The Enigma of Room 622: A Novel

Description

A burnt-out thriller writer desperate to regain his creative spark becomes intrigued by a decade-old unsolved murder at a glamorous Alpine hotel in this meticulously crafted novel-a matryoshka doll of a mystery built with the precision of a Swiss watch-from the internationally bestselling author of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. One December night, a corpse is found in Room 622 of the Hotel Verbier, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. An intense police investigation begins, yet few leads are found. Time passes, and without any breaks in the case, public interest wanes. Years later, Joel Dicker, Switzerland's novelist extraordinaire, arrives at the Verbier to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his longtime publisher, and hopefully begin a new novel. While trying to solve the puzzle of his next book, Joel's expertise in the art of the thriller put to the test when he decides to play Sherlock Holmes and look into the hotel's long-unsolved murder case. He finds his Watson in Scarlett, a beautiful aspiring novelist staying in the next room, who joins Dicker in the investigation. Meanwhile, in the wake of his father's passing, Macaire Ebezner is poised to take over as president of the largest private bank in Switzerland. The succession captivates the news media, and the future looks bright-until it doesn't. The bank's board, including Lev Levovitch-Geneva's very own Jay Gatsby-has other plans, and Macaire's triumphant rise to the top soon becomes a race against time. The Enigma of Room 622 is a diabolically addictive thriller in which a love triangle, a power struggle, shocking betrayals, and deadly envy play out against the backdrop of a not so placid Switzerland, as the truth twists and turns into something most . . . unexpected. Translated from the French by Robert Bononno

JOEL DICKER was born in Geneva in 1985, where he later studied Law. His first novel was awarded the Prix des Ecrivains Genevois. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert) was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt and won the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie Francaise and the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens. SAM TAYLOR is a novelist and journalist who has lived in France for more than a decade. His first literary translation was Laurence Binet's HHhH, which was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

"Joel Dicker's innovative page-turner ... weds the allure of a jigsaw puzzle with the split-second timing of an Agatha Christie mystery.... [The Enigma of Room 622 is an] exhilarating tour de force"-The Wall Street Journal -- Wall Street Journal "This astonishingly smart, emotionally satisfying, and strangely intimate novel is not to be missed." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "How is the latest Joel Dicker? ...Tension crackles on every page. Melodrama veers to suspense ... [Dicker] has mastered the genre." -- Le Figaro "A tale of romance, masterful duplicity, and... [a] cleverly jigsawed plot, [The Enigma of Room 622 is both]... homage to Agatha Christie, and ... a touching farewell to Dicker's late publisher." -- Booklist Praise for previous title: "Joel Dicker is a bright ... star of suspense." -- Lisa Gardner Praise for previous title: "Unimpeachably perfect.... It's [Dicker's] light touch and engaging voice that make [his] writing so infectious." -- The New York Times Book Review [Dicker] stages his drama as masquerade and, at curtain call, finally takes off the mask. In a novel where the clues are interwoven with such precision, Dicker's true loyalties are pronounced loud and clear: paternal love..., writing, his mentor Bernard, ... Albert Cohen, Tolstoy, and Garcia Marquez, and attachment to his city, Geneva. -- La Tribune de Geneve In short... [The Enigma of Room 622 is] a simmering concoction that even Agatha Christie would find irresistible, ...[taking the reader] along for a dizzying ride. -- Le Parisien With The Enigma of Room 622, Dicker's strengths as a storyteller resurface once again ... we are caught in a fascinating assembly of clues -constructing and reconstructing scenes during which the characters disappear into an elaborate game of charades. -- Le Journal du Dimanche Even if means writing another page-turner, Joeel Dicker gives us his all, having as much fun playing with conventions as ever, and, in turn, elevating the detective novel to new heights -- Le Soir One of the most widely read Francophone authors in the world... [Dicker] knows how to captivate readers ... twist and turns ... meticulous investigations, he jumps back and forth in time, all the better to lose us yet drive us impatient for the final denouement. Pure reading pleasure. -- Lire