The Blurb:
'IMMENSELY SATISFYING... HAD ME TURNING THE PAGES WELL INTO THE NIGHT' Harlan Coben
'EXTRAORDINARY' Sunday Times
Welcome to a school reunion you won't forget.
FRENCH RIVIERA, WINTER 1992
On a freezing night, as her high school campus is engulfed by a snowstorm, 19-year-old Vinca Rockwell runs away with Alexis, her philosophy teacher.
No one will ever see them again.
FRENCH RIVIERA, SPRING 2017
Formerly inseparable, Thomas, Maxime and Fanny - Vinca's best friends - have not spoken in twenty-five years. But when they receive an invitation to their school reunion, they know they must go back one final time.
Because there is a body buried in that school...
...and they're the ones who put it there.
The Reunion was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 11th July 2019. You can purchase it from Waterstones or Amazon.
My Review:
As I mentioned above, Musso is a new author to me, so I am grateful that this has been published in English, translated from the original French by Frank Wynne.
I have never been to a school reunion. I'm not sure how I would feel about going. Anxious probably, but considerably less nervous than Thomas is here! But it's not the reunion itself he's worried about, but the news that to mark the 50th anniversary of The Lycée International Saint-Exupéry, it is to be redeveloped and the existing gymnasium building knocked down. Because Thomas and his friend Maxime hid a dead body in the walls of the gym.
As both his parents had been staff members at the lycée, Thomas had not only attended the school, but lived there too. And during his time there he met Vinka Rockwell, and fell hopelessly in love with her, which he has never really moved on from, even now, 25 years later. But Vinka never loved Thomas as anything other than a friend, until she disappeared one night in 1992, apparently having run off with one of her tutors.
The reunion brings Thomas back to Antibes from New York, and he and Maxime are forced to confront some difficult memories and hard truths. They are responsible for the body in the gym which will soon be uncovered. As they await their fate, Thomas decides to try to find out the truth about Vinka. But they are not the only people with secrets.
It's hard to say much more about the story without giving away spoilers. It twists and turns all the way through. I kept thinking I had a grasp of what was going on, but then lost it as the story veered off again. I was exhausted by the end!
Written with a dual timeline of today, and the night Vinka disappeared 25 years ago, there is a claustrophobic feel about the tale as the cast of main characters is small, and most of them appear in both time lines. The majority of the story is written from Thomas' point of view, but there are sections looking at the story through the eyes of some of the other players. It's hard to pick a stand out character as this is very much an ensemble piece, but I was drawn to Fanny, a long time friend of Thomas. And I gained a lot of respect for Richard, Thomas' father, towards the end of the story.
Finding out the truth about Vinka might well come at a cost. This is a complex and intriguing tale of guilt, unrequited love, jealousy, revenge, murder and loyalty. An interesting character piece, it took me a while to get into it, but I enjoyed it once I got there.
The Author:
Guillaume Musso was the number one bestselling author in France in 2011 and 2012. Born in 1974 on the Cote d'Azur, he knew from an early age that he wanted to write novels and to touch the largest possible number of people.
In 2004, 'AFTERWARDS' was published in France by XO Editions and was an immediate bestseller and established a loyal following for his unique brand of storytelling which blends romance, adventure, suspense and the supernatural. It was later made into a film starring John Malkovich, Evangeline Lily and Romain Duris.
Since then, with every one of the six novels which have followed, his loyal readership has grown significantly, making him the most widely-read author writing in French today. His stories have universal central themes: missed opportunities, second chances, the passage of time, lost love and redemption.
Cop drama 'WHERE WOULD I BE WITHOUT YOU?' and romantic thriller 'THE GIRL ON PAPER' are now available for the first time in English published by Gallic.
Do check out the other blogs taking part in the tour!
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