Joël Dicker is a French crime novelist who first came onto the radar of US readers when his highly acclaimed novel, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, was published in translation (2012). Since that time, he has established himself as a must-read for fans of complex plots, deep characterization, and unexpected twists. His latest novel is Wild Animal and, in many ways, it forges new ground for the author, while keeping true to the elements his loyal following have come to expect.
Wild Animal is the story of Arpad and Sophie and Greg and Karine: two couples who are friends and neighbors. Sort of friends. Sort of neighbors. Arpad and Sophie live in an ultra-modern house isolated on the top of a hill, while Greg and Karine reside a few miles away, living a middle-class existence in downtown Geneva. They have little in common and yet happenstance brought them into each other’s orbits.
After an impromptu invitation to a birthday party, Greg becomes obsessed with Arpad’s wife. For weeks now, Greg has been using his morning hike to spy on Sophie as she performs her morning rituals. He can see everything, all the intimate moments, and Greg’s infatuation grows. Especially after he sees the tiger tattoo that adorns Sophie’s thigh. Meanwhile, both Arpad and Karine are clueless as to what is happening right under their noses.
Until one day when Arpad makes a mistake and Sophie catches a glimpse of something in the woods. She becomes convinced that she is being stalked and turns to her friends—Greg and Katrine—for support. This sets in motion a compelling noir tale that reveals everyone’s secrets. Joël Dicker gives readers glimpses into the pasts—some of them criminal—of key players via flashbacks that entice readers to continue reading.
There is also a companion story happening with some regularity that recounts a legendary robbery that took place in Geneva. Crime fiction fans will know that this links up to the main story in some way, but Joël Dicker keeps those secrets until later in Wild Animal. There are twists to this tale that are best left for the reader to experience.
Wild Animal is skillfully translated by Robert Bononno without the clunkiness that is sometimes evident in translated works. The short chapters and frequents shifts in POV within chapters make it very hard to set Wild Animal aside. Unlike some of Joël Dicker’s other works, Wild Animal is a standard length (under 400 pages), which for his longtime fans will make reading it seem like warp speed. But rest assured that Joël Dicker knows exactly what he is doing—this is a tale that needs to be quickly consumed to envelope the reader in its spell and ambience.
Whether this is your first or your seventh Joël Dicker novel, Wild Animal will grip you by the neck and leave you breathless. And it will most assuredly convert you to being a fan of this extremely talented French crime writer.
BUY LINKS: Wild Animal by Joël Dicker
Disclaimer: A print galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
