It is the portrait of a man and a world lost that brush us

"The Intrusion", Adam Haslett, published simultaneously in France and in the United States, is "the novel of the crisis", as the promised his publisher. It is not the first naturally - or the last probably - mobbed the excesses of global finance, but it appears to this day as one of the most accomplished. Praise, American writer for his first book of new ("you are not alone here", the Olivier) is a storyteller outstanding - the plot is evil - and a rigorous columnist. His descriptions of a large Bank, the Federal Reserve or the frenetic daily life of a trader ring true. Above all, he managed to create a true literary work, complex characters, and the relentless comments. A power bestseller, who flirted with Balzac or Zola, with Dan Brown.

Arrogant and m'as-tu-vu

In the beginning, it is feared the large strings. A first chapter where Doug, the hero, young soldier patrolling in the Strait of Hormuz in 1988 is part of a large "blunder" military; a second chapter, twenty years later, where it is turned into yuppie that build a posh villa in the chic suburb of Boston... It is come with large hooves revenge of the young yankee of modest origin, traumatized by the war... But Adams Haslett sees much later. It is the portrait of a man and a world lost that brush us.

When it is in action, he invented his combined - creation of companies more or less legal screens, investments risky to the Japan with the help of a flamer partner - for inflating the benefits of Union Atlantic, the powerful Bank which employs him, Doug was the stuff of a hero, a devastating charisma, almost animal power. But when he finds himself alone, he suddenly loses any substance, heart and head empty as the barely furnished house which symbolizes his success. His admiring boss, his lawyer dedicated to his former captain in full depression, are only fuzzy silhouettes of a shadow theatre, where it flair manoeuvre guided by the only smell money.

Two beings humans are all the same intrusion in his sleepwalking world and try to challenge his certainties. One to challenge him: Charlotte, his neighbour, the old guard democratic representative sick of reform by the cult of the profit that he represents, m'as-tu-vu arrogance, will contest the ownership of his land. The other to worship him and to submit to his manly yoke: Nate, a young ado drift, very similar to Doug young. Seduced by the male trader insurance, it will be available to him, proposing, to please him to spy on the nearby which gives private lessons of history. In both cases, Doug remains master of the game, but draws no joy, overtaken by the absurdity of his condition.

"Intrusion" is the terrible metaphor of America is governed by the only reports of force, the pure greed, where the absence of States of soul and compassion package the victory. The wire - electric - only Adam Haslett takes between mad quest for profit and sexual enslavement (of a minor in this case) is a large bold. But Doug, the cursed Angel, is not afraid of the punishment - it has long been in hell... Rigorous narrative, incisive dialogue, scenes these entrenched (like the Babylonian feast organized on the eve of September 11 by Holland, the pattern of Doug): "Intrusion" is a big moralistic novel, a pamphlet without mercy against traders and their works. Shocking, brilliant as an ingot of gold thrown in the pool.