Review by New York Times Review
LET'S BE HONEST, no one likes literary Wunderkinder. Twentyeight-year-olds are bad enough. Twenty-eight-year-olds whose first books become blockbusters? That's just irritating. Joel Dicker, the 28-year-old Swiss author behind "The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair," doesn't even have the decency to write dreck. His darkly comic debut thriller (already a blockbuster in Europe!) is unimpeachably terrific. The book is written in the voice of another literary Wunderkind, Marcus Goldman. His first book, published when he was 28, met with blazing success and universal praise. He has a "plush apartment" in the Village, a Range Rover, a multi-book deal, a deadline and a secretary named Denise. He is a big deal. "Even the harshest critics on the East Coast all agreed: Young Marcus Goldman was destined to become one of our great writers." But Marcus has a problem. The book his public, and his publisher, are anxiously awaiting? He hasn't written it. Marcus has writer's block. "My terror of the blank page did not hit me suddenly," he tells us; "it crept over me bit by bit, as if my brain were slowly freezing up." Desperate to recover his mojo, Marcus seeks counsel from his Norman Mailer-like mentor, Harry Quebert, a gruff, grandiose, tough-talking romantic who uses boxing to illustrate writing tips and is best known for a book he wrote in the '70s. He is a font of wisdom. "Only write fiction," he advises Marcus. "Anything else will just bring you trouble." Harry lives in the coastal hamlet of Somerset, N.H. - a town that "no one had ever heard of," Dicker writes, "before it provided the setting for a scandal that shook the nation in the summer of 2008" - and he invites Marcus to his house to write. This doesn't go well. Marcus is a lousy houseguest. He's mopey and jealous and paralyzed by his desire to write a masterpiece. "Your overambitiousness always did get on my nerves," Harry tells him. "How old are you, exactly?" Marcus returns to New York, finds Denise another job and gives up all hope of making his deadline. Then his agent calls with shocking news. "My God, turn on the TV! It's about Harry Quebert! It's Quebert!" A dead teenage girl has been discovered buried on Harry's property and Harry has been arrested, kicking off "the biggest scandal in the history of publishing," and finally giving Marcus something to write about. The girl buried in Harry's yard is Ñola Kellergan, a local 15-yearold who has been missing since the summer of 1975, the very summer Harry first came to Somerset, and the summer he wrote his magnum opus, "The Origin of Evil." One thing is for sure: It definitely doesn't look good that a typed manuscript is discovered with the body. Is the improbable love story at the center of "The Origin of Evil" (winner of both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award) in fact a true-life account of Harry's relationship with Nola? And what's up with the creepy title? Luckily, everyone from 1975 has stayed in town and is available for Marcus to interview. They just want to be listed in the acknowledgments. Dicker spins a playful, pageturning whodunit, dense with suspects, multiple timelines, contradicting stories, past sins, town secrets, personal entanglements and an array of colorful (suspiciously behaving) locals, including a disfigured chauffeur, a lovelorn cop and a depressed, motorcycle-riding minister. If Norman Mailer had been accused of murder and Truman Capote had collaborated with Dominick Dunne on a tell-all about it, the result might have turned out something like this. Though I suspect this version may be funnier. It's all very wry. At one point a local couple throw a fancy brunch for Harry, and the wife, who has promised her guests a big announcement, is forced to improvise when he doesn't show. "Robert has cancer," she informs her guests. "He's going to die." Dicker continues: "Everyone was deeply moved, including Robert himself, who had no idea and wondered when the doctor had called and why his wife had not told him." Marcus stays at Harry's beach house as he pieces together the puzzle and waits for the results of an improbably thorough handwriting analysis. But when he starts receiving threats, pressure mounts. He is in a race against time. But it's not the killer he's worried about, it's his publisher. Content is being leaked. Ghostwriters are waiting in the wings. The publisher wants more sex. Marcus is a self-entitled twerp, but he's our self-entitled twerp, and he is tireless in his effort to protect Harry and his legacy. He lives by Harry's writing maxims, peppered liberally throughout the book: "You see, boxing and writing are very similar. ..." Harry is full of gems. "If only orphans wrote books about orphans, we'd never get anywhere," he tells Marcus, criticizing the standard advice to write what you know. "You'd never be able to write about a mother, a father, a dog, an airplane pilot or the Russian Revolution unless you happened to be a mother, a father, a dog, an airplane pilot or a witness to the Russian Revolution. ... Literature would