The Enigma of Room 622

A Novel

De: Joël Dicker

Narrado por: Chris Harper

A Wall Street Journal ""Best Mystery of 2022""

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

Captivating

I couldn’t stop listening. It was a fascinating story. Would make a great movie or series.

Twists and turns

It kept my attention throughout. Multilayered
And intriguing Can’t wait to listen to my next Dicker book

Novel story

Twists and turns without all the societal acceptance criteria checkboxes marked. About time, I found one to rewind and play again.

Twist after twist after twist after twist…

One plot twist after another… the homage to publisher Bernard… the philosophical ending… what is not to like! I was on the edge of my seat from the beginning; I did not want to stop listening to cannot wait to read/listen to more from this author!!

Wanted to like this much more than I did

I wanted and expected to like this much more than I did. It was so promising at first! I loved the prose, and the structure reminded me of Anthony Horowitz's work. (I'm sure Horowitz didn't invent the style, but he's a favorite of mine.)

The author himself, Joël Dicker, is the narrator and protagonist, about to stumble upon his next novel. That book turns out to be the story-within-the-story, a mystery that Dicker tries to solve. (That's why the book is long; it's a two-for-one.)

I liked the sub-story at first, but less so as it went on and on. And on. There's only so long I can stay invested in the closed-doors succession drama at a private bank in Geneva. ("This must be set many many decades ago if a new bank president is headline news." Nope! It's present-day.)

Should have been much shorter, but I'm open to reading more Joël Dicker.