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L'enigma della camera 622
Un fine settimana di dicembre, il Palace de Verbier, lussuoso hotel sulle Alpi svizzere, ospita l'annuale festa di una importante banca d'affari di Ginevra, che si appresta a nominare il nuovo presidente.
La notte della elezione, tuttavia, un omicidio nella stanza 622 scuote il Palace de Verbier, la banca e l'intero mondo finanziario svizzero.
L'inchiesta della polizia non riesce a individuare il colpevole, molti avrebbero avuto interesse a commettere l'omicidio ma ognuno sembra avere un alibi; e al Palace de Verbier ci si affretta a cancellare la memoria del delitto per riprendere il prima possibile la comoda normalità.
Quindici anni dopo, un ignaro scrittore sceglie lo stesso hotel per trascorrere qualche giorno di pace, ma non può fare a meno di farsi catturare dal fascino di quel caso irrisolto, e da una donna avvenente e curiosa, anche lei sola nello stesso hotel, che lo spinge a indagare su cosa sia veramente successo, e perché, nella stanza 622 del Palace de Verbier.
La notte della elezione, tuttavia, un omicidio nella stanza 622 scuote il Palace de Verbier, la banca e l'intero mondo finanziario svizzero.
L'inchiesta della polizia non riesce a individuare il colpevole, molti avrebbero avuto interesse a commettere l'omicidio ma ognuno sembra avere un alibi; e al Palace de Verbier ci si affretta a cancellare la memoria del delitto per riprendere il prima possibile la comoda normalità.
Quindici anni dopo, un ignaro scrittore sceglie lo stesso hotel per trascorrere qualche giorno di pace, ma non può fare a meno di farsi catturare dal fascino di quel caso irrisolto, e da una donna avvenente e curiosa, anche lei sola nello stesso hotel, che lo spinge a indagare su cosa sia veramente successo, e perché, nella stanza 622 del Palace de Verbier.
640 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2020
About the author
Joël Dicker
17 books9,671 followersJoël Dicker was born in 1985 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied law. He spent childhood summers in New England, particularly in Stonington and Bar Harbor, Maine. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair won three French literary prizes, including the Grand Prix du Roman from the Académie Française, and was a finalist for the Prix Goncourt. Dicker lives in Geneva.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,470 reviews
May 21, 2020
Dicker’s latest novel (end of May 2020) is probably one of the most highly anticipated books in the French publishing arena for the foreseeable future and is poised to be this summer’s hit if we can believe the hype surrounding the release. But I found a somewhat rehashed recipe that, although Dicker introduces an interesting narrative vehicle at the beginning of this story, narrowly fails to provide that which long-time fans have been hankering for : innovation. Read on for more, there are no spoilers.
You’ve read this book before. Maybe not literally, but if you’ve read any Dicker since ‘Harry Quebert’ before and saw a couple of tired Hollywood blockbuster sequels with disappointing endings, then yes, you’ve read this before.
Before starting, I want to clarify that I have been a big fan of Dicker since the very start. The real start, meaning since his first book : ‘The Last Days of Our Fathers.’ I loved his storytelling in the first one, and was even more enchanted by his talented narrative structuring of a story in his second and third :’The Truth about Harry Quebert’ and then ‘Baltimore Boys’. That fast page-turner style, short and captivating chapters, characters inspired by an old America that made us hunker for the past and above all : his keen talent for developing a story simultaneously from the past and the present. All the elements of a book you don’t forget quickly. This wasn’t that.
My first ‘disappointment’ (although disenchantment might be more appropriate) was his last book, ‘The disappearing of Stephanie Mailer’ which I found to be a near-incomprehensible, overstuffed, superfluously expansive attempt at recreating the atmosphere he had brought us in ‘The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair’. I sympathise with authors who reach tremendous success at a young age, as Dicker did with his first and second books. I imagine the crushing weight of having to ‘redo the trick now’ has devastating effects not only on an author’s motivation, but also on his or her creativity. So what do you do in times of moral and creative hazard? You rehash what worked before. That’s what Dicker did with Mailer and in some extend (thankfully a bit less still) with this latest one. What was true for Mailer remains true for 622 : the story is tailored to fit a more international audience (because movie and TV rights to sell), the narrative structure is the same, the characters are disappointingly superficial clichés despite being described at large over the course of nearly 600 pages, the story (and it’s inhabitants) have more twists and bumps than a Belgian highway. You see when you write a near-600 page novel, you need to keep your reader going. So you need a lot of twists and bumps, and to achieve this he splits the branches of his character’s lives so much that the tips reach the stratosphere. But in stratosphere, the air is thin, and so are a lot of these characters and their backstories. With “Stephanie Mailer” Dicker thought that to achieve the same success, or even more so than with Quebert, all he needed to do was to take the same recipe and add more ingredients. The problem is that it became an indigestible, convoluted piece in which he had tried to outsmart even himself.
This one suffers from the same fate to a large extent, but is somewhat saved by a novelty introduced at the very beginning. We’re not following some random made up character, but we’re following Dicker himself. Joel, living in Geneva (a word you’ll read about a million times more) is in between writing books and stuck. He’s sad his mentor has passed away and fears never to be able to write again. It’s an interesting vehicle that could lead to an amazing book. Sadly though, Dicker writes himself away too quickly in lieu of the main story. In lieu of “Stephanie Mailer II after a session of Control+F & Control+V.” I wanted to know more about his story. About his coming of age story. Not the unconvincingly far-fetched story he dropped as an avalanche on top of his own storyline. The principal plot revolves around the solving of a murder that occurred in one of the fanciest Swiss hotels, and you’ve guessed it – it’s in room 622 – , decades ago. As per usual, multiple simultaneously interweaving characters and plot lines are quickly let loose on your imagination, all of which converge at a snail’s pace to a single end near the end of the book. The characters seem to be pulled out in vivendi from movie scripts that barely made it onto Netflix. The underlying story – the banking world in Switzerland – is admittedly a fresh framework and carries huge potential because the lenient banking laws that have governed that world for decades will never cease to fascinate, yet they remain largely unused. It’s all about the hotel(s).
What I was most disappointed with was the ‘Deus Ex Machina’ Dicker pulled out of his hat near the end of the story to make it all come together. Kind of come together. I actually had to reread the revealing passage, fearing I had missed out on something crucially and that would result in the Deus Ex Machine only being a misunderstanding no my part. But after rereading it, I could only come to the inescapable conclusion that it was in fact real. It was as definitive as black ink on paper can ever be. Don’t misunderstand me : he needed to pull out a rabbit from his hat because as usual he had tried to outsmart everyone including himself and had thus written himself into a corner. But for the trick to work the rabbit needs to be alive when it reappears. And it needs to be a rabbit.
The most enjoying part of this novel – and mainly the reason why I will rate this slightly better as his last one – were the passages where he reminisces about Bernard de Fallois, his old mentor, and how he played a pivotal role in getting his career started. Early on, we learn that Dicker wanted this book to be a tribute to Bernard, but in my eyes if he had wanted to write a tribute about his old mentor, he should’ve written a tribute to his old mentor. Not an underused vehicle to carry his otherwise rehashed story along. Not a book waiting to be turned into a movie or worse – a ten part miniseries – under the thinly veiled pretence that it’s an ode to his mentor. And I really do feel while reading those few passages that he really intended it to be a tribute worthy of the Egyptian pyramids, but could then not escape the clutches of his old ways and relapsed into the already known success recipe. I really wanted to read that book, the tribute, because through those pages where he recounts old meetings and colourful encounters with Bernard I was able to see a glimpse of the young, talented and most of all : hungry new writer we had all come to love through the course of his first books.
Make no mistake, this book will sell well and is entertaining to read on the beach without thinking too much about it. But it’s also a book that’ll end up at the bottom of the beach bag at the end of summer without having been finished and the reader will be no worse off. And Dicker can do better. I know that, you know that, and I feel he knows that. But it would mean abandoning the recipe he has now used so much and which brought him this level of success to risk something he might fail at.
There’s a saying between successful thriller authors : “Write or Vanish”. When the content is subordinate to the volume, you need to pump out a lot of work to be remembered. That’s how you end up with Patterson’s and Steel’s, and XXX who pump out more books than there are seasons in a year. I would urge Dicker to go against that idea. To go upstream. To write less, but deeper. Because I want to feel that same excitement I felt when reading him years ago. And somewhere I’m sure, he wants it too.
You’ve read this book before. Maybe not literally, but if you’ve read any Dicker since ‘Harry Quebert’ before and saw a couple of tired Hollywood blockbuster sequels with disappointing endings, then yes, you’ve read this before.
Before starting, I want to clarify that I have been a big fan of Dicker since the very start. The real start, meaning since his first book : ‘The Last Days of Our Fathers.’ I loved his storytelling in the first one, and was even more enchanted by his talented narrative structuring of a story in his second and third :’The Truth about Harry Quebert’ and then ‘Baltimore Boys’. That fast page-turner style, short and captivating chapters, characters inspired by an old America that made us hunker for the past and above all : his keen talent for developing a story simultaneously from the past and the present. All the elements of a book you don’t forget quickly. This wasn’t that.
My first ‘disappointment’ (although disenchantment might be more appropriate) was his last book, ‘The disappearing of Stephanie Mailer’ which I found to be a near-incomprehensible, overstuffed, superfluously expansive attempt at recreating the atmosphere he had brought us in ‘The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair’. I sympathise with authors who reach tremendous success at a young age, as Dicker did with his first and second books. I imagine the crushing weight of having to ‘redo the trick now’ has devastating effects not only on an author’s motivation, but also on his or her creativity. So what do you do in times of moral and creative hazard? You rehash what worked before. That’s what Dicker did with Mailer and in some extend (thankfully a bit less still) with this latest one. What was true for Mailer remains true for 622 : the story is tailored to fit a more international audience (because movie and TV rights to sell), the narrative structure is the same, the characters are disappointingly superficial clichés despite being described at large over the course of nearly 600 pages, the story (and it’s inhabitants) have more twists and bumps than a Belgian highway. You see when you write a near-600 page novel, you need to keep your reader going. So you need a lot of twists and bumps, and to achieve this he splits the branches of his character’s lives so much that the tips reach the stratosphere. But in stratosphere, the air is thin, and so are a lot of these characters and their backstories. With “Stephanie Mailer” Dicker thought that to achieve the same success, or even more so than with Quebert, all he needed to do was to take the same recipe and add more ingredients. The problem is that it became an indigestible, convoluted piece in which he had tried to outsmart even himself.
