Primetime

Millions of viewers turn on their televisions at eight in the evening, but today on the largest French television channel, they will see not just the news. Today, they will witness a live broadcast that they will never forget.
In the television studio, before the audience's eyes, an unknown masked figure takes beloved television host Paul Daki-Ferran hostage and forbids the broadcast from being turned off under the threat of killing this favorite of all France. He agrees to negotiate only with the channel's employee, Charlene, who is disillusioned with her profession and life. With the support of a trained negotiator, Charlene begins a game where every word matters too much, while the Paris investigative department, special forces, politicians, and channel employees try to free the hostages and uncover the identity hidden beneath the mask. However, some of those who found themselves in the television studio on this terrible night have their own secret goals...

Maxime Chattam — a French thriller star, an avid investigator of evil and horror, holder of prestigious awards, and author of novels that sell millions of copies in France and have become bestsellers in another two dozen countries. In the novel «Primetime», he uncompromisingly exposes all the terrible and absurd things that lie in each of our souls — our desire for complicity in horror from a safe distance, our willingness to believe beautifully presented lies. The media manipulate the public. The public thirsts for spectacle. Everyone's hands are stained with blood.