This book, set in Cannes during the film festival, illustrates the consequences of falling into the fame-power-money trap, the empty end result of being manipulated by the beauty and film machine ~ or so we're told in the book front and back cover matter.
While the insights are right-on, the plot is actually about Igor, a deranged Russian ex-soldier turned highly successful businessman who plots and randomly kills innocents as supposed proof of his love for his former wife, whom he stalks slowly, effectively. The reader is privy to his cold-blooded logic thoughout the narrative.
The paced menace of the killer keeps the reader engaged. If it's your first Paul Coelho book, be prepared to be led into a metaphysical no-man's-land where each human life is called "a universe." He quotes the Bible and Walt Whitman in the book's cryptic dedication and preface, but only a Coelho fan can fully grasp his philosophical agenda as he transports the reader, either willingly or unwillingly, to a spare yet stylish literary plateau while simultaneously bashing the evils of style.
The beginning and end of "The Winner Stands Alone" are more engaging than the middle, where the writing coasts on the strength of the plot. In the beginning chapters, the descriptions of the instruments of stealthy murder (needles, guns, drugs) are chillingly well-researched, particularly Igor's intimacy with the effects of the Beretta Px4 on human physiology.
If you enjoy being held hostage by a story, then add this to your summer reading list. You'll be either seduced or irritated by the unending luxuries enjoyed by the glitterati at Cannes, and surprised at the lives tragically sacrificed as celebrities (and wannabees) are spoiled, flattered and feted.
One becomes almost numb to the quantities of drink and champagne that, instead of adding gaiety, create a vacuum of consciousness in the major characters, people who spin so gently towards their inevitable ends, one almost sees them falling from the red carpet in slow motion.
Given that Coelho's intent is to disturb more than to inform or entertain, "The Winner Stands Alone" is a success, much the way "The Alchemist" was back in 1988. The latter has sold more than 65 million copies in over seventy languages. "Winner" was written in his native Portuguese, and has been translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
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