This one suffers from the same fate to a large extent, but is somewhat saved by a novelty introduced at the very beginning. We’re not following some random made up character, but we’re following Dicker himself. Joel, living in Geneva (a word you’ll read about a million times more) is in between writing books and stuck. He’s sad his mentor has passed away and fears never to be able to write again. It’s an interesting vehicle that could lead to an amazing book. Sadly though, Dicker writes himself away too quickly in lieu of the main story. In lieu of “Stephanie Mailer II after a session of Control+F & Control+V.” I wanted to know more about his story. About his coming of age story. Not the unconvincingly far-fetched story he dropped as an avalanche on top of his own storyline. The principal plot revolves around the solving of a murder that occurred in one of the fanciest Swiss hotels, and you’ve guessed it – it’s in room 622 – , decades ago. As per usual, multiple simultaneously interweaving characters and plot lines are quickly let loose on your imagination, all of which converge at a snail’s pace to a single end near the end of the book. The characters seem to be pulled out in vivendi from movie scripts that barely made it onto Netflix. The underlying story – the banking world in Switzerland – is admittedly a fresh framework and carries huge potential because the lenient banking laws that have governed that world for decades will never cease to fascinate, yet they remain largely unused. It’s all about the hotel(s).
What I was most disappointed with was the ‘Deus Ex Machina’ Dicker pulled out of his hat near the end of the story to make it all come together. Kind of come together. I actually had to reread the revealing passage, fearing I had missed out on something crucially and that would result in the Deus Ex Machine only being a misunderstanding no my part. But after rereading it, I could only come to the inescapable conclusion that it was in fact real. It was as definitive as black ink on paper can ever be. Don’t misunderstand me : he needed to pull out a rabbit from his hat because as usual he had tried to outsmart everyone including himself and had thus written himself into a corner. But for the trick to work the rabbit needs to be alive when it reappears. And it needs to be a rabbit.
The most enjoying part of this novel – and mainly the reason why I will rate this slightly better as his last one – were the passages where he reminisces about Bernard de Fallois, his old mentor, and how he played a pivotal role in getting his career started. Early on, we learn that Dicker wanted this book to be a tribute to Bernard, but in my eyes if he had wanted to write a tribute about his old mentor, he should’ve written a tribute to his old mentor. Not an underused vehicle to carry his otherwise rehashed story along. Not a book waiting to be turned into a movie or worse – a ten part miniseries – under the thinly veiled pretence that it’s an ode to his mentor. And I really do feel while reading those few passages that he really intended it to be a tribute worthy of the Egyptian pyramids, but could then not escape the clutches of his old ways and relapsed into the already known success recipe. I really wanted to read that book, the tribute, because through those pages where he recounts old meetings and colourful encounters with Bernard I was able to see a glimpse of the young, talented and most of all : hungry new writer we had all come to love through the course of his first books.
Make no mistake, this book will sell well and is entertaining to read on the beach without thinking too much about it. But it’s also a book that’ll end up at the bottom of the beach bag at the end of summer without having been finished and the reader will be no worse off. And Dicker can do better. I know that, you know that, and I feel he knows that. But it would mean abandoning the recipe he has now used so much and which brought him this level of success to risk something he might fail at.
There’s a saying between successful thriller authors : “Write or Vanish”. When the content is subordinate to the volume, you need to pump out a lot of work to be remembered. That’s how you end up with Patterson’s and Steel’s, and XXX who pump out more books than there are seasons in a year. I would urge Dicker to go against that idea. To go upstream. To write less, but deeper. Because I want to feel that same excitement I felt when reading him years ago. And somewhere I’m sure, he wants it too.
January 12, 2021
4.8 ⭐️
"(...) os mortos vão para todos os lugares onde possamos nos lembrar deles. especialmente para as estrelas, pois elas nunca param de nos seguir. elas dançam e brilham na noite, bem em cima de nós."
"(...) os mortos vão para todos os lugares onde possamos nos lembrar deles. especialmente para as estrelas, pois elas nunca param de nos seguir. elas dançam e brilham na noite, bem em cima de nós."
June 24, 2020
”¿Adónde van los muertos? A todos los lugares en donde podemos recordarlos. Sobre todo a las estrellas. Porque no dejan de seguirnos, bailan y brillan en la oscuridad de la noche justo encima de nuestras cabezas”.
Si me conocen saben que el thriller no es uno de mis géneros favoritos, lejos de ello, pero siempre que sale un nuevo libro de Joël Dicker hago una excepción. Y es que este hombre y la manera en la que escribe e hila sus historias hace que valga muchísimo la pena. Cuando empiezas a leer un libro de Joël Dicker sabes que te espera una montaña rusa de asesinatos, investigaciones, pistas falsas y momentos en los que crees que sabes quién es el asesino, pero luego te das cuenta de que estabas súper desencaminada y te enganchas aún más a la historia.
En esta ocasión todo empieza con un misterioso asesinato en una suite de uno de los hoteles más lujosos y exclusivos de los Alpes suizos: el Palace de Verbier. En medio de una convención de uno de los bancos más poderosos de Suiza, aparece un cadáver en la habitación 622. Quizá por falta de pistas o quizá porque las personas más ricas del país están involucradas, el asesinato queda como un caso sin resolver y todos vuelven a sus vidas de acciones, dinero y poder. Sin embargo, muchos años después, Joël Dicker, que en este libro se escribe a sí mismo como personaje, llega al Palace de Verbier para descansar y desconectarse después de una ruptura amorosa y de la muerte de su editor. Pero, como las historias lo persiguen, muy pronto se dará cuenta de que el hotel eliminó la habitación 622 y la renombró como la 621 bis, así que junto con Scarlett, una hermosa mujer que conoce allí, empezará a investigar qué sucedió en esa fatídica noche.
A pesar de que este es un libro con cerca de una docena de personajes importantes y múltiples saltos en el tiempo, es imposible dejar de leerlo. Desde el momento en el que Joël como personaje llega y empieza a hacer sus pesquisas, pasando por el punto en el que sospechas que tu propia sombra sea la culpable de aquel asesinado, y llegando a la etapa en la que todas las conversaciones, todas las observaciones y todas las pistas encajan y te apuntan al asesino, es un libro espectacular. Son más de 600 páginas que se pasan en un abrir y cerrar de ojos.
No voy a negar que hace falta un poco de práctica y concentración para entender quiénes son los personajes y qué hacían en cada uno de los momentos de la historia, sobre todo cuando se cambia la perspectiva del presente a flashbacks o viceversa. Pero una vez le coges el ritmo sabes que Macaire quiere ser heredero del banco, que su padre lo consideraba un vago, que Lev Levovitch empezó siendo un simple botones en un hotel, que su padre era actor, que a Tarnogol le encanta el vodka Beluga, que Anastasia es una mujer enamorada del amor y el idealismo, que su madre se siente parte de la realeza rusa aunque esté casi quebrada, que el señor Rose es un hombre muy noble, que Arma es una cotilla… y podría seguir hablando de cada uno de ellos. Pero ¿lo ven? Es muy fácil identificarlos cuando has leído unas cuantas páginas y ya no te sientes parte de la realidad sino del libro mismo.
Definitivamente, aunque el final de esta historia es tan sorprendente como inesperado, lo mejor de este libro, y de todos los de Dicker, es el camino que nos lleva a la resolución del crimen. Me fascina cómo se entrelazan las historias de los personajes y cómo ninguno de ellos es bueno o malo, sino una combinación de luces y sombras, de momentos de bondad y de episodios de locura y el más bajo instinto humano. ¡Lean El enigma de la habitación 622!
Si me conocen saben que el thriller no es uno de mis géneros favoritos, lejos de ello, pero siempre que sale un nuevo libro de Joël Dicker hago una excepción. Y es que este hombre y la manera en la que escribe e hila sus historias hace que valga muchísimo la pena. Cuando empiezas a leer un libro de Joël Dicker sabes que te espera una montaña rusa de asesinatos, investigaciones, pistas falsas y momentos en los que crees que sabes quién es el asesino, pero luego te das cuenta de que estabas súper desencaminada y te enganchas aún más a la historia.
En esta ocasión todo empieza con un misterioso asesinato en una suite de uno de los hoteles más lujosos y exclusivos de los Alpes suizos: el Palace de Verbier. En medio de una convención de uno de los bancos más poderosos de Suiza, aparece un cadáver en la habitación 622. Quizá por falta de pistas o quizá porque las personas más ricas del país están involucradas, el asesinato queda como un caso sin resolver y todos vuelven a sus vidas de acciones, dinero y poder. Sin embargo, muchos años después, Joël Dicker, que en este libro se escribe a sí mismo como personaje, llega al Palace de Verbier para descansar y desconectarse después de una ruptura amorosa y de la muerte de su editor. Pero, como las historias lo persiguen, muy pronto se dará cuenta de que el hotel eliminó la habitación 622 y la renombró como la 621 bis, así que junto con Scarlett, una hermosa mujer que conoce allí, empezará a investigar qué sucedió en esa fatídica noche.
A pesar de que este es un libro con cerca de una docena de personajes importantes y múltiples saltos en el tiempo, es imposible dejar de leerlo. Desde el momento en el que Joël como personaje llega y empieza a hacer sus pesquisas, pasando por el punto en el que sospechas que tu propia sombra sea la culpable de aquel asesinado, y llegando a la etapa en la que todas las conversaciones, todas las observaciones y todas las pistas encajan y te apuntan al asesino, es un libro espectacular. Son más de 600 páginas que se pasan en un abrir y cerrar de ojos.
No voy a negar que hace falta un poco de práctica y concentración para entender quiénes son los personajes y qué hacían en cada uno de los momentos de la historia, sobre todo cuando se cambia la perspectiva del presente a flashbacks o viceversa. Pero una vez le coges el ritmo sabes que Macaire quiere ser heredero del banco, que su padre lo consideraba un vago, que Lev Levovitch empezó siendo un simple botones en un hotel, que su padre era actor, que a Tarnogol le encanta el vodka Beluga, que Anastasia es una mujer enamorada del amor y el idealismo, que su madre se siente parte de la realeza rusa aunque esté casi quebrada, que el señor Rose es un hombre muy noble, que Arma es una cotilla… y podría seguir hablando de cada uno de ellos. Pero ¿lo ven? Es muy fácil identificarlos cuando has leído unas cuantas páginas y ya no te sientes parte de la realidad sino del libro mismo.
Definitivamente, aunque el final de esta historia es tan sorprendente como inesperado, lo mejor de este libro, y de todos los de Dicker, es el camino que nos lleva a la resolución del crimen. Me fascina cómo se entrelazan las historias de los personajes y cómo ninguno de ellos es bueno o malo, sino una combinación de luces y sombras, de momentos de bondad y de episodios de locura y el más bajo instinto humano. ¡Lean El enigma de la habitación 622!
September 6, 2024
I read all the books Joel Dicker wrote. I can say without any doubt that this is one of the worst books I have ever read and I love books and read lots of them. Joel Dicker disappoints again. I liked the story, its intriguing, and since the first page you are hooked. Some of the developments and twists are clever. However the style and language is not believable, and I am still debating if its the Italian translator or if its Dicker, though I am tempted to think its a bit of both.
