First of all, at least one star goes to the audio narrator - it was an excellent audiobook and a pleasure to listen to.

There were a lot of things I enjoyed about this novel but there were also a lot of frustrating parts.

It was very clever in a way that it had come full circle, and I loved the fact the author is IN the book, writing a book - extra points for making it extra bookish. However, it was VERY LONG for the actual amount of story, so a lot of the investigation got so repetitive I was loosing my interest at times. The time jumps were also a bit tricky especially in the audio format.

I loved the setting and ordinarily wouldn’t care at all about something revolving around a world of bankers and who would become the president of this Swiss bank bla bla bla but it was surprisingly compelling.

Having said that I did find most characters problematic and not entirely plausible, especially female characters. I mean WHAT the HELL Anastasia? One second she is a gold digger, next she is in love with Makea and feels bad for him, next she is Lev’s soulmate and claims to not care about money. I didn’t believe her one bit. Same goes towards majority of the cast…

The twist I also found VERY unrealistic but okay, we’ll roll with it.

Oof I ran out of steam now! Would have been a better read if it were much shorter!

Its taken me a while to write this review, as I wasn’t sure what to say…and I still don’t. Its hard to put this book into words.

Bottom line, its incredible. A remarkable read that kept me guessing from beginning to end.

What I find hard to describe is the book itself. Its not what I expected. I found the first half very slow, and not at all what the blurb led me to believe the book would be about. And then suddenly…shit went crazy and it all kicked off. But it was a beautiful chaos that kept me turning pages until id finished it.

Id just say read it and discover what its abut yourself, as a brilliant piece of work.

I recived the audiobook version of the book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review
I was immediately intrigued by the blurb of the book and I haven’t read this author before so i jumped straight into it. First 50% got me interested and i was really enjoying the world building and the strangeness of some of the characters, some were just gritty others were just bland, but our main characters had enough of everything to keep you hooked.

Absolutely love the story telling and how easy it seem to follow even when we change narrators, story lines, and time frames. I was really involved in the web of who said, who did, and all the small details. Love the idea of a big hotel and having trap doors, small passages, interwoven lives, and not the typical “who done it” and then the book flops terribly for me right after the second half.

Not being a fan of love triangles, and romance in general the book doesn’t give too much of it at the beginning so I manage to oversee it, but when the romance becomes the main and only story, then I start frowning, but I kept going just to find a very rushed ending with a “scooby-doo” type finale.

I got annoyed at the writer as I’m sure the he has the expertise to unravel slowly the resolution of the story, yet he used one or two characters to explain what happed. I was disappointed and I was relief when the book suddenly “happily” finished.

2.5 But im rounding up to 3 as the voice actor Chris Harper was fantastic, he gave the right personality to all the characters, his intonation and inflexions set the right mood to the story in every scenario.

A wonderful piece of literature with super descriptions of the time line involved. Got a little confusing in places but overall I loved it and found that the characters were well defined. Twists and turns on every page kept me fully absorbed

After loving the TV series, The Truth About Harry Quebert Affair, I knew I was curious to read a book written by this author. I’d seen The Enigma of Room 622 around and I was lucky to get an audio version of the book through @netgalley .

The author includes himself as a character within the story which gives the story authenticity, allowing the reader to wonder if it is all true.

After a breakup, Joël travels to the Hotel de Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps and gets caught up in the history of the disappearance of Room 622, sending him on a fascinating journey to find the truth.

I have to say listening to this book was amazing. It is quite a chunky book but the attention to detail is so vivid and real that I got completely lost in the story and felt like I knew all the characters personally.

This is a story within a story as you travel back and forth between the past and the present, as Joel interviews previous staff and guests to find out what happened in Room 622. The twists that occur as the story progresses are simply mind blowing and I did not see the ending coming. I felt like the author kept ripping off layers to constantly reveal more mysteries and questions beneath.

I hope this gets optioned for a film and I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to @netgalley @maclehosepress and @quercusbooks for this review copy.

The story within a story was a rather clever way of engaging you from the beining. The mystery element of the plot was clever and well layed out, particularly the way wthe time line worked like a count down towards the acual murder. Additionally the fact that who was killed was not revealed until much later in the plot helped keep the tention as well as switching the time line and the point of views of the characters.
I liked the setting of the story though sometimes it was a bit cliche. The same went for the characters such as the ambishious Russian mother who was pimping out her daughters etc.
Sometimes it was a little difficult to connect with the characters which was odd as they were all motivated by a lot of passion but somehow they presented emotionally distant.
The resolution of the who done it story was a litte bit to0 incredible but is you suspended your reasoning rather elegant and clever. I could have done without the paragraph which felt out of place and a bit sanctimonious.

