The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair: A Novel

Joel Dicker

May 2014 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

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?

Translated from the French by Sam Taylor

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

Ratings and reviews

This book had a decent begininng and seemed like it would have a good story. Then it gets bogged down with a massive number of flashbacks, at one point there is a flashback within a flashback within a flashback within a flashback...4 levels deep for no reason at all. As to the ending, it seems as if Mr Dicker wanted to drag it on and on. The main villain of the book changes at least 6 times in the last few chapters. The protaginist is supposed to be an author himself, but it seems he is also a detective who is much better than any police officer. The majority of the characters are cardboard cut outs, with multiple characters falling in love within seconds of meeting someone and most characters have a single driving force that defines them and nothing else. Over all this is a very boring book, with not much to show for itself beyond a good starting idea.

It's true, a good book ends with the reader not wanting it to end and this book delivers that feeling ten fold. Brilliantly written and had me practically ripping the pages as I turned them. A true murder mystery! two thumbs up!

This book had me from the beginning, and I finished it very quickly. The story was excellent, the writing amateur but talented, the story had me captivated, so many twists and turns!

About the author

Joel Dicker was born in 1985 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he later 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. It has sold more than two million copies across Europe. Dicker lives in Geneva.

Sam Taylor (translator) is a novelist and journalist who has lived in France for more than a decade. His first literary translation was Laurence Binet's HHhH, which was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.