We’re on the verge of disaster! Catherine Dufour has decided to write a sci-fi romance with all the usual love scenes but…of course not, because Catherine Dufour is still Catherine Dufour with her caustic humour winning out in the end. Add to that a delectable metaphor on the world of work and a love for Paris that shines through the fantasy creatures that haunt these pages and you get an addictively funny novel.

Just a Word, Nicolas Winter, 8 October 2018

After SF, it’s now urban fantasy

The writer returns this year to L’Atalante with an urban fantasy novel presented by the editor as “humorous anti-Twilight”. Following an article written for the Monde Diplomatique devoted to two literary phenomena Twilight and Fifty Shades, Catherine Dufour had the idea of writing her own tortured romance novel. A risky venture, because the balance between pure and simple transposition and straight parody is often difficult to find. It must be said that the author has succeeded rather well. The narrative is packed with humour but still portrays a story of tragic love, all the while presenting many themes relevant to the society of today.

[…]

The circumstances in which the two characters meet are mostly used as pretexts to depict the condition of the business world today. Catherine Dufour portrays a company in which all the employees are controlled and permanently observed by their hierarchy and their colleagues, and where the quest for cost effectiveness results in absurd situations. And the worst thing about it all is that it’s not just the wild ideas of a paranoiac SF writer but well and truly the techniques employed in certain companies today.

[…]

Catherine Dufour’s novel has depth, due to, among other things, her numerous influences. For example, Baudelaire can be cited (certain lines of whom were chosen to serve as a title for the novel) and also Shakespeare (notably the character of Richard III whose lines can be found in the narrative).

Catherine Dufour has won her wager with Entends la nuit, a novel which is a refreshingly coherent ensemble. A story of improbable love stripped bare of all sentimentality, a heroine with character, extraordinary walks within the Paris walls, issues linked to the world of work: an explosive cocktail of ingredients that the writer has succeeded in arranging in an unexpected manner for a successful whole. Note that the final scene doesn’t rule out a sequel, something that the author hasn’t rejected either…

Boudicca, 7 November 2018

So this novel is the image of its author, funny and committed… and therefore a must-read!

Fantastinet, Allan, 10 November 2018