Mystery
![Joël Dicker - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_joel_dicker.jpg)
The Enigma of Room 622: A Novel
A September 2022 Amazon Best of the Month Pick
"Dicker salutes Agatha Christie even as he drops the reader through one trapdoor into another, so that by the end, we doubt we've ever read another novel quite like it. (We haven't.) Fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley will hug this book in between chapters; the many readers who love Anthony Horowitz's mysteries will celebrate. And me? I'll be reading it again."-A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
"[The Enigma of Room 622 is an] exhilarating tour de force"–The Wall Street Journal
A burnt-out writer's retreat at a fancy Swiss hotel is interrupted by a murder mystery in this metafictional, meticulously crafted whodunit from the New York Times bestselling author of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.
A writer named Joël, Switzerland's most prominent novelist, flees to the Hôtel de Verbier, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. Disheartened over a recent breakup and his longtime publisher's death, Joël hopes to rest. However, his plans quickly go awry. It all starts with a seemingly innocuous detail: at the Verbier, there is no room 622.
Before long, Joël and fellow guest Scarlett uncover a long-unsolved murder that transpired in the hotel's room 622. The attendant circumstances: the succession of Switzerland's largest private bank, a mysterious counterintelligence operation called P-30, and a most disreputable sabotage of hotel hospitality. A European phenomenon, The Enigma of Room 622 is a matryoshka doll of intrigue–as precise as a Swiss watch–and Dicker's most diabolically addictive thriller yet.
Translated from the French by Robert Bononno
"Dicker salutes Agatha Christie even as he drops the reader through one trapdoor into another, so that by the end, we doubt we've ever read another novel quite like it. (We haven't.) Fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley will hug this book in between chapters; the many readers who love Anthony Horowitz's mysteries will celebrate. And me? I'll be reading it again."-A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
"[The Enigma of Room 622 is an] exhilarating tour de force"–The Wall Street Journal
A burnt-out writer's retreat at a fancy Swiss hotel is interrupted by a murder mystery in this metafictional, meticulously crafted whodunit from the New York Times bestselling author of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.
A writer named Joël, Switzerland's most prominent novelist, flees to the Hôtel de Verbier, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. Disheartened over a recent breakup and his longtime publisher's death, Joël hopes to rest. However, his plans quickly go awry. It all starts with a seemingly innocuous detail: at the Verbier, there is no room 622.
Before long, Joël and fellow guest Scarlett uncover a long-unsolved murder that transpired in the hotel's room 622. The attendant circumstances: the succession of Switzerland's largest private bank, a mysterious counterintelligence operation called P-30, and a most disreputable sabotage of hotel hospitality. A European phenomenon, The Enigma of Room 622 is a matryoshka doll of intrigue–as precise as a Swiss watch–and Dicker's most diabolically addictive thriller yet.
Translated from the French by Robert Bononno
Editorial Reviews
"Joël Dicker's innovative page-turner ... weds the allure of a jigsaw puzzle with the split-second timing of an Agatha Christie mystery.... [The Enigma of Room 622 is an] exhilarating tour de force"–The Wall Street Journal - Wall Street Journal
"This astonishingly smart, emotionally satisfying, and strangely intimate novel is not to be missed." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"How is the latest Joël Dicker? …Tension crackles on every page. Melodrama veers to suspense … [Dicker] has mastered the genre." - Le Figaro
"A tale of romance, masterful duplicity, and... [a] cleverly jigsawed plot, [The Enigma of Room 622 is both]... homage to Agatha Christie, and ... a touching farewell to Dicker's late publisher." - Booklist
Praise for previous title: "Joël Dicker is a bright ... star of suspense." - Lisa Gardner
Praise for previous title: "Unimpeachably perfect.... It's [Dicker's] light touch and engaging voice that make [his] writing so infectious." - The New York Times Book Review
[Dicker] stages his drama as masquerade and, at curtain call, finally takes off the mask. In a novel where the clues are interwoven with such precision, Dicker's true loyalties are pronounced loud and clear: paternal love..., writing, his mentor Bernard,... Albert Cohen, Tolstoy, and García Márquez, and attachment to his city, Geneva. - La Tribune de Genève
In short... [The Enigma of Room 622 is] a simmering concoction that even Agatha Christie would find irresistible, ...[taking the reader] along for a dizzying ride. - Le Parisien
With The Enigma of Room 622, Dicker's strengths as a storyteller resurface once again ... we are caught in a fascinating assembly of clues –constructing and reconstructing scenes during which the characters disappear into an elaborate game of charades. - Le Journal du Dimanche
Even if means writing another page-turner, Jöel Dicker gives us his all, having as much fun playing with conventions as ever, and, in turn, elevating the dete...