The dialogue are surreal and not believable at all. Who talks like that? It seems he added dialogue just to fill the pages, adding to a story that could have been at least one hundred pages shorter. How many times are we supposed to hear that colleagues greeted Macaire as Mr. President? and he was both upset and flattered? But its really the way the characters talk to each other, its soap opera dialogue not language that belongs in a book.
And then the translation, the use of terms that we dont use anymore in the Italian language. There is also a whining tone, that I observe in other books, especially the previous one, The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer.
Throughout the book I kept on wondering where was the author of The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, because it cannot be the same person who wrote this book. All characters seem caricatures and stereotypes rather than real people. Not for a minute you believe they could be real.
I am just so disappointed, I didnt give up, but it was a struggle.. a real struggle. There are a couple of other authors who have changed so much in their style and voice from the first book to their last, and again I dont know if someone else wrote the book or if he cannot find the same inspiration, but comparing the first and this last one, I am just so doubtful.
The dialogue are surreal and not believable at all. Who talks like that? It seems he added dialogue just to fill the pages, adding to a story that could have been at least one hundred pages shorter. How many times are we supposed to hear that colleagues greeted Macaire as Mr. President? and he was both upset and flattered? But its really the way the characters talk to each other, its soap opera dialogue not language that belongs in a book.
And then the translation, the use of terms that we dont use anymore in the Italian language. There is also a whining tone, that I observe in other books, especially the previous one, The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer.
Throughout the book I kept on wondering where was the author of The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, because it cannot be the same person who wrote this book. All characters seem caricatures and stereotypes rather than real people. Not for a minute you believe they could be real.
I am just so disappointed, I didnt give up, but it was a struggle.. a real struggle. There are a couple of other authors who have changed so much in their style and voice from the first book to their last, and again I dont know if someone else wrote the book or if he cannot find the same inspiration, but comparing the first and this last one, I am just so doubtful.
September 21, 2022
EXCERPT: Prologue - the day of the murder - Sunday December 16
Six-thirty in the morning. The Hôtel de Verbier was dark. Outside, it was pitch dark and snowing heavily.
On the sixth floor, the doors of the service elevator opened. A hotel employee appeared with a breakfast tray and made his way to Room 622.
When he reached the room, he noticed that the door was ajar. Light spilled through the opening. He knocked but there was no response. Finally, he decided to go in, assuming that the door had been left open for that purpose. He walked in and let out a scream. Running from the room, he went to alert his colleagues and call for help.
As the news spread through the hotel, the lights went on, floor by floor.
On the carpet of Room 622 lay a corpse.
ABOUT 'THE ENIGMA OF ROOM 622': One night in December, a corpse is found in Room 622 of the Hotel Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. A police investigation begins without definite end, and public interest wanes with the passage of time. Years later, the writer Joel Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary ingenue, arrives at that same hotel to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his longtime publisher, and begin his next novel. Little does Joel know that his expertise in the art of the thriller will come in handy when he finds himself investigating the crime. He'll need a Watson, of course: in this case, that would be Scarlett, the beautiful guest and aspiring novelist from the next room, who joins in the search while he tries to solve another puzzle: the plot of his next book. Meanwhile, in the wake of his father's passing, Macaire Ebezner is set 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 a certain Lev Levovitch-Geneva's very own Jay Gatsby-have other plans, and Macaire's race to the top soon becomes a race against time...
MY THOUGHTS: I was looking forward to a 'book within a book' mystery, which is not what I got. Think 'corporate conspiracy' instead.
I spent a great deal of my listening time confused. There are constantly changing non-linear timelines and points of view.
I was, initially, far more interested in the Joël Dicker/Scarlett storyline, but this accounts for few of the 600 plus pages and, really, not much happens.
The characters border on the ridiculous and act like idiots.
So, The Enigma of Room 622 was, for me, an incredibly convoluted corporate conspiracy that confused the heck out of me involving people who have equally convoluted personal lives, and the point of which I never got. 🤷♀️
The final lines of The Enigma of Room 622 are, “for life, like a novel, must be an adventure. And adventures are life’s vacations.” This was no adventure. Think The Beatles 'A Hard Day's Night', but without the 'feel all right' factor. This was a very long 596 pages.
⭐⭐
#TheEnigmaofRoom622 #NetGalley
I: @joeldicker @quercusbooks
T: @JoelDicker @QuercusBooks
#contemporaryfiction #crime #murdermystery #mystery
THE AUTHOR: Joël Dicker was born in 1985 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied law. He spent childhood summers in New England, particularly in Stonington and Bar Harbor, Maine.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Quercus Audio, MacLehose Press via Netgalley for providing an audio ARC of The Enigma of Room 622 written by Joël Dicker and narrated by Chris Harper for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
Six-thirty in the morning. The Hôtel de Verbier was dark. Outside, it was pitch dark and snowing heavily.
On the sixth floor, the doors of the service elevator opened. A hotel employee appeared with a breakfast tray and made his way to Room 622.
When he reached the room, he noticed that the door was ajar. Light spilled through the opening. He knocked but there was no response. Finally, he decided to go in, assuming that the door had been left open for that purpose. He walked in and let out a scream. Running from the room, he went to alert his colleagues and call for help.
As the news spread through the hotel, the lights went on, floor by floor.
On the carpet of Room 622 lay a corpse.
ABOUT 'THE ENIGMA OF ROOM 622': One night in December, a corpse is found in Room 622 of the Hotel Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. A police investigation begins without definite end, and public interest wanes with the passage of time. Years later, the writer Joel Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary ingenue, arrives at that same hotel to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his longtime publisher, and begin his next novel. Little does Joel know that his expertise in the art of the thriller will come in handy when he finds himself investigating the crime. He'll need a Watson, of course: in this case, that would be Scarlett, the beautiful guest and aspiring novelist from the next room, who joins in the search while he tries to solve another puzzle: the plot of his next book. Meanwhile, in the wake of his father's passing, Macaire Ebezner is set 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 a certain Lev Levovitch-Geneva's very own Jay Gatsby-have other plans, and Macaire's race to the top soon becomes a race against time...
MY THOUGHTS: I was looking forward to a 'book within a book' mystery, which is not what I got. Think 'corporate conspiracy' instead.
I spent a great deal of my listening time confused. There are constantly changing non-linear timelines and points of view.
I was, initially, far more interested in the Joël Dicker/Scarlett storyline, but this accounts for few of the 600 plus pages and, really, not much happens.
The characters border on the ridiculous and act like idiots.
So, The Enigma of Room 622 was, for me, an incredibly convoluted corporate conspiracy that confused the heck out of me involving people who have equally convoluted personal lives, and the point of which I never got. 🤷♀️
The final lines of The Enigma of Room 622 are, “for life, like a novel, must be an adventure. And adventures are life’s vacations.” This was no adventure. Think The Beatles 'A Hard Day's Night', but without the 'feel all right' factor. This was a very long 596 pages.
⭐⭐
#TheEnigmaofRoom622 #NetGalley
I: @joeldicker @quercusbooks
T: @JoelDicker @QuercusBooks
#contemporaryfiction #crime #murdermystery #mystery
THE AUTHOR: Joël Dicker was born in 1985 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied law. He spent childhood summers in New England, particularly in Stonington and Bar Harbor, Maine.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Quercus Audio, MacLehose Press via Netgalley for providing an audio ARC of The Enigma of Room 622 written by Joël Dicker and narrated by Chris Harper for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
June 12, 2020
Dicker nos trae esta vez la que probablemente sea su obra más personal. El autor se introduce en la historia relatándonos sus supuestas pesquisas para resolver el misterio principal mientras va escribiendo la propia historia, aprovechando para homenajear a Bernard de Fallois, su editor, fallecido a principios de 2018.
Jöel juega con sus personajes, y con nosotros, de una manera magistral. Como en todas sus obras nada es lo que parece y no vas a darte cuenta de lo que realmente ha pasado hasta dos páginas antes del final.
Me ha llamado la atención que, lejos de grandes giros, la historia va retorciéndose sobre si misma y, sin que apenas te des cuenta, tu propia percepción de los personajes va cambiando.
Como en la mayoría de thrillers un asesinato sin resolver es la trama, cualquiera de los personajes puede ser el asesino, pero, en este caso, como si estuviéramos jugando a un complicado Cluedo, también cualquiera de ellos puede ser la víctima, ya que hasta bien pasada la mitad del relato no se desvela quién es el asesinado.
No cabe duda que con seguidores y detractores, Dicker es, por ahora, el maestro del thriller en este siglo.
Adictiva, envolvente. Recomendable.
Jöel juega con sus personajes, y con nosotros, de una manera magistral. Como en todas sus obras nada es lo que parece y no vas a darte cuenta de lo que realmente ha pasado hasta dos páginas antes del final.
Me ha llamado la atención que, lejos de grandes giros, la historia va retorciéndose sobre si misma y, sin que apenas te des cuenta, tu propia percepción de los personajes va cambiando.
Como en la mayoría de thrillers un asesinato sin resolver es la trama, cualquiera de los personajes puede ser el asesino, pero, en este caso, como si estuviéramos jugando a un complicado Cluedo, también cualquiera de ellos puede ser la víctima, ya que hasta bien pasada la mitad del relato no se desvela quién es el asesinado.
No cabe duda que con seguidores y detractores, Dicker es, por ahora, el maestro del thriller en este siglo.
Adictiva, envolvente. Recomendable.
June 17, 2020
Abandonado al 30%. Quizás debía haberle dado una oportunidad, pero la lectura se me hizo en extremo fastidiosa. No me creí a ninguno de los personajes, los diálogos poco naturales, las situaciones absurdas...., a veces me parecía que era una comedia.....
Nada que ver con el primer libro que leí del autor “La verdad sobre el caso Harry Quebert”
Nada que ver con el primer libro que leí del autor “La verdad sobre el caso Harry Quebert”
January 24, 2021
I bought this book because I thought it was a noir, or a thriller, or a spy story, because of the title. Instead, I discovered that this book is a great mockery of the author towards the reader. But in a good way. A great hoax, which will be revealed only in the last two pages. Last two pages of 632 pages, in which really everything happens, where the twists and turns follow one after the other and where nobody (but really nobody) is what it seems. The author is very good at intertwining the many stories of the many characters and, since he had 632 pages available, he was able to outline well the contours of all, both from a physical and psychological point of view, so much so that it seems to have them in front of your eyes. It is a book to which, in the end, it is difficult to put a label: of course, there is a crime involved, and a whole very intricate story to get to the culprit, so it is a noir; but there is also a whole series of events that give the author the opportunity to talk to us about love, ambition, fiction, regrets, appearances, to the point of saying that all this is the Life, "a novel of which the end is known: the protagonist dies. But the most important thing is not how it ends, but how we fill the pages ”. Nice, I liked it, and I think one day I'll read it again. Four stars.
