Book Review: Writer goes undercover for insight into policing in Paris

Valentin Gendrot’s account of his time spent undercover in the police made a stir when it was published in France last year, and is now available in English in a skilled translation by Frank Wynne.

A police patrol in Paris: Gendrot quickly learns that ‘bastard hunt’ refers to a patrol looking to make arrests and the ‘bastards’ are usually non-white.

• Cop
• Valentin Gendrot 
• Scribe, €12