The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair - Joel Dicker

August 30, 1975. The day of the disappearance. The day Somerset, New Hampshire, lost its innocence.

That summer, struggling author Harry Quebert fell in love with fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan. Thirty-three years later, her body is dug up from his yard, along with a manuscript copy of the novel that made him a household name. Quebert is the only suspect.

Marcus Goldman - Quebert's most gifted protégé - throws off his writer's block to clear his mentor's name. Solving the case and penning a new bestseller soon merge into one. As his book begins to take on a life of its own, the nation is gripped by the mystery of 'The Girl Who Touched the Heart of America'. But with Nola, in death as in life, nothing is ever as it seems.

I can't decide how I feel about this book. Starting it, I was disappointed. The characters were, in my opinion, unsubtle and some of the scenarios unrealistic and verging on farcical. My biggest objection, as you might expect, was to some of the decisions made and conversations had in the novel's publishing industry. That's not to say you don't get diabolical editors and money-craving publicity stunts but the whole thing felt a little OTT.

I also (and I realise this is subjective) struggled with the character of Nola herself - there seemed to be so many contradictions. Some, of course, are deliberate, but it seems to me strange, for instance, that a child so overtly young and naive in the way she talks, the way she generally operates, would be sexually engaged? It's not the fact Quebert is in love with a fifteen year old - terrifyingly, it happens - it's that this fifteen year old somehow doesn't make sense to me. It would probably all have been fine if I could distract myself from these niggly points with an intelligent and fast-paced plot but two hundred pages in and I'm struggling a bit.

That said, I don't want to take away the credits Joel Dicker deserves. The concept is strong and the writing was good and appropriately unintrusive; Dicker doesn't shove hyperbolic imagery down the reader's throat or indulge in too many metaphors or flowery sentences. While the plot continued to be a little uninspiring, it did pick up and by the end I was engaged and found myself turning the pages much more rapidly.

Overall I wouldn't say this book goes down as the most original crime novel I've ever read... But it does pick up pace and there are some fun twists and turns along the way so I'd say, if you're going to pick it up, do persevere, it gets better. But am I going to stock up on copies to send to all my friends at Christmas? Sorry Joel Dicker, I feel I've been overly harsh, but no.

5/10