I received a free ARC copy of the audiobook of this, via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review. I’d actually been rejected for the ebook version first, but weirdly got approved for the audio one… I kind of wish I’d left it at the initial rejection…

This book was long. Too long. It dragged on for ages, then all of a sudden wraps up. The constantly jumping timeline was confusing, and being an audio version, I couldn’t flick through the pages to refresh my memory. None of the characters are likeable, and Macaire was so neurotic that I just wanted to smack him round the head. The whole actual author is a character in the fictional story thing was a bit weird.

Can’t say I’d recommend it, sadly. If it had been a library/charity shop book, I’d have taken it back/re-donated it as DNF. But I feel obliged to finish ARCs.

I like the idea of this story and the synopsis grabbled my attention. however i found the jumping from timelines abit confusing and i could tell the difference between the characters very well with the narration. They all sounded very similar. The book was very long and didn't really grab my attention. the twists at the end were good but not good enough for me to recommend.

Joel Dicker after a bad break up decides to head to the Hotel Verbier in the Swiss Alps to recover from heartbreak and to start writing his new novel. Whilst there he realises that the hotel is hiding a secret of it'd own; a murder occurred there with a fellow hotel guest Joel begins to try to uncover the past.

I loved narrator of this audiobook; I felt that the narrator engaged with the story and the voices used were easy to imagine the characters from that. The twists and turns of the story were engaging and I really enjoyed the journey to the ultimate reveal. A very enjoyable listen that had me waiting for the big reveal; and, I wasn't disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review

Instantly gripped by the beautiful cover and title of this book I was definitely not disappointed in the story.

Unfortunately the narration by Chris Harper really let it down and in all honesty I nearly didn't make it to chapter 2 (before the majority of the dialogue began). When the narrator was setting a scene or explaining what was happening without dialogue it sounded like he was reading a bullet points or one continuous sentence, I couldn't get into a flow to enjoy the beginning of the book. When there was dialogue it was better. Had narration flowed better I would have given this book 4* without hesitation.

The fact I persevered and enjoyed the book in the end just shows what a great story it is. A lot of review are saying that this was too long and confusing so I am wondering whether I would have picked it up to read in the first place.

I loved the mystery, the twists and how it all fit in the end, every time I thought it all made sense there was yet another twist. The ending was my favourite type of ending, like putting in the last puzzle piece in a 1000 puzzle.

Although this is a mixed review, I am grateful for Netgalley, Quercus Audio and MacLehose Press for this ARC as I thoroughly enjoyed it in the end and I am not sure I would have come across this in the real world.

This book was a confusing read. I couldn't decide whether it was highbrow literature, or pastiche. At moments it felt very Wes Anderson, but without the stylistic flair that makes his films so charming.

The best I can say about this book is that it was messy. The dialogue was all over the place, and character motivations were absolutely insane. It was unnecessarily convoluted, and because of this, was entirely unbelievable, making it impossible for me to immerse myself in the story's world.

This isn't on my shelf anymore to be able to review. Apologies for not being able to add one. All my previous listens are on the app so this may be a technical error.

This was a find on NetGalley and it was an audiobook. It is available on Audible and elsewhere.

I really enjoyed this book. The narration was good and made it a nice easy listen.

About halfway through I was sometimes struggling to follow the switches between the different story time lines but it didn’t take long to work it out.

Towards the end where it felt like all the threads were coming together I started to find the switches between storylines a little frustrating as I felt it was interrupting the flow of what was happening. Just as some drama and tension was building…we switched to a different story line.
However….it was worth getting through that phase because the final summations of the different arcs and how they linked together was fantastic.
Was the circumstances a little far fetched…..yes, but did that ruin all the little twists turns and ‘oooooooh I never saw that coming’ moments? Not at all. I LOVED it.

I do feel there were times it felt a bit cumbersome and elements of the story could have been told by other characters meaning less swapping and chopping between arcs.

All in all though, it was 100% worth read and I’ll be looking out for other books from this author in the future.

If I’m honest I’m not sure where to start with this book, I was initially drawn to The Enigma Of Room 622 by its cover and then when I read the blurb I thought I had better give it a try. It took me longer than it probably should have to realise that the author had written himself as a character, whilst he is obviously well known to others I hadn’t come across him before, which made the start of the book a little jarring but once I cottoned on it wasn’t quite as bad.