"This astonishingly smart, emotionally satisfying, and strangely intimate novel is not to be missed." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"How is the latest Joël Dicker? …Tension crackles on every page. Melodrama veers to suspense … [Dicker] has mastered the genre." - Le Figaro
"A tale of romance, masterful duplicity, and... [a] cleverly jigsawed plot, [The Enigma of Room 622 is both]... homage to Agatha Christie, and ... a touching farewell to Dicker's late publisher." - Booklist
Praise for previous title: "Joël Dicker is a bright ... star of suspense." - Lisa Gardner
Praise for previous title: "Unimpeachably perfect.... It's [Dicker's] light touch and engaging voice that make [his] writing so infectious." - The New York Times Book Review
[Dicker] stages his drama as masquerade and, at curtain call, finally takes off the mask. In a novel where the clues are interwoven with such precision, Dicker's true loyalties are pronounced loud and clear: paternal love..., writing, his mentor Bernard,... Albert Cohen, Tolstoy, and García Márquez, and attachment to his city, Geneva. - La Tribune de Genève
In short... [The Enigma of Room 622 is] a simmering concoction that even Agatha Christie would find irresistible, ...[taking the reader] along for a dizzying ride. - Le Parisien
With The Enigma of Room 622, Dicker's strengths as a storyteller resurface once again ... we are caught in a fascinating assembly of clues –constructing and reconstructing scenes during which the characters disappear into an elaborate game of charades. - Le Journal du Dimanche
Even if means writing another page-turner, Jöel Dicker gives us his all, having as much fun playing with conventions as ever, and, in turn, elevating the dete...
Readers Top Reviews
marcopc
Someone was murdered in Room 622 at the Hotel Verbier; initially we don’t know who. The crime occurred during a gala weekend sponsored by a bank in Geneva. The murder remains unsolved. A few years later, a well known author visiting the hotel and a woman he meets there embark on finding out just what happened and soon the reader is immersed in the worlds of Swiss banking, international intrigue, and entangled romantic and familial relationships. I selected this book because of the setting; I love Switzerland. I really liked the first half, but soon I thought the plot was all over the place. The story devolved almost into a farce. Acknowledging that this is a translation, the writing was good. There were many twists, some a bit absurd. The narration skips around in time filling in background on the various story lines. I felt that some of those lines and some of the repetition could have been edited out to make it more tightly plotted and livelier paced. I did like the reveal at the ending; not the revelation of the killer, but the final ending. That increased the appreciation of the book for me.
Mother of Scotties
How far will you go to get what you want? That’s exactly the question Macaire Ebezner finds himself wondering more than once in life. When Macaire’s father passes away, he finds his father changed the way his successor as Bank President will be selected. For the first time in centuries, the new President will be selected based upon their qualifications, not based upon their lineage, which means Macaire may not be named President, even though an Ebezner has always been the head of Ebezner Bank. How far will Macaire go to secure what he feels is his birthright? Two decades, three board members, and one decision, but only time will tell the outcome. This book was one wild ride. Just when you think you’re getting somewhere, we head back to the past, then back to the present. While the back and forth between times drove me a bit crazy at times, since it kept delaying the next piece of information, it delivered on what the author intended…a true thriller with suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat at times. Definitely a great read that I have recommended to my husband and others.
Gorilichis
Dicker built an intricately plotted mystery that comes together like a set of Russian dolls. He, himself, is a character, writing a novel about a murder in the titular room of a Swiss mountain hotel. He moves back and forth in time, changing readers’ expectations and putting them in a context that changes all assumptions. There is a large cast of suspects and revealing the killer is just one more twist. It is simply smart and very ingenious. That said, I didn’t connect with the story. This seldom happens to me, I was invested in the plot, I needed to know what was going to happen and I didn’t see many of the turns. Some required a considerable suspension of disbelief, so that may have been my problem. My other problem was connecting with the characters. One especially has such a turn in the end as to seem unbelievable. But I also was invested in them, which sometimes made me change my allegiances in the middle of a chapter. I found some parts repetitive, and maybe it could have been a little shorter. So I’m stuck writing this review, because this is a novel that I enjoyed profusely, but not completely. The best way I can describe it is that it engaged my brain, but left my heart cold. Even if the very last part, including the closing of the book, is probably one of the most beautiful sentences I’ve ever read. I guess this is Literature masquerading as popcorn fiction. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#HarperVia!