September 5, 2020
Dicker, no sé qué pretendías exactamente con este libro, pero por más que lo pienso, no logro verle encanto a prácticamente nada de lo que cuentas aquí. Siento una mezcla de pena y de rabia, ya que realmente quería quedar cautivada con esta historia. Ni siquiera sé cómo clasificarla: no es exactamente un thriller, tampoco un romance, no es una comedia… es como si el autor hubiera intentado combinar varios géneros y se hubiera olvidado de lo que quería contar.
Nada más empezar, vemos que parece haberse puesto a sí mismo como protagonista para investigar unos sucesos que podrían ser la base de de su próxima novela (que realmente es la que estamos leyendo). Me pareció original que él decidiera protagonizar su propio libro, pero rápidamente se va viendo que eso es solo en las primeras páginas. Luego su presencia es más bien un cameo, ya que resulta forzada y es más que nada para rendir homenaje a su editor, el cual falleció en 2018. A mí me parece genial que él quisiera hablar de ese señor y recordarle en uno de sus libros, pero alguien le tenía que haber dicho que no se puede hacer eso si las menciones no tienen sentido o una verdadera conexión con el resto de lo que se está contando. De hecho, ni la propia “presencia” de Dicker acaba estando bien justificada.
Los verdaderos protagonistas son Lev, Macaire y Anastasia. Se nos cuenta que en la habitación 622 de un hotel hubo un crimen, aunque no se nos dice quién fue la víctima, y nos pegamos más de 600 páginas dando saltos en el tiempo para ir desentrañando todas las vivencias de esos 3 personajes y para saber qué pasó realmente en aquella habitación. No es por nada, pero lo del asesinato es que era decorativo, a mí es que nunca llegó a importarme porque lo que más peso parecía tener era si Anastasia dejaba a Macaire, su marido, para fugarse con Lev, su amor de juventud. Los 3 rondan los 40 años, pero parecen recién salidos de la adolescencia. Macaire y Lev trabajan juntos en el mismo banco y son candidatos a presidirlo, cosa que agobia a Macaire porque el banco es de su familia y él considera que sí o sí debería ser el elegido.
Aparte de las actitudes aniñadas y de estar rizando el rizo con lo de la presidencia del banco y el triángulo amoroso, hay que tragarse descubrimientos surrealistas y una narración monótona que no ayuda a avanzar. Solo en dos páginas, EN 2 DE LAS 624 QUE SON EN TOTAL, reconocí al Dicker que en el pasado logró enamorarme por la belleza que irradiaban sus palabras a la hora de hacer ciertas reflexiones. El 99% de este libro me parece narrado a desgana, como si el autor fuera improvisando sobre la marcha y no tuviera claro en qué centrarse.
Es que no sé ni qué opinar. Aparte de saltos temporales a toneladas para analizar cada paso que han dado en sus vidas Lev, Macaire y Anastasia, no hay mucho más. Por si esto fuera poco, ninguno de estos 3 tiene profundidad ni evolución:
- Lev es el hombre al que todo se le da bien y que consigue ganarse rápidamente el aprecio de cualquiera.
- Macaire es el tonto útil que es un buenazo y que da la impresión de que sería un fracasado si no hubiera nacido rico. Lo peor con él es que se quiere jugar a dar a entender que tiene un lado oscuro. En serio, es que parece incapaz de matar ni a una mosca. Da alguna sorpresilla, pero cuesta ver maldad en él.
- Anastasia es la princesita que nació pobre y cuya mayor condena es su belleza, ya que el dejar extasiados a los hombres provocó que se casara con uno al que no amaba. No me creí ni su amor por Lev ni su cariño por Macaire, dijera lo que dijera, el asunto del dinero se veía que no le era indiferente del todo.
No me salté páginas porque nunca hago eso, pero creo que sobraban muchas. Cuando por fin llegamos a los grandes descubrimientos, no me convencieron. Por muchas explicaciones que dé el autor, yo tengo mis dudas sobre la capacidad de alguien para ser tan camaleónico… o más bien, para hacerlo como él dice sin que se note… Y no diré nada más.
Posiblemente otros lectores habrán disfrutado más de la novela, pero yo solo quería acabarla porque notaba que no me despertaba interés ni me estaba aportando nada. En todo caso, no voy a perder la fe en Dicker y quiero darle otra oportunidad en el futuro.
Nada más empezar, vemos que parece haberse puesto a sí mismo como protagonista para investigar unos sucesos que podrían ser la base de de su próxima novela (que realmente es la que estamos leyendo). Me pareció original que él decidiera protagonizar su propio libro, pero rápidamente se va viendo que eso es solo en las primeras páginas. Luego su presencia es más bien un cameo, ya que resulta forzada y es más que nada para rendir homenaje a su editor, el cual falleció en 2018. A mí me parece genial que él quisiera hablar de ese señor y recordarle en uno de sus libros, pero alguien le tenía que haber dicho que no se puede hacer eso si las menciones no tienen sentido o una verdadera conexión con el resto de lo que se está contando. De hecho, ni la propia “presencia” de Dicker acaba estando bien justificada.
Los verdaderos protagonistas son Lev, Macaire y Anastasia. Se nos cuenta que en la habitación 622 de un hotel hubo un crimen, aunque no se nos dice quién fue la víctima, y nos pegamos más de 600 páginas dando saltos en el tiempo para ir desentrañando todas las vivencias de esos 3 personajes y para saber qué pasó realmente en aquella habitación. No es por nada, pero lo del asesinato es que era decorativo, a mí es que nunca llegó a importarme porque lo que más peso parecía tener era si Anastasia dejaba a Macaire, su marido, para fugarse con Lev, su amor de juventud. Los 3 rondan los 40 años, pero parecen recién salidos de la adolescencia. Macaire y Lev trabajan juntos en el mismo banco y son candidatos a presidirlo, cosa que agobia a Macaire porque el banco es de su familia y él considera que sí o sí debería ser el elegido.
Aparte de las actitudes aniñadas y de estar rizando el rizo con lo de la presidencia del banco y el triángulo amoroso, hay que tragarse descubrimientos surrealistas y una narración monótona que no ayuda a avanzar. Solo en dos páginas, EN 2 DE LAS 624 QUE SON EN TOTAL, reconocí al Dicker que en el pasado logró enamorarme por la belleza que irradiaban sus palabras a la hora de hacer ciertas reflexiones. El 99% de este libro me parece narrado a desgana, como si el autor fuera improvisando sobre la marcha y no tuviera claro en qué centrarse.
Es que no sé ni qué opinar. Aparte de saltos temporales a toneladas para analizar cada paso que han dado en sus vidas Lev, Macaire y Anastasia, no hay mucho más. Por si esto fuera poco, ninguno de estos 3 tiene profundidad ni evolución:
- Lev es el hombre al que todo se le da bien y que consigue ganarse rápidamente el aprecio de cualquiera.
- Macaire es el tonto útil que es un buenazo y que da la impresión de que sería un fracasado si no hubiera nacido rico. Lo peor con él es que se quiere jugar a dar a entender que tiene un lado oscuro. En serio, es que parece incapaz de matar ni a una mosca. Da alguna sorpresilla, pero cuesta ver maldad en él.
- Anastasia es la princesita que nació pobre y cuya mayor condena es su belleza, ya que el dejar extasiados a los hombres provocó que se casara con uno al que no amaba. No me creí ni su amor por Lev ni su cariño por Macaire, dijera lo que dijera, el asunto del dinero se veía que no le era indiferente del todo.
No me salté páginas porque nunca hago eso, pero creo que sobraban muchas. Cuando por fin llegamos a los grandes descubrimientos, no me convencieron. Por muchas explicaciones que dé el autor, yo tengo mis dudas sobre la capacidad de alguien para ser tan camaleónico… o más bien, para hacerlo como él dice sin que se note… Y no diré nada más.
Posiblemente otros lectores habrán disfrutado más de la novela, pero yo solo quería acabarla porque notaba que no me despertaba interés ni me estaba aportando nada. En todo caso, no voy a perder la fe en Dicker y quiero darle otra oportunidad en el futuro.
April 4, 2021
"¿A donde van los muertos?
A todos los lugares donde podemos recordarlos."
Esta ha sido mi primera novela de Joël Dicker y no ha podido impresionarme más! Pero como podía no haber leído aun a este autor?
El enigma de la habitación 622 es un thriller retorcido en el que nada es lo que parece. Encontraremos juegos de poder, envidias, triángulos amorosos, traiciones, celos..
Pasaras la historia montandote tus hipótesis y cavilaciones y no acertarás en nada. La única queja que tengo, por poner alguna, es que para mi hay demasiados saltos temporales, aunque habiendo tantos, el autor consigue hilar todo de una manera maravillosa que en ningún momento ves venir. Dicker juega con nosotros en todo momento, con una trama muy bien trabajada, manteniéndonos en vilo con cada giro de la historia que no te esperas, hasta la última página. Me ha parecido una historia que te engancha desde el primer momento y que te sorprende a cada rato. Sin duda seguiré leyendo a Dicker y os lo recomiendo!!
A todos los lugares donde podemos recordarlos."
Esta ha sido mi primera novela de Joël Dicker y no ha podido impresionarme más! Pero como podía no haber leído aun a este autor?
El enigma de la habitación 622 es un thriller retorcido en el que nada es lo que parece. Encontraremos juegos de poder, envidias, triángulos amorosos, traiciones, celos..
Pasaras la historia montandote tus hipótesis y cavilaciones y no acertarás en nada. La única queja que tengo, por poner alguna, es que para mi hay demasiados saltos temporales, aunque habiendo tantos, el autor consigue hilar todo de una manera maravillosa que en ningún momento ves venir. Dicker juega con nosotros en todo momento, con una trama muy bien trabajada, manteniéndonos en vilo con cada giro de la historia que no te esperas, hasta la última página. Me ha parecido una historia que te engancha desde el primer momento y que te sorprende a cada rato. Sin duda seguiré leyendo a Dicker y os lo recomiendo!!
June 30, 2022
2.5 rounded down
I’ve just been on the choo-choo train to the land of disappointment especially as I really really enjoyed The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, The Baltimore Boys though it has to be said less so The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer.
It’s 6:30 am on Sunday, the 16th of December and at the Hotel de Verbier in the Swiss Alps an employee delivers breakfast to room 622 and discovers a dead body. Subsequent enquiries lead to no arrests.
A few days prior to the murder Macaire Ebezner is in Madrid and anxious to get home to Geneva where the expectation is that he will be named president of Ebezner bank except he isn’t, as Lev Levovitch is, who is having an affair with Macaire’s Anastasia.
In June 2018 writer Joel heads to the hotel to recover from the ending of a love affair and along with fellow guest Scarlet Leonas they set out to investigate the Enigma of room 622.
Convoluted much? If we add in long winded (600 pages or so) and constantly dizzyingly zipping about in nonlinear timelines the result is a lot of eye rolling from me! The plot takes us to Switzerland and points west and south via a circuitous route at a snails pace which ultimately means you cease to care very much about enigmas. Let’s chuck in on/off love affairs which go on so long it begins to feel like a worn out record, some stereotypical bankers who definitely act like a word that rhymes with banker, some incredibly cheesy dialogue and much repetition of said dialogue that I nearly pass out from boredom. Some comments make me cringe they’re so bad.
