Pun Salad

This book was on the WSJ's list of the best mysteries of 2022; took me awhile, but now I've read 'em all. This one… could have been better.

That is, by the way, similar to what I thought about the other Joël Dicker novel I read ten years ago, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. I said that one had a good, twisty plot, but it was accompanied by "cardboard characters, plastic dialog, and leaden prose."

Same here. Although the plot is super twisty, the characters less plastic. And (let's be charitable) the dialog and prose woes could be due to a lackluster translation from the original French.

It's set mostly in Switzerland. A discovered corpse in Room 622 is right on page one. Although we are not told the victim's identity until much further on, and the perpetrator isn't revealed until the very end. Otherwise, the story concentrates on three characters in a love triangle stretching back decades: Lev, son of a failed comedian and actor; Anastasia, whose mother wants her to marry rich; and Macaire, scion of a banking family, who's wangling to take over the bank presidency when his father kicks the bucket.

Ah, but it's an example of autofiction as well. To add another layer of plotting, parts of the book are narrated by an author named Joël Dicker, who's in mourning for his longtime mentor/publisher, and also moaning about a tough breakup with his girlfriend. He takes off to the Hôtel de Verbier, in the Alps, where he makes the acquaintance of Scarlett Leonas, also staying there. They notice an oddity on the resort's sixth floor: room 622 is missing! (Replaced by "621A".) It is soon revealed to them that the room was the site of that murder years back. What happened? Scarlett and Joël turn into amateur sleuths, determined to track down the truth behind the enigma. Might make a good book!

The book's plot, other than the mystery, is very soap-operatic. The characters mostly behave foolishly and dishonestly, engaging in absurd subterfuges that never seem to work out to their satisfaction. Betrayal, jealousy, envy, self-sabotage, irrational hatred, fatal misunderstandings, and many more: they are all here. I assume Dicker ties up all the loose ends that pop up throughout the book by the last page, but I couldn't swear to it.

Reader, here's something I noticed: If two characters arrange a future rendezvous and one says "I promise to be there", then it's a foregone conclusion that he or she won't show up, and the consequences will matter.