Offenses

'Debré's voice is Camusian, comic, stark, relentless and totally hypnotic' Rachel Kushner

Is a criminal born or made? What turns them towards violence?

A young man stabs an elderly woman ten times for the sake of a 450 euro debt. But why would he commit such a brutal murder over a petty sum, when he has a girlfriend and a child at home? How much could he lose when there is already so little to start with? Centring on a perpetrator and a victim who remain nameless - who are nobodies but could be anybody - Offenses unfolds as a contemporary parable exploring the biases and barriers built into the legal system.
Blending expertise in criminal law with her signature knife-edge prose, Constance Debré probes the intricacies of crime, punishment and accountability in this propulsive tale.