Trap for Cinderella [Paperback]

Sebastien Japrisot (Author), Helen Weaver (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997

A suspicious beach house fire in southern France traps two young women. One dies. One survives, but is burned beyond recognition and left with amnesia. Plastic surgery gives her a pretty new face, but who is she, really? Killer or victim? Winner of France's most prestigious crime-fiction award, TRAP FOR CINDERELLA is an engrossing tour de force by a master of mystery and deception.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

About the Author

Sebastien Japrisot was born in Marseille, France in 1931. He had published his first novel, Les Mal Partis when he was only 17. He has translated the works of J. D. Salinger and pursued a successful career in advertising and publicity and he has been a scriptwriter and the director of two films. His first crime novel, The 10:30 from Marseille, was received with great acclaim. His reputation as a master for crime fiction has grown with the publication of The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun, A Trap for Cinderella and Rider on the Rain. His novel One Deadly Summer was made into a film starring Isabelle Adjani. A Very Long Engagement was an international bestseller and was made into a film starring Audrey Tautou. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Plume (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452277795
• ISBN-13: 978-0452277793
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #524,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the criminal is the victim, October 3, 2000

By 

Judith Lindenau "dulcie22" (Traverse City, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trap for Cinderella (Paperback)

A Trap for Cinderella is a masterpiece of fiction. It is the story of a young woman who has lost her identity and continues to lose it as she finds herself deeper and deeper in a morass of passion, greed, bitterness, and sexuality. Each way she turns, she finds a new persona for herself, and new victims. Each shadowy profile she sees of herself is obliterated: she is beautiful, but hated; she is loved, and despised; she is rich, but poor. And she is a gentle human being who may also be a murderer.

In the end, the relief comes not from finding out who is murdered and who has committed the crime, but from the simple act of knowing the truth, however shocking and ugly it may be.

This is a short book, but spare and beautiful. I recommend it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not very well translated, July 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Trap for Cinderella (Paperback)

It's an excellent novel that transgresses the limitations of the detective genre. Unfortunately, the translation is not very good. It inexplicably removes the opening part of the story, and this reduces the book's charm.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cant get enough of him, June 14, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Trap for Cinderella (Paperback)

Japrisot takes the mystery/thriller genre to another dimension. There aren't just plot twists, reading one of his stories is like taking a roller coaster ride with hairpin bends. You're never really sure what the answer is, and yet if you pay attention, maybe you are. When you think you've found an answer, it opens up more questions, revealing levels of complexity most writers never approach. What I particularly like is, he doesnt use exotic and high-flying settings like english manor houses, international espionage, the world of high finance, etc. Like that American genius Rod Serling, Japrisot's plots happen to ordinary people, a salesperson, a bank teller, a truck driver, a farmer. If his books dont hold your attention nothing will. Also the translations have been dynamite and lose nothing. When I run out of his books that have been put into English, I already am stacking up the ones only available in French. Everyone of the four I have read have been masterpieces.