Review: After the Crash by Michel Bussi

Title:After the Crash

Author:Michel Bussi

Published:January 2016, Hachette Books

Format:ARC Paperback, 384 pages

Source:Publisher

Hailed as “a novel so
extraordinary that it reminded me of reading Stieg Larsson for the very
first time” (Sunday Times, UK), a near-million copy bestseller in
Europe–centered on a tragic plane crash in the Alps and the mystery
surrounding its only survivor, an infant girl.

A night flight
from Istanbul bound for Paris, filled with 169 holiday travelers,
plummets into the Swiss Alps. The sole survivor is a three-month-old
girl–thrown from the plane onto the snowy mountainside before fire
rages through the aircraft. But two infants were on board. Is the
miracle baby Lyse-Rose or Emilie? Both families step forward to claim
the child–one poor, one powerful, wealthy, and dangerous.

Filled
with delicious twists and riveting psychological suspense, After the
Crash is an electrifying story of a two-decade mystery, secret love, and
murder–perfect for the readers who swarmed to Stieg Larsson, Gone
Girl, and The Girl on the Train.

My thoughts:I picked this gem up last year at BEA and really enjoyed it. It’s one of the those books that gets under your skin and doesn’t let up until you know exactly what happened. 

This book is definitely a mystery, but it’s also the story of two families trying to accept the fact that due to a plane crash, they have lost their children and their only hope is that the sole survivor might be their grandchild. The story follows the two families as they try to figure out just who this child is…doing whatever it is they can to put the court order in their favor. 

The story is told partly from all the different characters and partly from the diary of the detective, who has been investigating this case for  18 years. He was hired by one of the families after the court rendered a verdict on who the child was. 

I found myself completely engaged in this story, constantly on guard, thinking and rethinking as to how this would all play out. Every time I thought I knew who the child really was, something would come out that would have me changing my mind. So many twists and turns are tangled up in this story, so many different threads woven into the story line that leave you desperate to know where it is going to take you. This was a great mystery and I hope more of Michel Bussi‘s books get translated into English!