I don’t know if it’s meant to be a take on a French farce but that’s what it feels like with similar (not) humour.
However, I think some of the issues are due to a poor translation which you can’t blame the author for. There are some fairly good twists towards the end although you have to wait a long time for them but at least they are unpredictable. Unfortunately they’re not sufficiently dynamic for me to raise the rating .
Where is the author that gave us Harry Quebert because the bottom line is he’s missing here?!
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Maclehose Press, Quercus for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
I’ve just been on the choo-choo train to the land of disappointment especially as I really really enjoyed The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, The Baltimore Boys though it has to be said less so The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer.
It’s 6:30 am on Sunday, the 16th of December and at the Hotel de Verbier in the Swiss Alps an employee delivers breakfast to room 622 and discovers a dead body. Subsequent enquiries lead to no arrests.
A few days prior to the murder Macaire Ebezner is in Madrid and anxious to get home to Geneva where the expectation is that he will be named president of Ebezner bank except he isn’t, as Lev Levovitch is, who is having an affair with Macaire’s Anastasia.
In June 2018 writer Joel heads to the hotel to recover from the ending of a love affair and along with fellow guest Scarlet Leonas they set out to investigate the Enigma of room 622.
Convoluted much? If we add in long winded (600 pages or so) and constantly dizzyingly zipping about in nonlinear timelines the result is a lot of eye rolling from me! The plot takes us to Switzerland and points west and south via a circuitous route at a snails pace which ultimately means you cease to care very much about enigmas. Let’s chuck in on/off love affairs which go on so long it begins to feel like a worn out record, some stereotypical bankers who definitely act like a word that rhymes with banker, some incredibly cheesy dialogue and much repetition of said dialogue that I nearly pass out from boredom. Some comments make me cringe they’re so bad.
I don’t know if it’s meant to be a take on a French farce but that’s what it feels like with similar (not) humour.
However, I think some of the issues are due to a poor translation which you can’t blame the author for. There are some fairly good twists towards the end although you have to wait a long time for them but at least they are unpredictable. Unfortunately they’re not sufficiently dynamic for me to raise the rating .
Where is the author that gave us Harry Quebert because the bottom line is he’s missing here?!
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Maclehose Press, Quercus for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
August 10, 2020
El enigma de la habitación 622 (2020) ha empezado siendo una decepción tal que aunque haya ido mejorando a medida que avanzan las páginas, no ha sido suficiente para que se me pasara el mal sabor de boca. Porque esperaba pasármelo muchísimo mejor, la verdad.
Para comenzar, el texto no parece escrito por Joel Dicker (1985-), sino por un mal aprendiz, el estilo no es serio, lleno de reiteraciones y detalles sobrantes, el lenguaje simple, un uso capcioso de los diálogos, poco naturales e interminables, usados a veces como simple treta para introducir monólogos explicativos, variadas casualidades infantiles y causalidades forzadas, personajes sobrantes y mal construidos (Scarlette da pena), algunos realmente irritantes, malos malísimos (no hay que repetir infinitamente que alguien es un demonio para demostrar que es malo), buenos buenísimos y otros tan inverosímiles que rayan lo ridículo, tan volubles que no te puedes creer que esté hablando del mismo personaje.
La idea de Dicker de erigirse él mismo como personaje principal resulta original en principio, pero, en vez de utilizarla para mostrar el proceso mental de construcción de la novela, solo sirve para introducir personajes superfluos, como por ejemplo el de su editor, al que rinde un incesante homenaje que no veo qué relación tiene con la novela. Mejor en una autobiografía, creo yo.
Sí, ya me he dado cuenta que no ha querido escribir una novela negra, sino más bien una novela de suspense inglés, más ligera, pero no hacía falta hacerlo de un modo tan chabacano, con ese tono como de novelita barata donde todo vale.
Ya entrada la segunda parte mejora el estilo, pero la trama sigue siendo confusa y a menudo recurre a los continuos cambios de escenario con un final abrupto de los capítulos como suelen hacer los m��s burdos bestsellers.
Solo he encontrado a Dicker en el argumento, en la propia historia, amplia y lo suficientemente compleja para mantenerte desorientado y en su resolución, esa manera de converger los distintos elementos hacia un final donde todas las piezas encajan y algunas de modo sorprendente.
En cualquier caso, no ha sido suficiente para librarme de la desilusión que me ha provocado su lectura. ¡Qué pena!
Para comenzar, el texto no parece escrito por Joel Dicker (1985-), sino por un mal aprendiz, el estilo no es serio, lleno de reiteraciones y detalles sobrantes, el lenguaje simple, un uso capcioso de los diálogos, poco naturales e interminables, usados a veces como simple treta para introducir monólogos explicativos, variadas casualidades infantiles y causalidades forzadas, personajes sobrantes y mal construidos (Scarlette da pena), algunos realmente irritantes, malos malísimos (no hay que repetir infinitamente que alguien es un demonio para demostrar que es malo), buenos buenísimos y otros tan inverosímiles que rayan lo ridículo, tan volubles que no te puedes creer que esté hablando del mismo personaje.
La idea de Dicker de erigirse él mismo como personaje principal resulta original en principio, pero, en vez de utilizarla para mostrar el proceso mental de construcción de la novela, solo sirve para introducir personajes superfluos, como por ejemplo el de su editor, al que rinde un incesante homenaje que no veo qué relación tiene con la novela. Mejor en una autobiografía, creo yo.
Sí, ya me he dado cuenta que no ha querido escribir una novela negra, sino más bien una novela de suspense inglés, más ligera, pero no hacía falta hacerlo de un modo tan chabacano, con ese tono como de novelita barata donde todo vale.
Ya entrada la segunda parte mejora el estilo, pero la trama sigue siendo confusa y a menudo recurre a los continuos cambios de escenario con un final abrupto de los capítulos como suelen hacer los m��s burdos bestsellers.
Solo he encontrado a Dicker en el argumento, en la propia historia, amplia y lo suficientemente compleja para mantenerte desorientado y en su resolución, esa manera de converger los distintos elementos hacia un final donde todas las piezas encajan y algunas de modo sorprendente.
En cualquier caso, no ha sido suficiente para librarme de la desilusión que me ha provocado su lectura. ¡Qué pena!
June 21, 2022
➡ July 27, 2021
В новия си роман „Загадката на стая 622“ Жоел Дикер ни поднася едно крайно интригуващо и уникално литературно преживяване. Този път историята, в която авторът уверено ни потапя, е в пъти по-пленителна, вълнуваща и смайваща. Спрямо предишните си романи („Истината за случая Хари Куебърт“ и „Изчезването на Стефани Мейлър“), сега откривам, че е надградил доста разказваческите си умения. Сюжетът в „Загадката на стая 622“ е изграден великолепно и невероятно умело. Освен силно заплетения криминален случай, една част от романа е и съвсем лична за Жоел Дикер и това си личи и се усеща в текста. А двете неща – личната история на Жоел и измислената – са навързани и преплетени по изумителен начин. До момента намирам тази книга за най-зрялата творба на автора. И едно голямо браво за нея.
В личната си част Жоел Дикер често се връща към спомените си за своя доскорошен издател Бернар дьо Фалоа, чиято смърт той посочва като причината и да напише „Загадката на стая 622“. Говори много за него, за приятелството им, за силната връзка между двамата, за цялата помощ, която му е оказал по отношение на неговите книги. От написаното от Жоел разбираме, че Бернар дьо Фалоа за него е бил издателят-мечта. И наистина всеки писател би бил неоспорим щастливец да открие подобен човек за издател, който да даде всичко от себе си, не само за издаването на книгата ти, но и за множество процеси след това – като първият ти значим пробив („Истината за случая Хари Куебърт“, чието решение за издаване било взето много набързо – от лятото за есента, и то по същото време, когато целият читателски интерес бил насочен към излизането на първата книга на Дж. К. Роулинг след „Хари Потър“) да има гарантирано място на витрините на водещите книжарници във Франция и се стигне до личното му ангажиране да отсява множеството продуценти, напиращи за филмови екранизации на книгите.
И след неговата смърт Жоел си поставя за цел да напише роман, който да посвети на своя издател и добър приятел. И докато се мъчи да сътвори нещо прилично, се среща със съседката си Слоун, с която преживява няколкомесечен романс, но впоследствие се разделят. Междувременно асистентката му Дьониз също го зарязва заради двуседмичната си лятна почивка. И пред перспективата да прекара следващите две седмици в апартамента си – сам и депресиран – той взима внезапното решение също да се отправи на лятна почивка. И така потегля към Вербие, като отсяда в хотел „Палас“, където се натъква на Скарлет Лионас – лондончанка, която е силно запленена от неговата личност и писателската му дейност. Двамата се натъкват на странна особеност в хотела и така започва приключението наречено „Загадката на стая 622“.
И то наистина си е загадка, огромна при това. Такава палитра от ярки персонажи, едно мистериозно убийство, тайни агенти, шпионаж, банкови машинации, изневери, борби за надмощие и власт, и една много красива любовна история. Всичко около Лев и Анастасия беше много красиво разказано и поднесено. Цялата книга е изпълнена с напрежение, което струи от всяка страница, докато се прехвърляме напред и назад през години и събития. Като редуването на лято със зима създава една неповторима атмосфера около Швейцария. А когато се стигне до частта с обратите, то те наистина се оказват смайващи и са много повече от един. Направо си е цял водовъртеж от изненади и неочаквани неща. И това не спира до последната глава, където на раздяла Жоел Дикер ни е подготвил още нещо, след което ще можем да затворим книгата с усмивка.
Всичко от „Загадката на стая 622“ ми хареса изключително много. И съм безкрайно впечатлен от автора.
Направо оценката ми за книгата е 5x5x5.
Цитати:
„Освен това Скарлет започва със „С“, като Самота. Самотата, която винаги е с мен и която ме кара да пиша. Струва ми се, че с Бернар не се чувствах толкова сам. Когато Бернар си отиде, Скарлет отново ме споходи.“
„Оказва се, че най-важното е не как приключва нашата история, а с какво ще запълним страниците. Подобно на романа, животът трябва да бъде приключение. А приключенията са ваканциите на живота.“
🌞 🏝 ⛱ 🌊
🎶 Summer Mood Music (3) ➡ Billie Eilish - NDA
🎶 twenty one pilots: Lane Boy 🎶 Jumpsuit
🌞🌞🌞
➡ June 22, 2021
И летните ми книжни попълнения, начело със „Загадката на стая 622“ ➡ [my summer books]
Ще ги започна съвсем скоро, по ред от най-малката към най-голямата (по брой страници).
🌞🌞🌞
P.S.
