Marilyn's Mystery Reads

Two couples, the Brauns and the Liégeans, live near each other outside Geneva, Switzerland.  When Wild Animal opens, the four are casual friends, with  children of the same age; by the end of the novel, their lives are intertwined in ways not one of them could have imagined.

Sophie and Arpad Braun are living a luxurious life, fueled by their salaries as a successful attorney and an international banker plus generous gifts from Sophie’s father.  They live in what they call the Glass House with their two children, secluded in the woods, where they feel totally secure and free to indulge in any behaviors they desire without nearby neighbors peering in.  But unknown to them, someone is watching.

Greg and Katrine Liégeans live in a decidedly more modest home.  Greg is a police officer, a member of the city’s SWAT team, and Katrine is a clerk in a clothing store.  They also have two children, which is how the two mothers met.  The Liégeans’ lives are going smoothly until the night of Arpad’s 40th birthday party, when Greg sees Sophie up close for the first time and becomes obsessed with her.

It starts with Greg taking their dog for a walk through the woods to the Brauns’ house every morning, then finding a spot where he can look into their bedroom window, and it escalates to the point where he puts a stolen surveillance camera into the room to see Sophie in greater detail.  He simply can’t stop himself.

And who is the man driving the gray Peugeot who is following Sophie?  And why?

Wild Animal is written in a non-linear style, with a robbery at the center of the novel.  The reader doesn’t know what will be robbed or by whom, and the writing is so clever that, at least for me, the thieves’ identities came as a complete surprise.

In addition, the novel is told in various voices, so we learn about the events from different perspectives.  Readers can never be certain what they’re reading is accurate or simply what that character wants them to believe, which adds to the suspense of this outstanding novel.

Joël Dicker is a Swiss author whose novels have been translated into over forty languages.  You can read more about him on various sites on the internet.

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