[Originally published at new York Journal of Books]
“The Enigma of Room 622 can’t be read quickly, but it
provides humor and insight throughout the long journey—and many elegant twists
of crime and detection, with plenty of surprises.”
Crime
fiction often claims love as its own, using it as the most potent motive for
murder. Reversing the trope, Joël Dicker offers murder investigation as a balm
for unrequited love, in a clever and intriguing novel-within-a-novel tinted
with heartbreak, then made far more vivid with flames of desire and threats of
harm and loss.
The
entire book is a prolonged teasing of the reader. Because it’s turned into an
amateur sleuth investigation of blood, fraud, and darkness, there’s no time to
push aside the author’s manipulation—instead, in this massive page-turner (577
pages; a good fit for the double novel enclosed!), an author, also named Joël,
retreats to a Swiss Alps luxury hotel to lick his wounds from “two small
personal traumas”: the death of his mentor, and being forsaken by a woman he’s
achingly drawn to.
In
the hotel, he discovers a mystery: On the sixth floor, the room numbers go 621,
621a, 623. Where is Room 622? Obviously it’s been re-labeled. Why? What’s the
hotel hiding? Joël might not press beyond his wave of curiosity on his own
(he’s in 621A, and feels an understandable reluctance to open a box of trouble),
but his neighbor on the hotel floor can’t leave this alone. She is Scarlett, a
name that at once calls up Scarlett O’Hara of Gone with the Wind, and the
“scarlet woman” who’s available and appealing.
She
pressed Joël into becoming an accomplice in tracking what took place in the
room. Confirming it was a crime scene is simple enough (a little extra tip
money to the staff); why does Scarlett then insist that they investigate and
solve the unsolved murder? Joël meant his weekend in the hotel to be a break
from writing, but Scarlett calls him (due to his slight fame) “the Writer” and
tells him this sleuthing will result in his own next book.
Book
within book, and now perhaps a third “meta” layer—and all this is revealed in a
tone that echoes the great fairy tales of Europe, where magical reality is the
norm. Soon the forces within the fiction challenge Joël to decide what
Scarlett’s nature is, good and beautiful, or seductive and menacing. Yet even
this puzzle is quickly overwhelmed by the discoveries unfolding within the
investigation.
For
instance, when they go to visit a bank manager to sort out issues related to
the murder, the man assumes that the Writer is trying to make the mess public
ins ome new book, and is furious and refuses to provide details: “After the
murder, the bank had to climb back out of a hole. Our clients were unhappy; the
banks was on shaky ground … I’m going to inform my lawyers immediately. I’m
warning you, if you persist in this, you’ll never get that book printed.” But
when Joël and Scarlett are dumped out of the office, a teller approaches and
slips a piece of paper into Scarlett’s hand. A new clue!
The
“meta” nature of the story rarely interferes, and the translation from the
original French by Robert Bononno is skillful, with only the slightest stilting
of language, an aspect that adds to the magical nature of the telling. A final
exchange between Joël and Scarlett, before the last threads are drawn together,
is revealing:
“Are
you heartbroken? Is that why you write?” “Maybe. And you, are you heartbroken?”
“Well, if you are, I am as well, since I’m one of your characters.”
The Enigma of Room 622 can’t be read quickly, but it
provides humor and insight throughout the long journey—and many elegant twists
of crime and detection, with plenty of surprises.
PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.
