A stylish, atmospheric mystery with a startling twist . . . satisfies
like Simenon and surprises like Ruth Rendell. I can't give it any higher
praise.--NPR
Manfred Baumann is a loner. Socially awkward and perpetually ill at
ease, he spends his evenings quietly drinking and surreptitiously
observing Adèle Bedeau, the sullen but alluring waitress at a drab
bistro in the unremarkable small French town of Saint-Louis. One day,
she simply vanishes into thin air and Georges Gorski, a detective
haunted by his failure to solve one of his first murder cases, is called
in to investigate the girl's disappearance. He sets his sights on
Manfred.
As Manfred cowers beneath Gorski's watchful eye, the murderous secrets
of his past begin to catch up with him and his carefully crafted veneer
of normalcy falters. His booze-soaked unraveling carries him from
Saint-Louis to the back alleys of Strasbourg. Graeme Macrae Burnet's
masterful play on literary form featuring an unreliable narrator makes
for a grimly entertaining psychological thriller that questions if it is
possible, or even desirable, to know another man's mind.