Synopses & Reviews
New York Times Bestseller
Unimpeachably terrific.” The New York Times Book Review
One of CBS This Mornings 6 Must-Have Titles for Your Summer Reading List”
The publishing phenomenon topping bestseller lists around the world, with sales of more than two million copies in Europe and rights sold in more than forty countries, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is a fast-paced, tightly plotted, cinematic literary thriller, and an ingenious book within a book, by a dazzling young writer.
August 30, 1975: the day fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan is glimpsed fleeing through the woods, never to be heard from again; the day Somerset, New Hampshire, lost its innocence.
Thirty-three years later, Marcus Goldman, a successful young novelist, visits Somerset to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country's most respected writers, and to find a cure for his writers block as his publishers deadline looms. But Marcus's plans are violently upended when Harry is suddenly and sensationally implicated in the cold-case murder of Nola Kellergan whom, he admits, he had an affair with. As the national media convicts Harry, Marcus launches his own investigation, following a trail of clues through his mentors books, the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, and the hidden history of Somersets citizens and the man they hold most dear. To save Harry, his own writing career, and eventually even himself, Marcus must answer three questions, all of which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? What happened one misty morning in Somerset in the summer of 1975? And how do you write a book to save someones life?
Review
Acclaim from Around the World for The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair
France
“If you put your nose in this big novel, youre finished. You wont be able to keep from sprinting through its six hundred pages. You will be manipulated, baffled, and amazed by the many twists and turns, the red herrings and sudden changes of direction, of this impassioned story.” —Le Journal du Dimanche (France)
“A funny, intelligent, breathtaking book within a book . . . There is a real jubilation in discovering this extraordinary novel. —Lire (France)
“The success story of the literary season . . . An American thriller similar to the best work of Truman Capote: In Cold Blood.” —Paris-Match (France)
“A masterpiece! In maestro form, Dicker alternates periods and genres (police reports, interviews, excerpts from novels) and explores America in all its excesses—media, literary, religious—all the while questioning the role of the literary writer.” —LExpress (France)
“Dizzying, like the best American thrillers . . . Rich in subplots and twists, moving backwards and forward in time, containing books within books.” —Le Figaro (France)
Italy
“After The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair the contemporary novel will no longer be the same.
Review
Worldwide Acclaim for The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair
U.S.
One of Us Weeklys 4 “Stories for a Sunny Escape”
One of The Hollywood Reporters “10 Hot Summer Beach Reads”
One of Minneapolis Star Tribunes “5 Mysteries You Must Read”
One of Parades “20 Best Summer Books”
One of Houston Chronicles “21 Summer Book Recommendations”
One of New York Posts “29 Best Books of the Summer”
One of Tampa Bay Timess “Best Books for Summer Reading”
One of Milwaukee Journal Sentinels “Best Books for Your Summer Reading List”
One of The Daily Beasts “Hot Reads”
“Unimpeachably terrific . . . A playful, page-turning whodunit . . . If Norman Mailer had been accused of murder and Truman Capote had collaborated with Dominick Dunne on a tell-all about it, the result might have turned out something like this. Though I suspect this version may be funnier. . . . Its [Dickers] light touch and engaging voice that make the writing so infectious, and will probably make it a best seller here as well.” —Chelsea Cain, The New York Times Book Review
“I havent had a suspense novel surprise me like this one in a long time. Joël Dicker is a bright new star of suspense, and he proves his serious chops with this utterly thrilling, delightfully twisted, continually shocking novel. I cant wait to read what he writes next!” —Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fear Nothing
“A dazzling thriller—stunningly original and brilliantly plotted, down to the very last twists. Its a murder mystery, a literary puzzle, and a love story, all ingeniously woven into a masterly novel of suspense. Joël Dicker is an enormous talent, and this book is extraordinary.” —Linda Fairstein, New York Times bestselling author of Death Angel
“Talk about a web of treason and danger: This one unfolds with a relentless sense of urgency and pulse-pounding escapades, entertaining at every turn. Absolutely rousing.” —Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Kings Deception
