There is first, as in any good thriller signed Joel Dicker, a murder. That ofAlaska Sanders, this beautiful young girl, of sweet appearance, in her twenties. His body was found in April 1999, at the edge of a lake in Mount Pleasant, a peaceful town in New Hampshire, a remote corner of the United States.
How? ‘Or’ What ? Who ? And above all, why did you kill Alaska? A small team of cops leads the investigation and among them, a name is familiar: Perry Gahalowood. A grumpy and endearing sergeant, whom fans know for having been one of the main characters of the great success of Joël Dicker, the one who made him known: The truth about the Harry Quebert affairreleased in 2012 and sold five million copies.
Cascade of twists
Surprisingly, the Alaska case is quickly closed, the culprit all designated. But eleven years later, an anonymous letter turns Gahalowood upside down: what if he was wrong? The investigator will help his most precious friend, also a key figure in the Harry Quebert affair: the writer Marcus Goldman. The duo, funny, touching and terribly cunning, is reunited again. A new investigation begins, intense in twists and turns.
In this thriller, presented as the sequel to The truth about the Harry Quebert affair , the eras mingle and respond to each other, giving body to the story. A large palette of characters and details brings complexity and subtlety to the plot. Impossible, even for the most seasoned, to presume the outcome of this first novel published by the young publishing house of Joël Dicker, Rosie & Wolfe.
From beginning to end, the Swiss author with twelve million copies sold, gives us the pleasure of a fluid pen, controlled, pleasant to read. But the novelist is pulling strings here that he knows only too well, sometimes giving the story an air of deja-vu. The reuse of his star characters, a process that could be considered a bit easy for his sixth novel, ultimately works very well. Mayonnaise takes, The Alaska Sanders case is a thriller that we devour chapter after chapter. But you need an appetite: nearly 600 pages all the same.
The Alaska Sanders caseRosie & Wolfe, 576 pages, 23 €.