[In the following review, Daniell offers a positive assessment of Plateforme, which he finds “entertaining and insightful” despite its offensiveness.]

Michel Houellebecq's third novel, Plateforme, looks at a society that is becoming devoid of meaning. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that this emptiness threatens not only materialistic Westerners but also the anticapitalist forces desperately trying to forestall globalization, especially in the name of religious or political ideology.

The novel centers around Michel, a forty-year-old exhibits agent for the French Ministry of Culture. In the opening chapter, he must deal with his father's murder by the brother of Aïcha, the father's young Muslim girlfriend. The facts surrounding the murder seem a curiosity at the time; however, the two primary motifs for the text sex and violence, emerge from the crime.

Though Michel was not close to his father, he still needs the break afforded by a tour package to Thailand. During the tour, he meets Valérie, a travel agent with whom he eventually forms intimate social and business relations.

The couple, along with a colleague in the travel industry, develops the idea of replacing some of the company's Eldorador Aventure resorts, which feature nightclubs and nature holidays, with Eldorador Aphrodite resorts, which cater to the sexual adventurer. They persuade a major tour operator to finance the highly profitable scheme, but with the threat of losing their financial backing should the project come under fire. At one of these resorts in Thailand, the sex and the violence, which have remained apart for much of the novel, finally collide starkly and abruptly.

Although the text's rhythm has an American feel to it (Houellebecq has also published research on H. P. Lovecraft), sex and violence play reverse roles. Sexual activity, exclusively for leisure, comes to the forefront and becomes an entertainment staple of the professional classes. These scenes typically range from clinical to erotic, but their sheer quantity rivals the amount of violence seen in much American popular entertainment.

Violence in Plateforme, on the contrary, lurks in the background as the domain of Parisian street thugs and Islamic terrorists. Following the incident in the opening chapter, it becomes anonymous and distant. As the story progresses, it grows closer and more extreme. After a street brawl one night leaves seven dead near Valérie's office, Michel asks her whether she could use a gun in self-defense. She replies, “Quand j'étais petite … même pas capable de tuer un poulet.” Michel's reaction epitomizes the degree to which the increasing violence has devalued human life: “À vrai dire, moi non plus; mais un homme, ça me paraissait nettement plus facile.”

Despite Houellebecq's straightforward, almost breezy style, the problems he tackles are hardly simple or trivial. Less controversial issues may appear in the narrative, as when he discusses the state of the art world or the dangers of unfettered materialism. He proves to be especially adept at using dialogue to approach touchier issues such as corporate misconduct, sexual tourism, or Islamic fundamentalism. What appears in these pages will offend or disturb some readers, but the narrative format and writing style both manage to keep the text at once entertaining and insightful.