“Planes, trains and automobiles: Youll see people reading this book everywhere. An amazing debut and wonderful summer read from a writer to watch.” —Michael Harvey, bestselling author of The Chicago Way
“The great American crime novel . . . A breakneck thriller.” —Details
“A terrific read . . . Entertaining . . . Cleverly constructed . . . Its compelling, challenging, sometimes even funny. The characters are finely drawn. . . . It keeps you, as they say of movies, ‘on the edge of your seat. ” —The Huffington Post
“An intense, well-crafted mystery . . . This is a big book with a small cast, lots of layers with a variety of suspects who have the means, the motive and the opportunity. . . . Come for the big, literary mystery, and brag about the prizes when youre done. Vacation time at a Somerset mansion not included.” —KQED, “Great Lit Perfect for Summer Reading”
“Entertainingly pulled off . . . Enjoyable . . . It churns along at such a good clip and is rendered with such high emotion and apparent deep conviction that its easy to see why it was a bestseller in Europe. Its likely to be one in this country, too.” —The Washington Post
“A wonderful, fun, and boisterous read, a book with an uncanny ability to both fascinate and amuse you. Twists and turns and oddball characters make this a rollicking bullet-train of a novel.” —Amazon.com, Best Book of the Month
“A highly entertaining mash-up of melodrama, metafiction and mystery [with] a slick page-turning plot.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Charmingly off-kilter . . . Sure-footed . . . No wonder its already a best seller in Europe.” —The Daily Beast
“[A] funny, plot-twisting mystery.” —Womens Day, “New Favorites from the Womens Day Staff”
“Stunning . . . Fast-paced, tightly plotted . . . From page one, youll be hooked on this fascinating mystery of love and deception.” —National Examiner
“Smart and fun.” —Houston Chronicle
“A clever, tightly plotted thriller with a comic edge.” —Tampa Bay Times
“A unique thriller . . . A page-turning police procedural . . . This dramatic, original first novel has made Joël Dicker a famous writer in Europe, and may do so in America as well.” —Concord Monitor
“Moves at break-neck speed . . . I enjoyed it and got wrapped in its ambitious, multi-layered story.” —Oline Cogdill, Mystery Scene
“A sensational story, imaginatively related. . . . Dicker does what every gifted crime writer does: he makes the reader slowly realize that there are any number of potential killers. . . . Its first-rate deception. . . . [Youll] be surprised again and again [and] find yourself reading faster and faster. Dicker has clearly mastered the art of creating suspense.” —CounterPunch
“Fast-paced . . . Dynamic . . . A captivating murder mystery as well as a compelling love story.” —Shepherd Express
“Is Harry worth the hype? I have to say ‘yes. . . . Its 600-plus pages that I kept reading. . . . The plot has more dark twists and turns than a drug lords tunnel. . . . Nothing—repeat—nothing is as it seems. . . . We are completely hooked.” —Irma Helman, Open Letters Monthly
“An ambitious, multilayered novel of suspense . . . This tale of fame, friendship, loyalty, and fiction versus reality moves at warp speed.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This sprawling, likable whodunit [is] obvious ballast for the summers beach totes. . . . Dicker keeps the prose simple and the pace snappy in a plot that winds up with more twists than a Twizzler. . . . [An] entertaining debut thriller.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Tantalizing . . . Compelling . . . There is a Twin Peaks-like fascination to the story of Nola Kellergan. . . . Readers are certain to be caught up in the ongoing drama of who killed Nola among the plethora of suspects.” —Booklist
England
“The cleverest, creepiest book youll read this year . . . The most talked-about French novel of the decade . . . Breathtakingly plotted . . . Addictively fast . . . Its like Twin Peaks meets Atonement meets In Cold Blood. . . . The New England setting [is] immersively convincing. . . . Very few foreign-language novels make big waves in Anglophone countries, but this one seems genuinely likely to buck the trend.” —The Telegraph
“Spellbinding . . . a top-class literary thriller . . . It is maddeningly, deliciously impossible to guess the truth.” —The Times
“A phenomenon . . . A page-turner . . . Compulsively easy to read.” —The Observer
“With enough plot twists to fill a truck, it is a racy read. . . . Part master-and-disciple tale, part whodunnit, Mr. Dickers thriller is also a postmodern confabulation of timelines and stories, in the manner of Kate Atkinsons Life After Life.” —The Economist
“[An] In Cold Blood-style investigation of a Twin Peaks-like town . . . A smart, immensely readable, impressively plotted page-turner [that] keeps the surprises coming right up to the closing pages. . . . An immersive, propulsive, continually wrongfooting twister of a tale, it should delight any reader who has felt bereft since finishing Gone Girl, or Stieg Larssons Millennium Trilogy.” —Metro
