Review: After the Crash by Michel Bussi tr. Sam Taylor

After the Crash by Michel Bussi translated by Sam Taylor, 400 pages, August 2015, W&N, ISBN: 1780227329

French political analyst and university professor Michel Bussi garnered acclaim and awards in his homeland for his detective fiction over the past decade, but it was the publication of this standalone novel in early 2012 that catapulted him to near household-name status. More than 700,000 copies were sold in France (100 times his debut sales), and it was translated into two dozen languages, optioned for film adaptation, and serialised in a newspaper for months.

Un Avion Sans Elle is also the first of his books to be published in the United Kingdom, allowing us English-speaking crime fiction fans to find out just what all the fuss is about.

It is 1998, and Christmas looms. Private eye Credule Grand-Duc sits at his desk, dispirited, having spent nearly eighteen years failing to find the truth behind a miracle wrapped in a tragedy. A fiery plane crash near the Swiss border in 1980 had incinerated passengers and crew, but a newborn baby somehow survived. Joy turned to confusion and heartache, however, when two families – one rich, one poor – claimed the baby as their own.

Grieving grandparents found themselves at war in the public eye and the courts. Was the baby who survived Lyle-Rose or Emilie? Grand-Duc had been trying to answer that question ever since, but had come up empty. As midnight and the girl’s eighteenth birthday approaches, he grabs his gun and prepares to farewell this life, only to uncover a secret that upturns everything. Before he can share his last-minute discovery, however, he is silenced; homicide, not suicide.

AFTER THE CRASH is told in switching narratives, as we follow Mark (the baby girl’s maybe-brother) as he reads Grand-Duc’s casebook in 1998 and tries to work uncover the truth the detective left behind. Just how much can we trust what Grand-Duc wrote? What is the real truth?

Bussi spins an intriguing and unique mystery; a search for someone who isn’t missing, physically, but whose identity is. The novel has plenty of requisite clues, twists, and red herrings, while also posing some interesting questions about what makes someone who they are, how the media focus then forget tragedies, and how one twist of fate can create all sorts of ripples.

There is a strong narrative drive throughout AFTER THE CRASH, with the early “who is this girl, really?” hook cinching readers in for the roller coaster. The ‘detective’s diary’ device could fall flat, but seems to work well for this story – helped by a little suspension of disbelief now and then (Why wouldn’t Mark just skip to the end to check if there was an answer? Would someone really write a casebook in that style and language?). One flaw in an otherwise very fine piece of thriller writing is that the characters can at times feel like moving pieces; I didn’t feel particularly connected to many of them. This gives an effect of observing something very interesting as it unfolds, rather than being fully caught up in it, or sucked into the experience on a deeper level.

Despite this quibble, I thoroughly enjoyed the read. AFTER THE CRASH is written in something of a French style, in terms of pacing and other aspects. The story gets pretty dark, twisted and chilling in places – not in terms of gratuitous violence, but rather disturbing themes and situations. As it builds to a climax I was thoroughly hooked, and although some of the twists were predictable, Bussi still managed to deliver a few surprises along the way. A very good read.

Craig Sisterson
September 2015

Review: The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz tr. George Goulding

Today sees the release of book 4 in the Millennium series begun by Stieg Larsson, and now continued by David Lagercrantz in the shape of The Girl in the Spider's Web, translated by George Goulding.

London-based reviewer Craig Sisterson was able to get a copy at midnight and has very kindly shared his review with Euro Crime. This review first appeared on Crime Watch this morning:

The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz translated by George Goulding, 448 pages, August 2015, MacLehose Press, ISBN: 0857059998

She's back. After all the waiting, anticipation, and controversy, Lisbeth Salander is back.

It starts with a hand, beating rhythmically on a mattress in an unknown bedroom. Why is the hand beating? Whose hand is it? Whose bedroom? What does it mean?

None of those questions are answered until much later in THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB, and by then David Lagercrantz has taken readers on a heck of an absorbing ride.

Let's address the elephant in the room: not everyone will be happy with this novel. Many people in the books world seem to have decided to avoid it or dislike it on principle: that no-one should continue Stieg Larsson's series, the three books of an intended ten that he'd written but never published before his heart attack.

But those who approach THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB with at least a partially open mind will find themselves pleasantly surprised; it's a very good book. It's terrific to see Salander, who is much more than an antisocial goth hacker, back fighting against injustice in a new adventure. In her own inimitable way.

Undoubtedly the creation of Salander was Stieg Larsson's greatest genius in his initial trilogy: while his tales were swirling epics addressing some dark issues simmering below the seemingly perfect surface of Scandinavian society, Salander was the lightning rod that elevated the stories into something more.

In THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB Lagercrantz does a fantastic job at delving deeper into Lisbeth Salander, offering readers more of an insight into this 'grown up version of Pippi Longstocking' (as Larsson considered her). Lagercrantz treads the fine line between providing more texture about an enigmatic character, without losing the mystery and uncertainty that makes them so compelling in the first place.

Salander is the kind of iconic character who doesn't even need to be in the room to have a presence. Like James Bond, Zorro, Robin Hood, or Sherlock Holmes, she casts a shadow over a wider world, lingering in the minds and hearts of those she's touched, friends and foes alike.

Early on in THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB, Mikael Blomkvist is battling against money-driven evisceration of Millennium, the magazine he loves, when he meets a potential source in a bar to discuss a story tip. Things are stock-standard, and Blomkvist's eyes are glazing as he listens to chat about technology and corporate espionage, when he - and the reader - is suddenly electrified by the passing mention of a female hacker. From there, the story becomes much more interesting, for Blomkvist and the reader.

As Blomkvist delves deeper, the story gets bigger and bigger. A world-renowned Swedish computer scientist, a verifiable genius, has seemingly abandoned his work and boarded himself up in his home. He wants to talk to Blomkvist, but is attacked before they can meet. His work has disappeared, and the only witness is an autistic child, who know becomes the target of a shadowy criminal organisation.

Lagercrantz does well juggling all the players in this tale, from the driven staff of the NSA, who see spying on everyone as the way to protect their country's interests, to Eastern European gangsters, Swedish authorities, and shadowy figures from Salander's own past. While Salander and Blomkvist are the stars, there is a broad cast of fascinating cast of characters who add texture and intrigue - and Lagercrantz does an elegant job keeping THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB building then racing along rather than becoming convoluted.

For those who love Scandinavian crime for the way it delves into social and personal issues, there is plenty of that on offer in the fourth Salander book, from issues of privacy, what the public is entitled to know, to the various ways technology can be used and abused, the changing face of the media, and much more.

For me however, it is the evocation of Salander, who is one of the finest characters created in contemporary fiction, which is the real highlight of THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB. Much like Christopher Nolan did with his tremendous re-imagining of Batman, Lagercrantz delves deeper into Lisbeth while keeping her very much who she is. We see more and understand more, but remain fascinated, intrigued, and unsure.

And when the final page came, I was no longer doubtful of whether the books should be continued or not. In fact, I am very much hoping that we will see more from Lagercrantz, Blomkvist and Salander in future.

Craig Sisterson
August 2015