In his autobiographical novel 'In the Heart of Violence,' French bestselling author Édouard Louis reconstructs the events of a dramatic night that forever changed his life. On a December night at the Place de la République in Paris, Édouard encounters a young man. He actually intends to go home, but they start a conversation. It quickly becomes clear that it is a spontaneous meeting. Édouard takes Reda, the son of an immigrant with roots in Algeria, back to his small apartment. They talk, they laugh, but what begins as a tender flirtation turns into a night that ends with Reda threatening Édouard with a gun. By recounting themes of childhood, desire, migration, and racism, Louis makes invisible forms of violence visible. A novel that, like 'The End of Eddy,' aims straight for the heart of our present - political, gripping, and wide awake.