“A seductive read—big, assertive and clever . . . Expertly told . . . Hard to resist . . . Well-crafted and highly enjoyable.” —The Independent
“Dicker has the first-rate crime novelists ability to lead his readers up the garden path. . . . An excellent story.” —Sunday Express
“[It] does well . . . what all good thrillers should: it twists and turns. . . . [It] has the pleasing spryness of one of Jessica Fletchers outings [in Murder, She Wrote]. . . . Just like a [Harlan] Coben novel, its very enjoyable.” —The Guardian
“A scintillating, page-turning debut . . . Expertly paced . . . tautly written . . . A powerful novel about passion, jealousy, family, redemption, friendship and love, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is a Great American Novel—written by a European.” —The Bookseller
Australia
“Fabulous, clever stuff . . . This extraordinary thriller . . . grabs you, its characters so intriguingly flawed and pulsating that you simply cant stop reading. . . . The real genius of this work is in its incredible construction, diving forwards and backwards with multiple storytellers.” —The Australian Womens Weekly
France
“If you dip your toes into this major novel, youre finished: you wont be able to keep from sprinting through to the last page. You will be manipulated, thrown off course, flabbergasted and amazed by the many twists and turns, red herrings and sudden changes of direction in this exuberant story.” —Le Journal du Dimanche
“A funny, intelligent, breathtaking book within a book . . . There is a real joy in discovering this extraordinary novel.” —Lire
“A master stroke . . . A crime novel with not one plot line but many, full of shifting rhythms, changes of course and multiple layers that, like a Russian doll, slot together beautifully . . . In maestro form, Dicker alternates periods and genres (police reports, interviews, excerpts from novels) and explores America in all its excesses—media, literary, religious—all the while questioning the role of the literary writer.” —LExpress
“The success story of the literary season . . . An American thriller reminiscent of the best work of Truman Capote.” —Paris-Match
“Dizzying, like the best American thrillers . . . Rich in subplots and twists, moving backwards and forwards in time, containing books within books.” —Le Figaro
Italy
“After The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, the contemporary novel will no longer be the same. Verdict: summa cum laude. . . . A beautiful novel.” —Corriere della Sera
“Narrative talent is about making a work of art out of life. Dicker has got it.” —Vanity Fair
Germany
“A book within a book, a crime novel, a love story. Extraordinary.” —Cosmopolitan
“Brilliantly narrated.” —Stern
Switzerland
“A novel with all the ingredients of a global bestseller.” —Die Zeit
The Netherlands
“A story brimming with such intelligence and subtlety that you can only regret that it has to end. A novel that works on so many levels: a crime story, a love story, a comedy of manners, but equally an incisive critique of the art of the modern author.” —Elsevier
“A novel that calls to mind the journalistic investigations of Truman Capote, the murder plots of Donna Tartt and the romantic scandal of Nabakovs Lolita.” —NRC NEXT
“Packed with action, psychological drama and . . . extraordinary suspense.” —NRC Handelsblad
“Captivating and enchanting . . . a true literary adventure.” —Algemeen Dagblad
“Wonderful dialogue, colorful characters, breathtaking twists and a plot that allows no pause for breath . . . Everything is perfectly woven together to create an irresistible story in which absolutely nothing is as it seems.” —Trouw
Spain
“Never have I felt so compelled to recommend a book this highly. . . . I was mesmerized and fascinated long after I had finished reading. . . . It has echoes of Twin Peaks and Death on the Staircase, John Grisham, Psycho, The Exorcist, and The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving.” —La Vanguardia
“This book will be celebrated and studied by future writers. It is a model thriller.” —El Periódico de Catalunya
“Masterful . . . The great thriller that everyone has been waiting for since the Millennium Trilogy of Stieg Larsson.” —El Cultural de El Mundo
Synopsis
Instant New York TimesBestseller
Unimpeachably terrific. The New York Times Book Review
One ofCBS This Morning s 6 Must-Have Titles for Your Summer Reading List
The publishing phenomenon topping bestseller lists around the world, with sales of more than two million copies in Europe and rights sold in more than forty countries, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affairis a fast-paced, tightly plotted, cinematic literary thriller, and an ingenious book within a book, by a dazzling young writer.