(И съвсем накрая малко лично отклонение.
От началото на годината до този момент следните книги: „Котката и градът“; „Трите тела“; „Пиранези“; „Песен за Ахил“ и „Загадката на стая 622“ са ми абсолютни номер 1 за книга на годината, а в оставащите месеци има още няколко заглавия, които съм си набелязал и към които имам очаквания, така че явно към края на декември – за годишната ми класация – ще пада голямо притегляне на +/- за всяка една от тях).
🤗
В новия си роман „Загадката на стая 622“ Жоел Дикер ни поднася едно крайно интригуващо и уникално литературно преживяване. Този път историята, в която авторът уверено ни потапя, е в пъти по-пленителна, вълнуваща и смайваща. Спрямо предишните си романи („Истината за случая Хари Куебърт“ и „Изчезването на Стефани Мейлър“), сега откривам, че е надградил доста разказваческите си умения. Сюжетът в „Загадката на стая 622“ е изграден великолепно и невероятно умело. Освен силно заплетения криминален случай, една част от романа е и съвсем лична за Жоел Дикер и това си личи и се усеща в текста. А двете неща – личната история на Жоел и измислената – са навързани и преплетени по изумителен начин. До момента намирам тази книга за най-зрялата творба на автора. И едно голямо браво за нея.
В личната си част Жоел Дикер често се връща към спомените си за своя доскорошен издател Бернар дьо Фалоа, чиято смърт той посочва като причината и да напише „Загадката на стая 622“. Говори много за него, за приятелството им, за силната връзка между двамата, за цялата помощ, която му е оказал по отношение на неговите книги. От написаното от Жоел разбираме, че Бернар дьо Фалоа за него е бил издателят-мечта. И наистина всеки писател би бил неоспорим щастливец да открие подобен човек за издател, който да даде всичко от себе си, не само за издаването на книгата ти, но и за множество процеси след това – като първият ти значим пробив („Истината за случая Хари Куебърт“, чието решение за издаване било взето много набързо – от лятото за есента, и то по същото време, когато целият читателски интерес бил насочен към излизането на първата книга на Дж. К. Роулинг след „Хари Потър“) да има гарантирано място на витрините на водещите книжарници във Франция и се стигне до личното му ангажиране да отсява множеството продуценти, напиращи за филмови екранизации на книгите.
И след неговата смърт Жоел си поставя за цел да напише роман, който да посвети на своя издател и добър приятел. И докато се мъчи да сътвори нещо прилично, се среща със съседката си Слоун, с която преживява няколкомесечен романс, но впоследствие се разделят. Междувременно асистентката му Дьониз също го зарязва заради двуседмичната си лятна почивка. И пред перспективата да прекара следващите две седмици в апартамента си – сам и депресиран – той взима внезапното решение също да се отправи на лятна почивка. И така потегля към Вербие, като отсяда в хотел „Палас“, където се натъква на Скарлет Лионас – лондончанка, която е силно запленена от неговата личност и писателската му дейност. Двамата се натъкват на странна особеност в хотела и така започва приключението наречено „Загадката на стая 622“.
И то наистина си е загадка, огромна при това. Такава палитра от ярки персонажи, едно мистериозно убийство, тайни агенти, шпионаж, банкови машинации, изневери, борби за надмощие и власт, и една много красива любовна история. Всичко около Лев и Анастасия беше много красиво разказано и поднесено. Цялата книга е изпълнена с напрежение, което струи от всяка страница, докато се прехвърляме напред и назад през години и събития. Като редуването на лято със зима създава една неповторима атмосфера около Швейцария. А когато се стигне до частта с обратите, то те наистина се оказват смайващи и са много повече от един. Направо си е цял водовъртеж от изненади и неочаквани неща. И това не спира до последната глава, където на раздяла Жоел Дикер ни е подготвил още нещо, след което ще можем да затворим книгата с усмивка.
Всичко от „Загадката на стая 622“ ми хареса изключително много. И съм безкрайно впечатлен от автора.
Направо оценката ми за книгата е 5x5x5.
Цитати:
„Освен това Скарлет започва със „С“, като Самота. Самотата, която винаги е с мен и която ме кара да пиша. Струва ми се, че с Бернар не се чувствах толкова сам. Когато Бернар си отиде, Скарлет отново ме споходи.“
„Оказва се, че най-важното е не как приключва нашата история, а с какво ще запълним страниците. Подобно на романа, животът трябва да бъде приключение. А приключенията са ваканциите на живота.“
🌞 🏝 ⛱ 🌊
🎶 Summer Mood Music (3) ➡ Billie Eilish - NDA
🎶 twenty one pilots: Lane Boy 🎶 Jumpsuit
🌞🌞🌞
➡ June 22, 2021
И летните ми книжни попълнения, начело със „Загадката на стая 622“ ➡ [my summer books]
Ще ги започна съвсем скоро, по ред от най-малката към най-голямата (по брой страници).
🌞🌞🌞
P.S.
(И съвсем накрая малко лично отклонение.
От началото на годината до този момент следните книги: „Котката и градът“; „Трите тела“; „Пиранези“; „Песен за Ахил“ и „Загадката на стая 622“ са ми абсолютни номер 1 за книга на годината, а в оставащите месеци има още няколко заглавия, които съм си набелязал и към които имам очаквания, така че явно към края на декември – за годишната ми класация – ще пада голямо притегляне на +/- за всяка една от тях).
🤗
January 10, 2021
I sighted more reading this book than I did reading the incomprehensible assembly instructions of my Ikea BRIMNES bed.
...which says it all about it.
Look, I still remember starting to read The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, by Joël Dicker on an early Saturday morning. I proceeded to not get up, not eat, not shower until I finished that story. I HAD TO KNOW what happened. It was compelling and the narration was brilliant enough to make you forget some clichés here and there.
Then, I read The Final Days of our Fathers, and the Baltimore Boys, and the Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer...and with each book, I wondered: “Is this author actually overrated?”.
He is.
Yes, his narration mode is attractive (as much as he is. Google Images him. You will thank me later). BUT, the clichés: the men characters who always have to be scared of commitment or unable to make the right decision (hello narrator, hello Lev), the women characters who are always desperate to be loved or love (hello Anastasia), the lines that sometimes seem to come from a Hallmark movie.
With Joel Dicker, I am usually ready to forgive those clichés, because the plot and the way he unveils the mystery of his books are usually crowd-pleasing enough (and I am part of a crowd easy to please).
But on this one...the mystery was there at the beginning, the answers absolutely easy and disappointing at the end. I felt uncomfortable with the way he describes and makes the character of Arma act (hello racial overtones). I was reading faster and faster, in the hope, something will save the book in the end. It never happened. The last 200 pages were even tough to read for me.
The only thing enjoyable was reading about Bernard de Fallois. I just wished I didn’t have to read it an egocentric story, with a far-fetched ending that gave me the same bitter taste as the Lost tv show ending.
- Worst part: it was the most disappointing book to start my 2021 year.
- Best part: my readings can only get better after that one.
...which says it all about it.
Look, I still remember starting to read The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, by Joël Dicker on an early Saturday morning. I proceeded to not get up, not eat, not shower until I finished that story. I HAD TO KNOW what happened. It was compelling and the narration was brilliant enough to make you forget some clichés here and there.
Then, I read The Final Days of our Fathers, and the Baltimore Boys, and the Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer...and with each book, I wondered: “Is this author actually overrated?”.
He is.
Yes, his narration mode is attractive (as much as he is. Google Images him. You will thank me later). BUT, the clichés: the men characters who always have to be scared of commitment or unable to make the right decision (hello narrator, hello Lev), the women characters who are always desperate to be loved or love (hello Anastasia), the lines that sometimes seem to come from a Hallmark movie.
With Joel Dicker, I am usually ready to forgive those clichés, because the plot and the way he unveils the mystery of his books are usually crowd-pleasing enough (and I am part of a crowd easy to please).
But on this one...the mystery was there at the beginning, the answers absolutely easy and disappointing at the end. I felt uncomfortable with the way he describes and makes the character of Arma act (hello racial overtones). I was reading faster and faster, in the hope, something will save the book in the end. It never happened. The last 200 pages were even tough to read for me.
The only thing enjoyable was reading about Bernard de Fallois. I just wished I didn’t have to read it an egocentric story, with a far-fetched ending that gave me the same bitter taste as the Lost tv show ending.
- Worst part: it was the most disappointing book to start my 2021 year.
- Best part: my readings can only get better after that one.
October 1, 2020
Já li outros livros do autor e, mal este saiu, quis logo ler. A capa fascinou-me pela sua beleza na simplicidade.
Adoro este tipo de livros onde ocorrem crimes em quartos de hotéis numa vila pequena e “afastada” do mundo e num inverno.
Este livro emocionou-me de tantas formas. A dedicatória foi tão especial, tão única e eu senti que todo o livro continha a memória dessa pessoa que foi tão especial para o autor.
A história de amor que o autor transmitiu foi de cortar a respiração. E, ainda descreveu como é a vida de um autor, a inspiração e a vida amorosa.
Neste livro entramos num mistério. Quando o escritor decide hospedar-se num hotel para superar uma relação amorosa é-lhe atribuído um quarto.
No caminho até o seu quarto repara que existe dois quartos do mesmo número e o quarto 622 não existia.
Joël, em conjunto com Scarlett (uma hospedeira do mesmo hotel) vão-se juntar para tentar descobrir o que de facto aconteceu no quarto 622.
Não é só um crime. A história por detrás deste horror que aconteceu no Palace de Verbier é muito mais extensa e complexa.
E através deste crime, entramos numa história de amor impossível, numa luta pelo poder, num mundo de conquistas e derrotas.
Adoro este tipo de livros onde ocorrem crimes em quartos de hotéis numa vila pequena e “afastada” do mundo e num inverno.
Este livro emocionou-me de tantas formas. A dedicatória foi tão especial, tão única e eu senti que todo o livro continha a memória dessa pessoa que foi tão especial para o autor.
A história de amor que o autor transmitiu foi de cortar a respiração. E, ainda descreveu como é a vida de um autor, a inspiração e a vida amorosa.
Neste livro entramos num mistério. Quando o escritor decide hospedar-se num hotel para superar uma relação amorosa é-lhe atribuído um quarto.
No caminho até o seu quarto repara que existe dois quartos do mesmo número e o quarto 622 não existia.
Joël, em conjunto com Scarlett (uma hospedeira do mesmo hotel) vão-se juntar para tentar descobrir o que de facto aconteceu no quarto 622.
Não é só um crime. A história por detrás deste horror que aconteceu no Palace de Verbier é muito mais extensa e complexa.
E através deste crime, entramos numa história de amor impossível, numa luta pelo poder, num mundo de conquistas e derrotas.
November 30, 2022
1.5 stars
A pompous effort hindered further by a soulless translation, it is rare to encounter a novel where everything is working against itself, and I genuinely don't know who could find enjoyment out of Joël Dicker's The Enigma of Room 622 (the US edition).