be impoverished and would lose all its meaning." There are heady notions at play: truth and storytelling, mentors and students, writers and publishers, perhaps even a thought or two about the state of American literature. It all gets very meta. Readers familiar with a certain breed of midcentury American literary lion may thrill at some references. (Harry's lawyer is named Roth.) If this seems overly lofty, don't hold it against the book. Even 28-year-olds sometimes sound smart. Dicker never makes the rest of us feel stupid. It is one of his most winning gifts as a writer. It's this light touch and engaging voice - impeccably translated from the French - that make the writing so infectious, and will probably make it a best seller here as well. "Nobody expects you to win the Pulitzer Prize," Marcus's agent tells him. "They like your books because they're cool, they're entertaining, and there's nothing wrong with that." "Is that really what you think? That I'm an entertaining writer?" Marcus responds. He is horrified. CHELSEA CAIN'S next thriller, "One Kick," will be published in August.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 29, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
This best-selling, award-winning, French literary thriller from a 28-year-old Swiss author has arrived in the U.S. with fanfare not heard since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. So what is all the fuss about? That's puzzling. Jumping back and forth in time from 1975 to 2008, the novel is narrated by Marcus Goldman, a twentysomething writer whose first book was a smashing success but who is suffering from writer's block at the prospect of penning a follow-up. He travels to rural New Hampshire to visit his former professor and mentor, Harry Quebert, whose first novel was also a best-seller and brought him instant celebrity. But in the midst of the reunion, the body of a 15-year-old girl is discovered on Quebert's property and Quebert is arrested for murder. Goldman sets out to prove his mentor innocent, and in the process he writes his long-delayed second book, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, which becomes even more successful than his first. With a plethora of suspects, readers are certain to be caught up in the drama by the the time the book ends, nearly every major character in the story has taken a turn as the likely killer. Beyond the whodunit aspect, however, readers may find themselves shaking their heads at the almost cartoonish characterizations and soap-operatic dialogue. The real mystery here is why we keep reading but, for some reason, we do.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Swiss author Dicker makes his U.S. debut with an ambitious, multilayered novel of suspense that's already an international bestseller. In 2008, Marcus Goldman, a Manhattan-based novelist suffering from writer's block, is under pressure to produce the follow-up to his sensational debut. He turns for help to his mentor, Harry Quebert, whose second novel, The Origin of Evil, was a huge critical and commercial success decades earlier. Marcus travels to Harry's home in Somerset, N.H., where he comes across letters and photos revealing that Harry had an affair the summer of 1975 with a 15-year-old girl, Nola Kellergan. Harry admits that Nola, who disappeared that same summer, inspired The Origin of Evil. A few months after Marcus's visit, the chance unearthing of Nola's remains on Harry's property leads to his arrest for murder. Marcus sets out to clear Harry's name-and promises his publisher to write a book about the experience. While at times unwieldy and repetitive, this tale of fame, friendship, loyalty, and fiction versus reality moves at warp speed. Eight-city author tour. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Swiss debut author Dicker has proven himself to be a talented new writer with this story of forbidden love, dashed hopes, and the darkness that lies inside all of us. Successful author Marcus Goldman, approaching his 30th birthday, is suffering from a severe case of writer's block. On a winter visit with a friend, renowned writer Harry Quebert, Marcus accidentally discovers that Harry was once in love with a 15-year-old girl who vanished in the mid-1970s from a small New Hampshire town. Marcus is drawn into the mystery as he decides to make this the subject of his second novel. So begins a sordid tale with labyrinthine plot twists, an ominous atmosphere, and characters who are never quite what they seem. Moving deftly between Marcus writing his book in 2008 and the events of the summer of 1975, the titles takes readers on a harrowing journey through a town's most shattering secrets. Verdict Fans of mystery and suspense novels will enjoy this clever melding of TV shows Twin Peaks and The Killing as well as a liberal dusting of themes from The Exorcist. Already an international best seller and a winner of three French literary prizes, this is an astonishing and clever treatise on the nature of evil.-Mariel Pachucki, Maple Valley, WA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
