The Translator 2020

The looming publication of the final installment in the globally acclaimed Dedalus trilogy sets off a high-stakes, high-security operation. To prevent leaks and spoilery data, a complete isolation strategy is adopted: nine translators, each representing the markets where Dedalus sells best, are relocated to a fortified bunker to translate the manuscript into their respective languages. The mysterious author behind the sensation remains unnamed, but the project is steered from behind the scenes by Éric Angstrom, the publisher, who is determined to control every facet of the translation process.

Inside the bunker, the translators work in tightly monitored, bite-sized segments. Every day brings a fresh, carefully trimmed slice of the secret book, handed out to the team with the expectation that trust and secrecy will hold. Yet the pressure is immense. The first ten pages find their way onto the Internet through an anonymous leak, shattering the illusion of total security. In tandem, a chilling ransom note arrives, demanding five million euros to avert further disclosures. Angstrom intensifies the pressure, turning the translators into targets of suspicion and coercion as he tries to extract more control over the situation.

The mood in the bunker grows tense and fear-filled as suspicion spirals. Angstrom’s methods—pressure, intimidation, and relentless probing—foment paranoia among the group. The strain becomes personal, and fractures emerge within the once-cohesive team. The pressure proves fatal for one translator, Helene, whose suicide exposes the deadly consequences of the publisher’s ruthless push for domination over the publication and the lives of those tasked with translating it.

Meanwhile, through a series of flashbacks, the audience learns about Alex Goodman, the English translator who has his own scheme. Goodman plans to steal the manuscript and, as the story unfolds, appears to have copied the book from Angstrom even before the translation project officially began. The revelations hint at a web of deception that extends beyond the bunker walls, suggesting that several translators may have manipulated the process or aligned with covert motives.

As more pages surface, the crisis inside the bunker escalates. In a violent turn, Angstrom shoots Goodman and the Russian translator Katerina, pushing the situation into a full-blown crisis. The trusted security forces, once loyal to Angstrom and his plans, turn against him, leading to Angstrom’s arrest. The translators, now faced with the consequences of the chaos surrounding the manuscript, are left to grapple with the wreckage of the project and the moral ambiguities of their involvement.

In a later confrontation, Goodman visits the imprisoned Angstrom and reveals a startling truth: he is Oscar Brach, the elusive author who had sought to manipulate the industry from within. Disguised as a translator, Goodman had been living a double life to expose Angstrom’s greed and coercive methods. The revelation reframes everything the group has endured, casting Angstrom’s actions in a new, damning light.

The tale also recounts Georges, a bookseller who was killed by Angstrom after he refused to continue working with him. Goodman had known Georges since childhood and had shown him his own work, Dedalus, under the condition that Georges pretend to be the author. This backstory deepens the sense of betrayal and motive behind the publisher’s brutal choices, tying Georges’s death to Angstrom’s relentless pursuit of control over the book and its publication.

With Angstrom behind bars and Goodman’s true identity finally laid bare, the puzzle of Dedalus is resolved in a way that vindicates the unconventional plan to expose the publisher’s greed. The narrative closes on the note that Goodman’s true identity is secured and Georges’s murder is avenged, leaving a complicated legacy of ambition, art, and the price of safeguarding literary truth. The tension between literary greatness and the mechanisms of power remains a constant undercurrent, ensuring that the final pages of Dedalus carry the weight of both revelation and consequence.