Marcus Goldman is riding high. The twenty-eight-year-old writer is the new darling of American letters, whose debut novel has sold two million copies. But when it comes time to produce a new book, he is sidelined by a crippling case of writer’s block. He travels to Somerset, New Hamprshire, to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country’s most respected writers, hoping to jar his creative juices as his publisher’s deadline looms. But Marcus’s plans are upended when Harry is sensationally implicated in a cold-case murder: Fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan went missing in 1975, and Harry admits to having had an affair with her. Following a trail of clues through the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, Marcus must answer two questions, which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? And how do you write a book to save someone’s life?
Translated from the French by Sam Taylor
Named a Best Book of the Summer by CBS This Morning, Us Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Parade, Houston Chronicle, New York Post, Tampa Bay Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Daily Beast
Now a 10-part TV series on EPIX, starring Patrick Dempsey, Ben Schnetzer, Damon Wayans Jr., and Virginia Madsen
Spoiler CW/TW
Dear Joel Dicker,
I heard a Russian speaking book blogger briefly discussing the Russian translation of this book in a very positive way. I love mysteries and I decided that this may serve as a perfect introduction to your works which I was completely unfamiliar with. I bought a Russian translation as well – if the English language is not the language of the original, I am not very concerned with which translation of the book I am reading, but I am attaching the cover for the English translation that readers can check out (or a French original of course if you read French).
Let me say this right off the bat. I could not put this book down. It had 718 pages on my kindle, and I read it almost in one sitting, definitely in one Sunday. There were SO many twists and turns that I could not predict and so many suspects and each of them could have a reason to kill poor Nola as we learn as the book moves along. The book however is not just the investigation of the cold case, this is also the book about the writing and I really enjoyed that and how all the storylines fit together.
The investigation of the cold case, or “not so cold” case which it becomes quite early in our story, actually becomes the subject of the book that our main character Marcus Goldman starting to write in order to find out the truth and prove his mentor’s innocence. I actually have never read a book which has the chapters countdown backwards – it makes perfect sense in this story because the last chapter is titled 1 “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.” We also learn that when Harry was mentoring younger Marcus he gave Marcus 31 pieces of advice on how to become a writer and he made Marcus write them down starting from number 31.
There is also a lot of a meta talk about who the writers are, what the publishers will do for publicity and a lot of other fun stuff, but for me it did not detract from the murder investigation at all, it was just part of the plot.
I suppose Marcus becomes an amateur detective of sorts in addition to being a writer (and battling writer’s block or as he says in the beginning “the syndrome of the blank page”). Him being an amateur detective worked very well for me, but I guess he was also lucky in a sense that the cop with whom he shared information grew to like him and did not mind him investigating and as I said Marcus shared information and to me did not behave as an idiot even if he missed stuff at times and several times was forced to reevaluate things.
The vast majority of the characters were very flawed and some of them I could relate to and to some not at all, and feel very little sympathy. Like I did not care much whether Harry actually killed Nola or not. I mean I wanted to find out for the sake of the plot, sure, but he had an affair with a fifteen year old teenager. He LOVED her so much. SO MUCH. Eww. Sorry, no other reaction was forthcoming from me. I certainly had fun with the book, but it will not be a reread, probably ever.
Grade: B+
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Sirius
Sirius started reading books when she was four and reading and discussing books is still her favorite hobby. One of her very favorite gay romances is Tamara Allen’s Whistling in the Dark. In fact, she loves every book written by Tamara Allen. Amongst her other favorite romance writers are Ginn Hale, Nicole Kimberling, Josephine Myles, Taylor V. Donovan and many others. Sirius’ other favorite genres are scifi, mystery and Russian classics. Sirius also loves travelling, watching movies and long slow walks.
