Beyond Suspicion [Hardcover]

Tanguy Viel (Author), Linda Coverdale (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2009

"A book you read in a single sitting" (Le Magazine Littéraire), here is a "story worthy of Hitchcock" (Paris Vogue), from one of the most promising French novelists to emerge since Michel Houellebecq. Bestselling French wunderkind Tanguy Viel, heir to the legacy of Georges Simenon, has created his own literary genre in the noir tradition: thrillers with Proustian attention to detail and Freudian insights into his characters.

A master of style and suspense, Viel explores moral dilemmas in poetic language rarely found in a crime novel. Called "a marvel of grace and precision" by the French press, Beyond Suspicion is a story of marriage, murder, and double-crosses.

Set in the south of France where the stakes are high and no one is beyond suspicion, this Hitchcockian tale presents siblings and lovers in constantly shifting configurations. The grace and precision of Viel's language are eloquently captured by prizewinning translator Linda Coverdale's lyrical prose.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. While Viel's second contemporary crime novel (after 2003's The Absolute Perfection of Crime) offers a familiar plot, even jaded mystery readers should be delighted by his elegant prose and minimal story structure. When French appraisers and auctioneers Édouard and Henri Delamare wander into a high-class brothel, both end up smitten with one of its employees, Lise. Henri proposes marriage to Lise, unaware that her "brother," Sam, is actually her lover. Sam and Lise, who continue their relationship even after the wedding, end up plotting to rip off Henri with a phony kidnapping scheme. The conventions of noir make the outcome of the conspiracy foreseeable, but the beauty of the writing ("the light was streaking and glimmering through the forest, that green and black strength of the trees in serried ranks forming behind him the scenery of his slow progress") serves as a compelling contrast to the rough-hewn language usually found in bleak tales of despair, betrayal and death. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

[...] Reads like William Faulkner trying his hand at a familiar story in the James M. Cain line.

(Kirkus Reviews )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 170 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (March 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595581561
• ISBN-13: 978-1595581563
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,689,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars captures you from page one, June 19, 2009

By 

appletree (new york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Suspicion (Hardcover)

Beautifully written novella, which I happened to find by chance. Finished it all in one sitting, and then when it was over, read parts of it again, just to see how the writer did what he did. I will definitely be looking for more of his novels, once they're in English. I don't think anything was lost in the translation, but it was the kind of book that made me wish I could read the original in French.

5.0 out of 5 stars A short but great novel, February 14, 2009

By 

C. Masse - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beyond Suspicion (Hardcover)

I was captured by the plot from the very beginning and found myself nearly breathless by the time I reached the last page of the novel. This is the kink of novel you can read in one setting. I'm really looking forward to reading Tanguy Viel's other novels that have yet been translated into English!!!