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book_worm23's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
cathiedalziel's review
4.0
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
Excellent crime thriller read that was first published in 1956 by Frederic Dard and now has been translated so that more can enjoy his suspenseful noir-like writing. He really knows how to write a book steeped in psychological suspense. Think of Dard as a French Alfred Hitchcock; just as good, if not better.
The story takes place in Barcelona between a vacationing Frenchman and a beautiful woman. I will let you know there is an accident, amnesia, a relationship and excellent excellent tension and suspense.
This one is worth reading.
Excellent crime thriller read that was first published in 1956 by Frederic Dard and now has been translated so that more can enjoy his suspenseful noir-like writing. He really knows how to write a book steeped in psychological suspense. Think of Dard as a French Alfred Hitchcock; just as good, if not better.
The story takes place in Barcelona between a vacationing Frenchman and a beautiful woman. I will let you know there is an accident, amnesia, a relationship and excellent excellent tension and suspense.
This one is worth reading.
tommooney's review
4.0
Jesus, that was a dark and disturbing slice of French noir.
Daniel, a French artist, is on a break near Barcelona. Driving down a road one night, a young woman throws herself in front of his car in an apparent act of suicide. When he goes to the body, however, he realises she is still alive. Fearful of the consequences, he takes the girl back to his hotel. She awakes with severe amnesia, remembering nothing of her previous life. Daniel then becomes obsessed with her, instilling himself as her boyfriend and the central character in her new life.
But, as he delves deeper into her forgotten past, he discovers the real, shocking reason she threw herself in front of his car.
Grisly, grim and weaving from noir into horror, this is a very effective and highly creepy novel. The only complaint is in the editing - it is absolutely full of mistakes and typos.
Daniel, a French artist, is on a break near Barcelona. Driving down a road one night, a young woman throws herself in front of his car in an apparent act of suicide. When he goes to the body, however, he realises she is still alive. Fearful of the consequences, he takes the girl back to his hotel. She awakes with severe amnesia, remembering nothing of her previous life. Daniel then becomes obsessed with her, instilling himself as her boyfriend and the central character in her new life.
But, as he delves deeper into her forgotten past, he discovers the real, shocking reason she threw herself in front of his car.
Grisly, grim and weaving from noir into horror, this is a very effective and highly creepy novel. The only complaint is in the editing - it is absolutely full of mistakes and typos.
grotesqueanimal's review
4.0
“I had finished her portrait. From a painterly point of view, it was first rate. Yet I didn’t like it, because with this particular canvas something strange had happened. I had succeeded in capturing Marianne’s most unguarded expression so well that I could read her character better in my painting than in her face. Now, in the come-hither look in her eye with which she stared at me I detected a bizarre glint which quite disconcerted me. There was a sparkle in it which didn’t seem to belong with the rest of her: it encapsulated a level of sustained attentiveness which was almost disturbing in its intensity.”
quirkycynic's review
4.0
God how I'm loving these really old fashioned French crime novels so far... they're all just so sexy and sophisticated and completely unafraid to veer into high romantic melodrama instead of hardboiled realism. This book in particular feels like it has a lot in common with that other classic of French noir Vertigo, in that they both play on variations of Pygmalion but as a psychological thriller -- both are about men becoming obsessed with their own psychological projections of specific women and how this leads them to spiral into tragedy. Sometimes the female characters in these books do feel pretty regressive but I think the depiction of gender roles on the whole is pretty interestingly subversive if you read it a certain way, especially in how it relates to the totally-destructive masculinity at the centre of the story.
catdad77a45's review
4.0
This taut little gem of a thriller, originally published in 1956, still packs quite a wallop today. In the noir convention, but with enough thrills and surprises to warrant re-publication. A quick, exciting read! Would make an intriguing film. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
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