#1 bestselling author Todd Babiak “reinvents thrillers” in this heart-stopping Christopher Kruse novel (Edmonton Journal)

To save his marriage, security agent Christopher Kruse took his family on a sabbatical in the south of Mitterrand-era France. Instead of finding romance, in Come Barbarians Kruse entered a web of political deceit and murder, resulting in the tragic deaths of his wife and young daughter. Haunted by loss and regret, and now bound by a contract with the unscrupulous mayor of Paris, he remains in France. There, he keeps a watchful eye over a Parisian woman and her daughter, so like his own, whose lives have grown entangled with his.

When a grenade attack in the Jewish quarter injures the mayor and kills a charismatic politician on the rise, Kruse is catapulted back into the maelstrom of organized crime and dirty politics. Zoé, a young woman working for a shadowy division of the French clandestine services, hires Kruse and his old colleague and mentor, Tzvi, to hunt down the leader of the attack. The mission leads him not to redemption but down a rabbit hole of deception and violence, and into an unlikely affair.

As extreme politics, the rise of terror and globalization threaten Europe, Kruse must determine where the danger lies, not only to protect a country that has failed him but to save what’s left of himself.

Todd Babiak is an award-winning author, journalist and screenwriter. His second novel, The Garneau Block, was a #1 regional bestseller, a longlisted title for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the winner of the City of Edmonton Book Prize. His third novel, The Book of Stanley, is in development for television. Babiak is a columnist for the Edmonton Journal and on the board of PEN Canada. Visit his website at www.toddbabiak.com.

Todd Babiak's profile page

“Imagine the depth of feeling in Catcher in the Rye—but add terrorists. . . . A terrific and meaningful chapter in the life of Kruse.” — Edmonton Journal

“With edge-of-your seat action and crackling tension, Son of France is a non-stop political thriller and engrossing new novel.” — cbc.ca

“Beautiful prose. . . . The book is cheaper than a trip to Paris and offers the thrills of hunting down terrorists without the real-life dangers.” — Publishers Weekly

“Come Barbarians is a heart-wrenching and heart-stopping thriller filled with powerful demonstrations of familial love as well as remarkable, chilling violence. Babiak masterfully negotiates these two extremes in this fast-paced, intelligent novel that had me white-knuckled until the last page.” — Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street