At the time of my writing this there are still only two reviews of this series, both very critical, both giving very low ratings. While I can understand the criticisms, I think their ratings are quite harsh. This is a fairly entertaining French police procedural that I really enjoyed watching -- even to the extent that after finishing it I decided to buy and read the novel the series is based upon (Delphine de Vigan, ''Les enfants sont rois'', Folio).
One major change is in the protagonist: not only does she have a different name (Sarah Roussel instead of Claire Roussel), but a different background as well. Whereas in the novel Claire Roussel is an orphan, daughter of two leftist activists that are very anti-police, in the series Sarah Roussel is more your stereotypical television sleuth, herself the daughter of a former policeman who serves as her mentor throughout the series. Claire in the novel does everything by the book, while Sarah in the series gets herself suspended, hands over her gun, continues working on the case anyway, thereby acting in such a way that any evidence gathered would have been inadmissable in court. In short: here the usual clichés abound and quite unnecessarily so. On the other hand, Sarah has some quirks that Claire has not: dream visions of the victim for example (that play no role in the course of the story). Plus she lets herself get seduced by the victim's mother (in the novel Claire is straight and is not involved in any romantic B-story).
Why these changes? My guess is that with ''Sarah Roussel'' the producers of the series aimed to create a new character they could use in future projects without having to pay royalties to the creator of the original ''Claire Roussel''.
Another change is in the nature of the story. The series is basically a whodunnit, with lots of red herrings and suspects. In the novel the detective element is more a device to introduce us to the world of child influencers and YouTube marketing. The real question there is: is turning your child into a YouTube star something done for their benefit, a means to give them a better future, or is it actually child abuse? The novel blames the system -- the series blames the mother.
I thought both Doria Tillier (as Mélanie, the mother of the abducted Kimmie Diore) and Géraldine Nakache (as Sarah Roussel) did a great job. Let's hope there will be a second season.