I thought it was quite funny, after a while, that he was a character in the book, certainly a first for me and interesting to see how Joël and Scarlett piece together parts of the story, as we the reader get to see how things happened from the perspectives of the characters. There were quite a lot of characters to keep a track of in this story but luckily Chris Harper did a marvellous job of narrating and creating the different voices for them, so they each stood out in their own way.

This is not an edge-of-your-seat thriller, it takes a while to unfold but my interest was piqued when I discovered that the mystery involved a lot of people whose lives overlapped in strange ways, which is what kept me engaged. The story jumps back and forth in the timeline of three characters Macaire – who is hoping to take over his father’s position as President of their bank, Anastasia – Macaire’s wife, and Lev – who is being tipped to take over as President for the bank.

I did really enjoy getting to know these characters and where they came from and the circumstances that lead to the murder but I have to say at times I did struggle with which part of the timeline I was supposed to be in. There was a lot of jumping about and I couldn’t always figure out quickly enough what point of the story I was in, because as I mentioned there are a lot of entwined threads between them so it wasn’t always obvious.

The first part of the book is mostly dedicated to the story leading up to the discovery of a body and in this time as we get to know the players in the game, the question is who was murdered. After that, the question becomes who did it and why, and at this point the pacing changes I felt like I was hooked to every word and felt a lot more tension in the story. This was only bettered by the many twists this story started to take, it went down a path I would not have imagined and I was pretty impressed that I was able to be so caught off guard.

However, I have to say that after the first couple of big surprises there were even more that kept cropping up, and instead of helping to clarify what happened, they added more questions. I felt like there were a lot of previous encounters in the story that I was second guessing and I started to feel that the big reveal was getting pushed a little too far if it comes to a point where I feel I might have to break out some post it’s just to try and keep track of what is happening it is no longer clever but convoluted.

I did enjoy the sections of the book in which the author reminisces about his late publisher Bernard, who is also a real person. The stories were really interesting and added a touch of warmth to the book, I am not sure I understand the relevance of them in this particular story but it was fun to read about.

You definitely need your wits about you to follow along with The Enigma of Room 622, and whilst it maybe could have used a slight scaling back, it was an enjoyable read that took me by surprise.

“The Enigma of Room 622” by Joel Dicker was an enigma! It was a story within a story. Joel goes to a hotel and inquires as to why there is no Room 622. We learn there was an unsolved murder there. What follows is Joel and his companion researching the murder and the charcters and events leading up to that fateful day. Many of the characters were not likable, but I still really enjoyed the book. I listened to the book ontape and it kept me totally engaged. I thought the narrator did a superb job- he accent was amazing! It was a long book, but it kept me engaged on my way to work. I definitely want to read more books by this author. Many thanks to Quercus Audio and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#TheEnigmaofRoom622 #NetGalley

Just wow! My mind is blown and I’m still quite reeling from the ending.

At first, I was unsure about this book. The beginning of the book was confusing to me and I had a hard time really getting into the book and knowing which character was which. I considered not finishing this book.

However, after chapter 43 I was hooked. They were so many plot twists and I simply had to know what happens and who did what that I could not stop listening to this book.
There were so many surprises that I’m still flabbergasted by them.

It was impossible to guess the murderer and I think I suspected every character possible at some time or another.
The chapters were all interesting even though I’m still a bit hazy on who was who.

But this is a great book.

The audiobook is good and the narrator is great to listen to. However, for me personally, I think reading this book myself would have been better since there is so many different characters involved and so much happening.

But all in all, this is a marvelous mystery book!

Such an interesting type crime mystery book! The Enigma of Room 622 follow an author who grieving after lost his mentor and failed with romantic relationship at same time. Between his holiday and cold case mystery between lost room number at the hotel, he found new passion to using his talent to help solve it and make it as inspiration to writing again.

The author is a new name for me but I absolutely would try get my hand on his other books. That fast page-turner story intriguing me since first chapter. I like the writing style and although this book is massive, interesting characters and short chapters keep me flies through the pages. Switches nonstop constanly between timelines isn't my fave thing, but the author success mastering those skill in this one.

Personally, I like how the audio narrator successfuly delivered this story with single voice between characters. The audio itself provide clear pronounce, enjoyable, and easy to follow even with faster setting.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Audio, MacLehose Press for provided my audio copy. My thoughts are my own.

This was really really good in the beginning!
A murder happening in a hotel over a decade ago and a writer investigating for a new book. I loved how the story was revealed in little bits. How every character had their own motives and desires, little and big secrets, and how in the end everything was so interconnected.
I thought it was really cleverly done and with such detail, it was very gripping.
Also all this time not knowing WHO was the murdered person alongside guessing who the murderer was, I really liked that!

