Customer Reviews

One Deadly Summer

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author did an excellent job of weaving the story together, one piece at a time while never losing momentum. Although the main character's desire for revenge stems from events of the past, the reader is never bombarded with backstory and is instead shown backstory through character thoughts when it is necessary and pertinent to the story. Although I cannot say that any of the characters are likable, there are believable and the author does keep us aware of their thoughts and intentions, therefore continuously holding our interest. The ending is surprising, dramatic and certainly well worth the wait.

Get this book if you can find it! A real twister of a plot, an atrocity committed 20 years before, a member of the next generation planning total revenge...every time you think you know what's going to happen, you're taken down another road. A plot skilfully woven with everything gradually revealed, up to a gut punch of a horrifying ending. The ramifications of this story are still occurring to me the next day. It's one of the few books I will keep to reread. The setting of the scene is also wonderful--if your idea of Provence is Peter Mayle's Hotel Pastis or Chasing Cezanne, try a taste of Japrisot for different point of view. If you like contemporary French authors, dont miss it.

Readers of "A Very Long Engagement" might be disappointed by this novel because it does not pack the emotional wallop of Japrisot's popular WW I novel. However, I suspect that any reader would be drawn to Japrisot's excellent prose and magnificent plotting. Japrisot knows how to create a believable and entertaining plot twist and this novel is very entertaining.

Another suspenseful erotic thriller by that outstanding author of mysteries, Sebastien Japrisot. This is the third of his books for me, I've read his masterpiece Very Long Engagement and also Women in Evidence, all great mystery/detective stories, all totally different and suspenseful, Mr. Japrisot is an expert at plot twists and keeping the reader surprised.

The central event from the past in One Deadly Summer was a young woman terrorized and raped by three men. Years later the psychotic daughter conceived during the rape becomes obsessed with taking revenge, but is she taking revenge on the right ones or creating more innocent victims? The story is related to us by several different narrators, all with a different take on what it is happening, ultimately after a tragic ending the reader is left to decide who the true victim is. Hard book to put down and unforgettable.

Written by the author of "A Very Long Engagement" yet resembling it only by the superb story telling, this book elicited gasps of "You're kidding." "I don't believe it!" "How COULD she?" "Oh no, oh no, oh no-what a horrible mistake." "I can't believe it." from nearly each chapter. Beauty is dangerous.

Similar to A Very Long Engagement, One Deadly Summer is a captivating, complex story that holds your attention until the end. Both mystery and love story, the story has many levels and leaves you feeling like you have actually lived in the house with the three brothers who the story centers around and experienced the trials of the summer. I highly recommend it.

This has instantly become one of my favorite reads. I love to happen upon authors who are new to me. This is the first book of Japrisot's that I've read. I was expecting a murder mystery, and ended up with a classic tragic love story and a heart-wrenching ending. Japrisot demonstrates superior story-telling skills in his revelation of the main characters thoughts and intentions as they speak and act. The dialogue is so well presented even the occasional humorous comment is so natural in its presentation and well-timed that you only realize later that of course even a mentally tortured person has the capacity for comic insight.

While one cannot deny the absolute superiority of A Very Long Engagement, I found One Deadly Summer to be the most enjoyable among the rest of Japrisot's oeuvre. This is one instance where his powers come through with a distinctive flair, upon the themes that echo through all of his work: droplets of truth gathering through a confusion of voices, the sheer blindness of love, the eternal mystery that is woman, the infinite sadness of human error, and the surprises and tragedies that is life itself. How much of the world, and others, do we really "understand"?

Sebastien Japrisot is a master of prose, characterization, and plotting. This is a simple story perhaps, but a tragedy--with fatal flaws, and mistaken identities, and all of the classic trappings of the genre. It is a tale well told, in several voices which weave intricacies of perception and plot, keeping the reader suspended until the last page. And it is a mystery: not only a 'whodunit' but a 'whatdidtheydo'...only the motive is clear. It is a motive of the deepest and blackest side of love and lust, madness and revenge. I haven't read Japrisot's other works but I am going to order them right now from Amazon.com!

Sebastien Japrisot is little known in the English-speaking world. That is a shame, because his novels are suspenseful, sensual, and original. I eagerly anticipated reading One Deadly Summer. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. One Deadly Summer is still a good novel, but it isn't quite up to the lofty standards Japrisot established in his other novels.

One Deadly Summer concerns Elle, a mysterious, beautiful woman who comes into a man's life and turns his world upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Elle is bent on revenge against his family for something that happened many years before. The reader knows that Elle is drawing the man to his doom, but feels powerless to help him.

The novel has the strengths that one associates with Japrisot. First, there is an intricate plot. (It takes a lot of concentration to grasp the details). Second, there is Japrisot's sensual prose; he makes the world come alive for the reader. Third, Japrisot's characters generally are complex and nuanced people who "ring true" to the reader.

What makes this novel a mild disappointment? At 300 pages, it's a bit too long. I thought that there was a "dead spot" (around pages 175-225); that had never happened to me before with Japrisot. More importantly, Elle is an unlikeable heroine. She is selfish and cruel, so her influence over the other characters is unbelievable. Moreover, readers may find it difficult to care about Elle's fate.

I still recommend One Deadly Summer. But I expected more from Japrisot.