Delacorta — Diva

Bloomsbury 1997 Paperback, 136pp. Made into a modern French film classic, this is another novel in the 'NFT/BFI Film Classics' series. Young Jules is a motorcycle messenger in Paris, and an enthusiastic fan of classical music and opera; he's also a groupie of divas. One diva in particular is Cynthia Hawkins, an American opera singer who has never made a recording. Jules secretly records one Cynthia Hawkins concert, and shares the tape with his teenaged friend Alba, who shares the tape with her (adult) companion Serge. Serge is a career criminal. In his mid 30's, he shares his life with Alba, a precocious teenage beauty whom he has 'liberated' from parental control. Serge has an idea to make a great deal of money from the Cynthia Hawkins tape. Meanwhile, Nadia is a 27 year old who works for Saporta. Saporta controls the largest narcotics and prostitution ring in Paris. Nadia records harmful evidence against Saporta on a cassette tape. Nadia's cassette is erroneously dropped into Jules' satchel (on his motorbike). Soon, Jules is being chased by the cops, as well as gangsters, though he has no idea why. Saporta mobilizes his entire crime organization to retrieve the tape from Jules. Locating Jules in Paris is not easy. There are cops and gangsters combing paris for Jules and the tape of Nadia's accusations. There is also a furious underground bidding war for Jules' tape of Cynthia Hawkins' concert. Marked on inside front cover. (ISBN: 9780747531821). Good.