French Intelligence will lead the investigation and Chief of Police Bruno is seconded to support them.
Published in 2014 there are still French forces stationed in Afghanistan as the American forever war drags on. Jihadists are present in France as with every other Western county.
The investigation becomes personal and local when a young Muslim boy Sami Belloumi, who grew up in St. Denis, seeks to come home from Afghanistan but radicalized French Muslims are seeking him. They do not want him to talk about how he came to leave France.
At the same time St. Denis can potentially receive a large bequest from the estate of a wealthy Jewish Paris doctor and professor, David Halevy. During WW II David and his sister, Maya, were saved from the Nazis by being secretly taken in by a farm family near St. Denis.
Even though it has been seventy years since the war Bruno and Mayor, Gerard Mangin, are surpised there are no memories of the children. They set out to find out what happened.
Walker is brilliant at involving the people of St. Denis in investigations and bringing into the story historic connections often little known.
The Mayor will personally check town records concerning children.
Florence Pantowsky, a school teacher, has set up a computer club. Florence and her students will search the internet for information.
Bruno learns about the Jewish Boy Scouts of France as Halevy was its honourary President. To his surprise he learns there were four French Boy Scout organizations in that era (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim). The Jewish and Protestant Boy Scouts hid Jewish children in rural France.
Bruno’s biological clock for having children is also ticking. He wants a partner and children. He does not want to wait more years. He loves Pamela, the English lady living nearby, but she has no interest in marriage and no desire for children.
Sami returns, emaciated and in a psychological quagmire. When a child, his autism was never really addressed.
Sami’s situation is complicated by what he did in Afghanistan. American, European and Canadian governments will want to try him if he is not tried in France. For France the question of what is to be done with a citizen who turned against his country in the conflicts of the 2010’s and has returned deeply damaged is complex. France is a nation governed by the Rule of Law. Dictatorships have simple solutions.
The non-radicalized family of Sami back in France is also at risk.
The investigations into the past concerninig the Halevy children and the present with regard to Sami are thought provoking.
There is a profoundly moving meeting between the teenagers of St. Denis and Maya.
There is action as well as intellectual examination.
The Children Return is another satisfying journey to St. Denis. The book reminded me that Chief of Police Bruno was a soldier before he was a police officer and experienced in combat.
I have the next in the series beside me and look forward to reading it as my next book.
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