I'm still at a loss on the novel's tone, and this is mainly due to the mismatched translation by Robert Bononno; there's a constant disconnect between the basic, rudimentary phrasing, and the larger-than-life comedic scenarios; every jokey exchange is delivered flat, and emotion never resonates because I can't determine whether the original intent is going for bombastic melodrama, or subtle authenticity. As a result, I'm not at all engaged in its tangled web of deceit, infidelity, and corporate power struggle, which while admirably complex, feels cartoonish and definitely overstays its welcome at nearing 600 pages.
The novel also goes meta-fiction with a parallel narrative featuring Joël Dicker (the author himself) researches the titular (fictional) mystery, experiences writer's block, and reminisces about his (real life) mentor/editor Bernard de Fallois. This semi-autobiographical material could be too foreign for the US audience to fully 'get' and appreciate, as neither the author nor the editor has the same name recognition here comparing to their home country. It doesn't stop there, The Enigma of Room 622 goes even further with a 'meta-squared' maneuver near the end; while I enjoy it for how obnoxious it is, it has absolutely no relevance or stylistic correlation to the plot before it.
The Enigma of Room 622 might be the most bloated, messy novel I've read this year. In large part I truly believe is due to the horrendous translation, which misses out on all the nuances of the French language and European attitude. I'll be curious to seek out reviews of this novel in its original form, because reading the US edition alone, this is beyond a slight career misfire from an established, award-winning author, this is embarrassingly bad.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
A pompous effort hindered further by a soulless translation, it is rare to encounter a novel where everything is working against itself, and I genuinely don't know who could find enjoyment out of Joël Dicker's The Enigma of Room 622 (the US edition).
I'm still at a loss on the novel's tone, and this is mainly due to the mismatched translation by Robert Bononno; there's a constant disconnect between the basic, rudimentary phrasing, and the larger-than-life comedic scenarios; every jokey exchange is delivered flat, and emotion never resonates because I can't determine whether the original intent is going for bombastic melodrama, or subtle authenticity. As a result, I'm not at all engaged in its tangled web of deceit, infidelity, and corporate power struggle, which while admirably complex, feels cartoonish and definitely overstays its welcome at nearing 600 pages.
The novel also goes meta-fiction with a parallel narrative featuring Joël Dicker (the author himself) researches the titular (fictional) mystery, experiences writer's block, and reminisces about his (real life) mentor/editor Bernard de Fallois. This semi-autobiographical material could be too foreign for the US audience to fully 'get' and appreciate, as neither the author nor the editor has the same name recognition here comparing to their home country. It doesn't stop there, The Enigma of Room 622 goes even further with a 'meta-squared' maneuver near the end; while I enjoy it for how obnoxious it is, it has absolutely no relevance or stylistic correlation to the plot before it.
The Enigma of Room 622 might be the most bloated, messy novel I've read this year. In large part I truly believe is due to the horrendous translation, which misses out on all the nuances of the French language and European attitude. I'll be curious to seek out reviews of this novel in its original form, because reading the US edition alone, this is beyond a slight career misfire from an established, award-winning author, this is embarrassingly bad.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
July 7, 2020
Cuando uno comienza a leer un libro de Joël Dicker tiene que ser consciente de que entra en un juego en el que va a ser una y mil veces engañado. Hay que aceptar que el autor se ríe de nosotros, los lectores, nos vacila de principio a fin, es así y si no estás dispuesto a ello lo mejor que se puede hacer es no comenzar siquiera el libro. Dicker no deja indiferente, o encandila o aburre hasta la saciedad, no hay medias tintas ni término medio. A mí me sucede algo parecido también con Murakami, son autores que no tienen absolutamente nada que ver pero que cuando consiguen llegar al lector lo hacen de forma muy profunda. Y Dicker es un gran maestro.
Como es habitual en sus libros hay muchos personajes principales en la historia, en esta en concreto hasta él mismo forma parte del elenco, el Escritor, con mayúsculas, algo que supongo que parte de la crítica y muchos lectores no le perdonaran porque puede dar la impresión de que el ego del autor bordea o supera todo lo admisible, a mí no deja de parecerme un juego en el que el autor nos invita a participar, un metalibro o un experimento de metaliteratura.
La trama está espléndidamente urdida como es habitual en los libros de este autor, enrevesada como sólo él lo puede hacer, retorcida hasta decir basta y ese puede ser uno de los peros que podemos poner a esta novela. O hay fuerza de voluntad por parte del lector o puede costar mucho meterse en la historia. Los continuos saltos adelante y atrás sin apenas solución de continuidad no facilitan la lectura especialmente al comienzo de la historia. Pero personalmente yo estaba dispuesto a dar un voto de confianza porque estaba seguro de que la historia no podía defraudarme, y eso que en algún momento los diálogos me parecieron poco trabajados, muy blandos por decirlo de alguna manera. Pero por otra parte me encantó eso de no saber siquiera quién era la víctima hasta bien mediada la historia. Pero uno sabe que en algún momento va a aparecer ese Dicker que engancha de forma irremediable, que es imposible dejar de seguir, que sorprende en cada giro, en cada página que uno pasa, y poco a poco todos los enigmas (incluído el de la habitación 622) se van desenredando poco a poco, viendo la luz.
Y finalmente, como en todos sus libros lo mejor está al final. Sorprendente e inesperado, no es una historia con buenos y malos, cada uno tiene sus luces y sus sombras, es una historia que habla de bondad, de amor, de bajos instintos, de egoismo, de dinero... Como la vida misma ;)
Como es habitual en sus libros hay muchos personajes principales en la historia, en esta en concreto hasta él mismo forma parte del elenco, el Escritor, con mayúsculas, algo que supongo que parte de la crítica y muchos lectores no le perdonaran porque puede dar la impresión de que el ego del autor bordea o supera todo lo admisible, a mí no deja de parecerme un juego en el que el autor nos invita a participar, un metalibro o un experimento de metaliteratura.
La trama está espléndidamente urdida como es habitual en los libros de este autor, enrevesada como sólo él lo puede hacer, retorcida hasta decir basta y ese puede ser uno de los peros que podemos poner a esta novela. O hay fuerza de voluntad por parte del lector o puede costar mucho meterse en la historia. Los continuos saltos adelante y atrás sin apenas solución de continuidad no facilitan la lectura especialmente al comienzo de la historia. Pero personalmente yo estaba dispuesto a dar un voto de confianza porque estaba seguro de que la historia no podía defraudarme, y eso que en algún momento los diálogos me parecieron poco trabajados, muy blandos por decirlo de alguna manera. Pero por otra parte me encantó eso de no saber siquiera quién era la víctima hasta bien mediada la historia. Pero uno sabe que en algún momento va a aparecer ese Dicker que engancha de forma irremediable, que es imposible dejar de seguir, que sorprende en cada giro, en cada página que uno pasa, y poco a poco todos los enigmas (incluído el de la habitación 622) se van desenredando poco a poco, viendo la luz.
Y finalmente, como en todos sus libros lo mejor está al final. Sorprendente e inesperado, no es una historia con buenos y malos, cada uno tiene sus luces y sus sombras, es una historia que habla de bondad, de amor, de bajos instintos, de egoismo, de dinero... Como la vida misma ;)
June 15, 2022
This is a very long twisty turny kind of crime novel with a slightly bouncy feel, at times it feels much more like a screwball comedy or a low stakes romance. It is distinctly old fashioned. Despite being set in this century, there is almost never a cell phone or a computer. If at first you think this is set in the real world, I assure you it is not. It is quite fussy and often silly and if you do not find its constant need to lay out every single piece of backstory, then you may find it amusing.
It is very long, much longer than it needs to be. You could easily edit this book to half the size. You could also basically remove the outer trappings where the novelist makes himself a character who is writing a novel. The framing device adds basically nothing to the story, and you will often forget about it entirely. I have never seen so many flashbacks in my life. This book will never explain something in a paragraph when it could give you a whole subplot of flashbacks.
It does have its charms, once you get what it's going for it can be a very nice, breezy change of pace from the dreary bleakness in so much crime fiction.
But be warned: this is a book nearly 600 pages long where you don't even know who died until about halfway through. Impossible to do this one without a heaping helping of patience.
It is very long, much longer than it needs to be. You could easily edit this book to half the size. You could also basically remove the outer trappings where the novelist makes himself a character who is writing a novel. The framing device adds basically nothing to the story, and you will often forget about it entirely. I have never seen so many flashbacks in my life. This book will never explain something in a paragraph when it could give you a whole subplot of flashbacks.
It does have its charms, once you get what it's going for it can be a very nice, breezy change of pace from the dreary bleakness in so much crime fiction.
But be warned: this is a book nearly 600 pages long where you don't even know who died until about halfway through. Impossible to do this one without a heaping helping of patience.
May 1, 2023
4.5/5 the best mystery I’ve ever read
January 19, 2021
This book is so bad - I think it's one of the worst book that I managed to finish. At some point it was so bad and so unbelievable I thought it was Dickers try of a new genre: comedy or Vaudeville. The characters are so ridiculous they seem taken out of a Moliere comedy. One of the main character (husband) is so ridiculous it sounds it was just created to make fun of.
Just because I wanted to get to the end which if course was total non-sense.
All the characters are grotesque and not believable. Also there are no characters you can relate to. The love stories are phony. The plot is so bad. Attempts from the writer to mislead us are patheticd as some plot twist are clear from the beginning.
The prose is horrible as well and the level of a high school student. The writer has such a nice opinion if himself it's comical.
Avoid at all cost and save the week I lost reading this atrocity.
Just because I wanted to get to the end which if course was total non-sense.
All the characters are grotesque and not believable. Also there are no characters you can relate to. The love stories are phony. The plot is so bad. Attempts from the writer to mislead us are patheticd as some plot twist are clear from the beginning.
The prose is horrible as well and the level of a high school student. The writer has such a nice opinion if himself it's comical.
Avoid at all cost and save the week I lost reading this atrocity.
June 5, 2020
«¿A dónde van los muertos? A todos los lugares en donde podemos recordarlos».
Querer descubrir cuál es el enigma de la habitación 622, una suerte de Cluedo, es dejarse engañar y disfrutar con ello. Una historia donde todo es posible y en la que, como acostumbra a hacer Joël Dicker, nada es lo que parece. Qué bien escrita está, qué buen manejo de la tensión y qué forma tan acertada de enredar y desenredar un relato en el que cada pieza encaja a la perfección.
Con esta obra, según el suizo, la más personal, demuestra, una vez más, que nadie escribe novela negra ni utiliza tan bien las líneas temporales como él. Para mí, su mejor libro después de «La verdad sobre el caso Harry Quebert».