August 30, 1975: the day fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan is glimpsed fleeing through the woods, never to be heard from again; the day Somerset, New Hampshire, lost its innocence.
Thirty-three years later, Marcus Goldman, a successful young novelist, visits Somerset to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country s most respected writers, and to find a cure for his writer s block as his publisher s deadline looms.But Marcus s plans are violently upended when Harry is suddenly and sensationally implicated in the cold-case murder of Nola Kellergan whom, he admits, he had an affair with. As the national media convicts Harry, Marcus launches his own investigation, following a trail of clues through his mentor s books, the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, and the hidden history of Somerset s citizens and the man they hold most dear. To save Harry, his own writing career, and eventually even himself, Marcus must answer three questions, all of which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? What happened one misty morning in Somerset in the summer of 1975? And how do you write a book to save someone s life?"
Synopsis
Instant New York Times Bestseller Soon to be a 10-part TV series starring Patrick Dempsey, Ben Schnetzer, Damon Wayans Jr., and Virginia Madsen
"Unimpeachably terrific." --The New York Times Book Review
The publishing phenomenon topping bestseller lists around the world, with sales of more than two million copies in Europe and rights sold in more than forty countries, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is a fast-paced, tightly plotted, cinematic literary thriller, and an ingenious book within a book, by a dazzling young writer.
August 30, 1975: the day fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan is glimpsed fleeing through the woods, never to be heard from again; the day Somerset, New Hampshire, lost its innocence.
Thirty-three years later, Marcus Goldman, a successful young novelist, visits Somerset to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country's most respected writers, and to find a cure for his writer's block as his publisher's deadline looms. But Marcus's plans are violently upended when Harry is suddenly and sensationally implicated in the cold-case murder of Nola Kellergan--whom, he admits, he had an affair with. As the national media convicts Harry, Marcus launches his own investigation, following a trail of clues through his mentor's books, the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, and the hidden history of Somerset's citizens and the man they hold most dear. To save Harry, his own writing career, and eventually even himself, Marcus must answer three questions, all of which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? What happened one misty morning in Somerset in the summer of 1975? And how do you write a book to save someone's life?
Synopsis
Instant New York Times Bestseller
"Unimpeachably terrific." --The New York Times Book Review For fans of Ruth Ware, Shari Lapena, and Donna Tartt: a twisty, fast-paced, cinematic literary thriller, and an ingenious book within a book, by the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Enigma of Room 622
Marcus Goldman is riding high. The twenty-eight-year-old writer is the new darling of American letters, whose debut novel has sold two million copies. But when it comes time to produce a new book, he is sidelined by a crippling case of writer's block. He travels to Somerset, New Hamprshire, to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country's most respected writers, hoping to jar his creative juices as his publisher's deadline looms. But Marcus's plans are upended when Harry is sensationally implicated in a cold-case murder: Fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan went missing in 1975, and Harry admits to having had an affair with her. Following a trail of clues through the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, Marcus must answer two questions, which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? And how do you write a book to save someone's life?
Named a Best Book of the Summer by CBS This Morning, Us Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Parade, Houston Chronicle, New York Post, Tampa Bay Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Daily Beast
Now a 10-part TV series on EPIX, starring Patrick Dempsey, Ben Schnetzer, Damon Wayans Jr., and Virginia Madsen
About the Author
Joel 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.