycéens” and the “Prix Interallié” and was recently adapted for the screen.