Passed a little unnoticed when it was released in April 2022, on the Nextory audiobook and e-book streaming platform, the Impact audio series is now available on all the usual listening media. And this is very good news because the adaptation of the eponymous bestseller by Olivier Norek, a thriller with the air of an ecological manifesto (ed. Michel Lafon, 2020), is remarkable in its genre.

Nextory had the good idea to call on Thomas Baumgartner, who knows sound better than well, its particularities, its possibilities and its requirements – editor-in-chief of Radio Nova, deputy editorial manager of Arte Radio, he has produced a number of programs for France Culture before co-founding Wave.audio. That the latter entrusted the adaptation to Angelo Cianci, who took up the challenge of adapting the original 348 pages in 5 episodes of about twenty minutes.

Moreover, much more than an adaptation in audio, it is a real work of rewriting. Refusing from the outset to rely on a voice-over, Angelo Cianci beefed up the dialogues and let the action take control to push the ear: in fact, and as much to admit here, placed in total immersion, the listener is likely to indulge in “binging” all the episodes.

Successful distribution

But maybe it’s time to pause and try to sum up Impact: Since his daughter was stillborn due to pollution, Virgil Solal has been furious and decides to make those he holds responsible pay : big bosses, financiers, politicians. When the first episode begins, this eco-terrorist at the head of Greenwar, a kind of armed wing of Greenpeace, holds the CEO of the Total group hostage, while a police inspector and a psychocriminologist are responsible for arresting him.

For the two directors, Mélanie Pazzle and Lucie Bortot, the challenge was to give the best possible understanding of this committed thriller: that “it sounds real”, that it be rhythmic – the original music by David Sztanke, who works in particular with Quentin Dupieux and Jérôme Bonnell, participate greatly in it – and let it be embodied. In this, the distribution is successful. Alexis Michalik (Le Chant du loup, Edmond…) is perfect as a cop; Shirine Boutella (Papicha, Lupin, Validé…) embodies a shrink full of impeccable TOC and Arthur Dupont (The Outsider, Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie) is Virgil Solal. Let us add that we will be able to hear with undisguised pleasure the one we already regret on France Inter (her daily passing into weekly): Charline Vanhoenacker.

Finally, icing on the cake and rare enough to be noted, Olivier Norek is “very happy” with the adaptation. What is amusing is that this former cop, reconverted into thriller and himself participating in the writing of series (Engrenages, Les Invisibles), did not want to stick to it. On the contrary, because what he likes is, he tells us, seeing how screenwriter and director take hold of his work to, “with their sensitivity, make it a radically new object”.

It should be very well served since Impact will also be the subject of a TV series directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. And, until then, Olivier Norek has a few projects on the go – including a new audio series adaptation. Our ears rejoice.