The Zero Season

by Justin T. Clark

In post-WWII Paris, a Cambodian student radical and French drifter play a dangerous game of lust and revenge.

It is 1949, and young Etienne Legast is in trouble. Estranged from his pious Catholic family, having fled a messy love affair with an older man at the end of the war, he returns home to Paris for a funeral, only to find himself quick drawn into a deadly debt to a neighborhood gangster and an unexpected romance with Samphan, an orphaned Cambodian student radical. Though the two young men come from different worlds, they soon develop a bond that helps them transcend their respective tragedies – until revolutionary political intrigues and the Parisian underworld threaten to pull them under once more.

212 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2022

Reviews

[Mayee]

As a teenager, I loved Graham Greene and George Orwell for situating rich characters in the complex turbulent colonial milieus of the 1930s to the 1950s. "The Zero Season" brings me back to post-WWII France and scenes of prewar Cambodia and the moral dilemmas, tensions and ambivalences of the era in the spirit of Greene and Orwell, but with succinct prose driving an intense and absorbing narrative. We are introduced to two protagonists, who, through their subterranean desires, are led to each other but are also divided in their destinies. The novel provides the reader with a nuanced depiction of the nascent sentiments of decolonialisation in the French metropole, especially through the perspective of the young Cambodian student radical, Samphan.

This book reads fast but it leaves an emotional impact that lingers.

[Rachael Goh]

Not gonna lie, I was a little confused during the first few chapters but once the plot started to pick up at around Chapter 8, I couldn't put the book down! Contrary to my worries the story is accessible despite my lacking History knowledge. Of course, after reading up about the French protectorate of Cambodia and the Khmer rebellion, things made more sense.

It's a lovely read. Etienne and Sam are very secretive about their private lives, but it's interesting to see how they are more similar than they think, by experiencing similar feelings of grief, indignance, and going through a whole lot of misunderstandings. Also, how ironic that there is this loving relationship between a French and Cambodian when the backdrop of the story is conflict between the two nationalities!

Overall, a compelling read that I enjoyed. Congratulations (belatedly) on the debut novel.

[Kiki]

It's been a while since I was captivated by a book. This grabbed my attention and held it till I flew through the whole thing. A historical thriller I would call it, exploring themes of homosexuality, political radicalism, family, and immigration among other things. Let it whisk you away but choose a time when you can obsessively read in all your free time.

[CHAN CHEOW THIA]

A gripping read, with rich complex characters and absorbing historical details. I'm hoping it'll have a sequel, set in the Southeast Asia, à la Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Child of All Nations.

[Effreads]

A gripping and moving story.
A 2022 highlight!

[Orlando Fato]

This was a very engaging and fast-paced novel. The storylines of the two main characters were intriguing, offering a deep dive into their psyches and experiences during that period in history. However, I would have rated it 5 stars if the author had developed their relationship more consistently throughout the novel. After their initial encounter, the characters don’t cross paths again for over 100 pages, which made me wonder about their fate as a potential couple. Suddenly, it is revealed that they had actually met five more times. Why did the author choose not to write about it in at least one additional chapter? I found it puzzling that the characters didn’t think about each other more frequently throughout the novel, especially given their chemistry and personal struggles with their sexuality at the time.

Nonetheless, the plot was well-developed and filled with twists and turns that kept me eagerly turning the pages. I also loved the ending, which left me wanting more and hoping the author would consider writing a sequel. I'm looking forward to a movie adaptation of this book, which speaks volumes about how much I enjoyed it.