LemonSky reviewed Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez
Review of 'Syndrome E' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A powerful, original thriller. A special thanks to my Goodreads friend Rebecca McNutt for recommending it to me. Otherwise, I would have missed it.
I love old movies, especially mysteries and thrillers. "Syndrome E," with so much of its story set in the 1950s, is great fun. There's some paranoia in it, too, that reminds me of the movies "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of the Condor."
The book, which is set in France, Canada, and Egypt, is told in two parallel stories - one involving Lucie Henebelle, a police detective and single mother of twin girls, and the other involving Chief Inspector Franck Sharko, a widower suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations.
Lucie receives a call from a former boyfriend, Ludovic Senechal, who's a film buff and collector. He has just viewed a movie full of sadistic images - and now he's blind. Lucie views the same movie …
A powerful, original thriller. A special thanks to my Goodreads friend Rebecca McNutt for recommending it to me. Otherwise, I would have missed it.
I love old movies, especially mysteries and thrillers. "Syndrome E," with so much of its story set in the 1950s, is great fun. There's some paranoia in it, too, that reminds me of the movies "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of the Condor."
The book, which is set in France, Canada, and Egypt, is told in two parallel stories - one involving Lucie Henebelle, a police detective and single mother of twin girls, and the other involving Chief Inspector Franck Sharko, a widower suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations.
Lucie receives a call from a former boyfriend, Ludovic Senechal, who's a film buff and collector. He has just viewed a movie full of sadistic images - and now he's blind. Lucie views the same movie and is horrified by what she sees. She takes the film to Claude Poignet, an elderly film restorer, who discovers there is a lot more to the film than what Lucie and Ludovic saw. Much more, unfortunately.
Meanwhile, Sharko is investigating the case of five male bodies found buried in a construction site. The bodies are all missing their brains, eyes, teeth, and hands. At first, Sharko thinks it is a case of someone trying to make it impossible to identify the bodies. However, there is more to it than that. He finds himself tracking leads to Egypt, where a similar murder occurred back in the 1990s.
The two parallel investigations eventually come together and that is when things really take off. I actually read the last 100 pages very quickly. I can see why they're making this into a film - like I said, it reminds me of 1970s political thrillers like "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of the Condor." The author also tips his hat at the surreal masterpiece, "Un Chien Andalou" (1929 - Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dali).
Highly recommended to all film buffs and mystery fans.
