Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Somewhere in the South of France..in your worst nightmare holiday
Summer House with Swimming Pool
What you need to know before your trail
Dr Marc Schlosser, the very unreliable narrator of this tale, is a Dutch physician who specializes in treating people in the arts. The Netherlands is mentioned frequently and its atmosphere and politics described to create atmosphere.
He’s a funny one that Dr Schlosser – doesn’t exactly seem to like his patients and even several dislikes those he doesn’t hold simple disdain for. But he keeps this hidden from all those around him. When one of Dr. Schlosser’s patients dies questions are asked. It soon becomes clear that this patient was not exactly a friend. So just how did he die? And what does the good doctor know that he is not telling?
Travel Guide
As with The Dinner, this has a minimal setting – a gorgeous summer house with swimming pool set somewhere in the south of France, but again the physical location is not the main focus here so although you can’t do a booktrail, it would be the perfect book to read on your sun lounger round the pool as it gives you so many shades of dark, you’ll think you’re not only sitting under a great tree about to fall on your head but buried deep within a great mound of dirt and intrigue.
There is a lot of black humour too to protect you from the sun as well as the satire that covers the whole novel like a big black umbrella. And this brolly? You’re going to need it to shield you from the approaching storm clouds that you know are on the way in the form of a singular episode of violence and horror.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
The phrase one thing can often lead to another could be the subtitle of the book as the one horrific event does indeed lead to many more. I was slightly worried about this book – and its unease that I had when discovering the crimes of Dr Shipman. Is this doctor like that or is it all just in his head? You have to wait until the end to find out. I felt uncomfortable doing so although the jibes at the art world and world of celebrity made for good entertainment.
The book mark on the cover – slicing in to the cover design itself is a fitting tribute to a novel which had a sharp undercurrent to the seemingly still waters of the swimming pool.
Where Next?