But around 70% this book completely lost me.
The biggest reveal of the book (the secret thing the police found in the room) and it was absolutely ridiculous and so implausible I actually laughed out loud. (For a poor person being able to afford all these things? How? And not being able to make a career, but apparently being this extremely talented?)
It simply made this whole incredibly thought through story a joke and it only went downhill from there.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of how this story ended and especially not of Macaires.
I think this book has a lot of extremely cliche characters that in the end don’t stick to their own characters traits and sometimes don’t make a lot of sense (Macaire being so beloved even though he is the most selfish spoiled brat, Anastasia being apparent very intelligent but never stepping up for herself, Lev being able to speak 6 languages and being a banker without ever attending school, the mother in the end).

I really loved the first half of this, but the other half was sadly a real disappointment.

“According to Bernard, a great novel is a painting–a world offered to the reader who allows herself to be wrapped up in the immense illusion created by the author’s brushstrokes. .”

My thanks to Quercus Audio MacLehose Press for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘The Enigma of Room 622’ by Joël Dicker. It was translated from the French by Robert Bononno. The audiobook is narrated by Chris Harper.

My first thought about this book is that it was like a nested Russian doll, being a book within a book, within a book. The plot is twisty and rather difficult to summarise, though I will give an overview for context.

Writer Joël Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary star, (and definitely not a self-effacing one) is staying at the Hotel Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. He is there to begin writing his next novel as well as to get over a bad breakup and mourn the death of Bernard, his longtime publisher.

He is intrigued when shown to Room 623, that the sequence was 620, 621, 621a, 623. He enquires what happened to Room 622 and receives an evasive answer.

The next day he is introduced to Scarlett Leonas, a fellow guest, who is an aspiring writer and becomes something of a muse to Joël. She also is interested in Room 622 and uncovers the reason for its erasure - an unsolved murder from years ago. They decide to do their own investigation.

The narrative moves between their perspectives in 2018 and the past where in the wake of his father's death Macaire Ebezner is set to take over as president of the largest private bank in Switzerland. He is shocked to learn that the bank's board is planning to appoint Lev Levovitch, Geneva's answer to Jay Gatsby, ­in his place. The reasons for the appointment and other mysteries are slowly revealed against the backdrop of the secretive world of Swiss banking.

I was grateful that I had both text and audiobook as this was a complex novel and demanded a close reading. The text ends with a note from Robert Bononno on the challenges faced by the translator to give an authentic voice to foreign characters in a foreign country.

With respect to the audiobook, Canadian actor Chris Harper has a strong mature voice that I felt brought the story and characters to life. I found his reading excellent and a pleasure to listen to.

Overall, I admired the cleverness of this novel with its nesting format. As in the quote above, I felt that Dicker was very like a painter utilising words to immerse his readers in his creation. He took what could have been a fairly conventional financial thriller and switched it up with this expansion into meta fiction that blurred the lines between reality and fiction.

Due to its structure ‘The Enigma of Room 622’ may well be the kind of novel that polarises readers. However, it was a hit with me and I was entertained by Dicker’s bold self insertion. If I was to compare him to a painter it would likely be M.C. Escher.

It has to be said, 'The Enigma of Room 622' is an intricately and carefully plotted mystery novel. All the pieces and puzzles mesh together to leave very little room for plot holes. The characters are well formed and very believable. And the city of Geneva and the banking system there are made real, without being uninteresting. Where (to my mind) this novel falls down is that the axis upon which the mystery hinges – the big reveal – is just the wrong side of believable. Also, the continual alluding to ‘what was found’ or ‘what happened fifteen years ago’ does not add to the mystery or suspense but rapidly becomes simply irritating. But the biggest problem is possibly that the novel is just much too long – possibly 50% longer than it needed to be. Certainly, this allowed opportunity for character development but ultimately, had it been a short, snappy ‘murder mystery’, I would have been much more inclined to accept the central ‘conceit’ and go with it. but when you are presented with a very long novel, you expect more for the large investment of time than what we are offered.

To add to the review (as this was specific to the audiobook) I found the reader to be just that – reading the book. Chris Harper has a pleasant voice and was easy to listen to, but somehow is just a little bit lacklustre (although this may still be more the fault of the source material, rather than the reader). To be honest, I ended up shifting to 1.5x speed to get to through the book a bit quicker. There are so many excellent audiobook performers that add vitality and vigour to the books and can actually turn an ordinary book into a genuine thriller. The narrator of 'The Enigma of Room 622' is fine but I really did feel that I was having the book read to me, rather then having it brought to life.