Querer descubrir cuál es el enigma de la habitación 622, una suerte de Cluedo, es dejarse engañar y disfrutar con ello. Una historia donde todo es posible y en la que, como acostumbra a hacer Joël Dicker, nada es lo que parece. Qué bien escrita está, qué buen manejo de la tensión y qué forma tan acertada de enredar y desenredar un relato en el que cada pieza encaja a la perfección.
Con esta obra, según el suizo, la más personal, demuestra, una vez más, que nadie escribe novela negra ni utiliza tan bien las líneas temporales como él. Para mí, su mejor libro después de «La verdad sobre el caso Harry Quebert».
July 24, 2020
Sob pena de me tornar repetitiva por ser o segundo livro no mesmo mês que leio do mesmo autor confesso: estou fã incondicional do Dicker.
Que história é esta?! Dei por mim várias vezes a dizer ‘What?!’.
Numa noite de Dezembro, em Verbier, num luxuoso hotel nos Alpes suíços aconteceu uma morte suspeita, todo o livro anda muito à volta deste acontecimento e do que aconteceu verdadeiramente neste dia. E desenganem-se se acham que isto parece pouco ou normal porque tudo o que aconteceu neste livro é inexplicável.
Alta sociedade, alta finança, espionagem e uma imaginação sem fim são os ingredientes principais! É um policial intrigante, que retrata também parte da vida real do autor e da sua escrita!
Para mim foi mais um ‘page turner’ do Dicker, um livro que nos tira o fôlego até ao fim, são 600 páginas com ação e reviravoltas constantes.
Adorei! Fã! ✌🏻
July 29, 2020
Quando vejo calhamaços até tremo! Dou por mim a pensar: “vou demorar uma eternidade a ler isto!” Nada disso! Este livro lê-se de uma assentada, de uma forma quase compulsiva.
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Este é o segundo livro do autor que leio em tão pouco tempo e já está nos meus favoritos (não, ainda não li “A Verdade Sobre o Caso de Harry Quebert”).
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Um livro fantástico, viciante, de leitura fluída, que tem uma mais-valia: ter o próprio Joël Dicker como personagem da história.
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Não se deixem intimidar pelo número de páginas. Elas passam a voar. Se podia ter menos páginas? Podia! Mas não era a mesma coisa 😉 já disse que ADOREI!?!?
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Este é o segundo livro do autor que leio em tão pouco tempo e já está nos meus favoritos (não, ainda não li “A Verdade Sobre o Caso de Harry Quebert”).
📖
Um livro fantástico, viciante, de leitura fluída, que tem uma mais-valia: ter o próprio Joël Dicker como personagem da história.
📖
Não se deixem intimidar pelo número de páginas. Elas passam a voar. Se podia ter menos páginas? Podia! Mas não era a mesma coisa 😉 já disse que ADOREI!?!?
October 28, 2023
The final lines of The Enigma of Room 622 are, “for life, like a novel, must be an adventure. And adventures are life’s vacations.” If, as the transitive property suggests, novels are like vacations, this novel is like a work trip to Vicksburg Mississippi in August. It’s overlong, uncomfortably humid, smells kinda funny, and no one really wants to be there. I said to a friend when I first got this book, “it's either going to be terrible, or some fantastic nonsense.” Unfortunately it was the former. The bottom line is, don’t read this book. If you’re tempted; if you’ve been looking at this book and you think that you might want to read it despite that warning, let me have a chance to talk you out of it.
I try very hard to think of someone who would enjoy every book I read and review. But I cannot recommend this book to anyone--it's just bad. The translation is clunky, the characters are flat, it’s pretty sexist, and the plot... I read a lot of science fiction. I have reviewed a lot of science fiction on this blog. I particularly enjoy science fiction with convoluted and ridiculous plots. This plot! I can only describe it as Dan Brown by way of Scooby Doo. It does not strain disbelief--this is a full and complete muscular tear. This requires season ending surgery. Now I might have been able to find it in my heart to forgive the ridiculous plot that would need multiple industrial forklifts to achieve suspension, but this ridiculous terrible book seemed to think it was clever. It took itself so seriously. It was trying to be about grief and trauma and not about the fact that the Scooby Doo writers would have turned it away for being too far fetched.
No matter what you’re hoping to find in this book, it’s not there. If you want a clever murder mystery, read Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle instead. If you want weird financial crime--read Bad Blood. If you’re looking for international conspiracies--hell go read actual Dan Brown and not this knock off brand. Real Dan Brown is also somehow less sexist than this manages to be.
Not that real Dan Brown is a paragon of female liberation. But this book is fundamentally uninterested in women except as they are prizes for men to win, or providing sex or withholding sex from the author insert character. Come on--did no woman read this book and point this out?!!? (Don’t answer that question, it will probably just depress me). The most prominent female character who doesn’t sleep with or pine after the author insert character is fought over and manipulated by the men in this book in a way that indicates the author fundamentally does not believe women have any agency or free will at all. Ew.
This book is full of itself, sexist, unbelievable, and uninteresting. It’s also somehow over 500 pages long. I can think of much better uses of your time. Surely there’s some paint to watch dry or some grass to watch grow. I read it so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
The publishers gave me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. They certainly got one.
I try very hard to think of someone who would enjoy every book I read and review. But I cannot recommend this book to anyone--it's just bad. The translation is clunky, the characters are flat, it’s pretty sexist, and the plot... I read a lot of science fiction. I have reviewed a lot of science fiction on this blog. I particularly enjoy science fiction with convoluted and ridiculous plots. This plot! I can only describe it as Dan Brown by way of Scooby Doo. It does not strain disbelief--this is a full and complete muscular tear. This requires season ending surgery. Now I might have been able to find it in my heart to forgive the ridiculous plot that would need multiple industrial forklifts to achieve suspension, but this ridiculous terrible book seemed to think it was clever. It took itself so seriously. It was trying to be about grief and trauma and not about the fact that the Scooby Doo writers would have turned it away for being too far fetched.
No matter what you’re hoping to find in this book, it’s not there. If you want a clever murder mystery, read Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle instead. If you want weird financial crime--read Bad Blood. If you’re looking for international conspiracies--hell go read actual Dan Brown and not this knock off brand. Real Dan Brown is also somehow less sexist than this manages to be.
Not that real Dan Brown is a paragon of female liberation. But this book is fundamentally uninterested in women except as they are prizes for men to win, or providing sex or withholding sex from the author insert character. Come on--did no woman read this book and point this out?!!? (Don’t answer that question, it will probably just depress me). The most prominent female character who doesn’t sleep with or pine after the author insert character is fought over and manipulated by the men in this book in a way that indicates the author fundamentally does not believe women have any agency or free will at all. Ew.
This book is full of itself, sexist, unbelievable, and uninteresting. It’s also somehow over 500 pages long. I can think of much better uses of your time. Surely there’s some paint to watch dry or some grass to watch grow. I read it so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
The publishers gave me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. They certainly got one.
June 16, 2020
Con todo el dolor de mi corazón, le doy 3 estrellas a uno de mis autores preferidos, pero es que esta último novela no me ha cautivado como las anteriores. Me ha dejado un regusto agridulce.
Por momentos se me hacía aburrido, mucha información sin llegar a ningún lado (o avanzando pero muy lentamente).
Quizá con 200 páginas menos hubiese mejorado, porque la historia (aunque enrevesada) resulta interesante.
Homenajea en sus páginas a su editor, Bernard de Fallois, fallecido en 2018, y resulta muy tierno.
Por momentos se me hacía aburrido, mucha información sin llegar a ningún lado (o avanzando pero muy lentamente).
Quizá con 200 páginas menos hubiese mejorado, porque la historia (aunque enrevesada) resulta interesante.
Homenajea en sus páginas a su editor, Bernard de Fallois, fallecido en 2018, y resulta muy tierno.
May 17, 2020
Alors. Clairement, il y’a des éléments un peu TOO MUCH, des révélations et des plot twists qui sont un peu gros. Mais malgré ça, j’ai été happée du début à la fin. Je n’ai pas vu venir le « coupable » et j’ai trouvé que c’était hyper intelligent. Un peu tiré par les cheveux mais hyper intelligent et superbement construit ! Bref, une très belle lecture !!
October 17, 2021
Поставлю 3, бо врешті за місяць хоч щось прочитала. Але як же мене вкачало🙈🙈🙈
Стільки всього навигадував дурного
Стільки всього навигадував дурного
August 15, 2020
9,5 de 10*
Este novo livro de Joël Dicker deixou-me como aquele emoji que tem a cabeça a explodir! Brilhante a forma como engana o leitor, mantendo sempre a coerência da história. Como se não fosse já suficiente, integrou nela uma bela homenagem ao seu primeiro editor, Bernard de Fallois, falecido em 2018. A forma como encaixou factos reais numa história de ficção foi brilhante, não há melhor palavra para descrever. A dada altura dei por mim a já não entender o que era real do que era imaginado, no bom sentido. Percebe-se que Bernard foi uma pessoa extremamente importante na sua vida de escritor e o quanto a sua falta é sentida, daí a homenagem ser tão bonita.
Comentário completo em:
https://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.co...
Este novo livro de Joël Dicker deixou-me como aquele emoji que tem a cabeça a explodir! Brilhante a forma como engana o leitor, mantendo sempre a coerência da história. Como se não fosse já suficiente, integrou nela uma bela homenagem ao seu primeiro editor, Bernard de Fallois, falecido em 2018. A forma como encaixou factos reais numa história de ficção foi brilhante, não há melhor palavra para descrever. A dada altura dei por mim a já não entender o que era real do que era imaginado, no bom sentido. Percebe-se que Bernard foi uma pessoa extremamente importante na sua vida de escritor e o quanto a sua falta é sentida, daí a homenagem ser tão bonita.
Comentário completo em:
https://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.co...
September 9, 2021
No me ha gustado nada, ni siquiera sé por qué acabé de leerla porque estuve deseando abandonar durante casi toda la lectura. Ni me ha gustado la estructura (hubo momentos en que de verdad ya no sabía en qué año estaba pasando cada cosa) ni los personajes (histriónicos y demasiado estereotipados) ni el lenguaje (sobre todo en los diálogos) ni la resolución, con algunas cosas tan surrealistas que me han sacado de la lectura. Una pena, porque había disfrutado de novelas anteriores del autor.
December 13, 2024
Ако се казвах Жоел Дикер, щеше да ме е срам името ми да стои на корицата на тази хартиена досада! Че и писател с главно "П" се писал вътре нашичкия!
Повече от една четвърт прочетена и нищо в нея, което да намеря интересно или вълнуващо - мъка. Отказвам се! :(
И естествено, романът е и с посредствен превод на български.
P.S. Нямам и желание, за пореден път да обяснявам, защо аджеба толкова не ми е харесала книга от този автор...
Повече от една четвърт прочетена и нищо в нея, което да намеря интересно или вълнуващо - мъка. Отказвам се! :(
И естествено, романът е и с посредствен превод на български.
P.S. Нямам и желание, за пореден път да обяснявам, защо аджеба толкова не ми е харесала книга от този автор...
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