August 30, 1975. The day of the disappearance. The day a small New Hampshire town lost its innocence.
That summer Harry Quebert fell in love with fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan. Thirty-three years later, her body is dug up from his yard along with a manuscript copy of his career-defining novel. Quebert is the only suspect.
Marcus Goldman – Quebert’s most gifted protégé – throws off his writer’s block to clear his mentor’s name. Solving the case and penning a new bestseller soon blur together. As his book begins to take on a life of its own, the nation is gripped by the mystery of ‘The Girl Who Touched the Heart of America’. But with Nola, in death as in life, nothing is ever as it seems.
Joël Dicker was born on June 16th 1985 in Switzerland. He received his Masters of Law from the University of Geneva in 2010. At age ten he founded his own magazine, La Gazette des Animaux. At age 20 he started writing short fiction stories and got awarded with the International Prize for Youg French-speaking Authors in 2005. In 2010 he won the Prix des Ecrivains Genevois for his book Les Derniers Jours de Nos Pères.
This book has been buzzing around on my radar for a while already. In the Netherlands it has been released earlier this year and found his way to the number 1 on the best-seller list quickly. And I feel it does belong there. I enjoyed reading this book. The story is having a lot of layers and a great mystery to solve.
Marcus is very human. Making mistakes all the time and weird or even wrong decisions. Depending on what you want or expect from him as a reader you will like him or not. Specially in the letting down friends and family department his score is not that brilliant. I actually did like him in the end though it took me some time to realize. He does everything he can in the end to make up and not like some superhero and maybe not always with the right motives but he tries.
Harry stays a bit of a mystery despite the fact that his whole life seems to be investigated. I found it difficult to get a real view on him.
I really liked Gahalowood too even though I did not really understand his motivation to help Marcus out. I was not even sure if he understood himself. Still his grumpiness adds a nice touch to the whole investigation.
Even though the story is brought as a mystery police investigation like novel there is much more to the story. Marcus is totally lost after the success of his first novel and needs to find himself. The situation in the close knit town of Somerset with all the secrets that come with it. The story about the love between Harry and Nola even though that did give me some creeps at points, 15 year old and 30 year old but talking about real love, and would make a great point for a book group discussion
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair
Author: Joël Dicker
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 656
Format: eGalley
ISBN-10: 0143126687
ISBN-13: 9780143126683
Original title: La Vérité sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert
Penguin Books: eBook | Audiobook | Paperback
2 reacties
Write reactiesThe synopsis makes this sound SO appealing. It's a maybe read for me, but I'll keep my eye out for it.
ReplyIt's good to hear that there is more to this than a mystery story. I don't usually go for those ;) This one sounds a bit meatier and I've seen it around a lot lately. That must mean something!
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