Translated from the French by Helen Weaver.
What started as an impromptu joyride rapidly takes a turn for the chilling when strangers all along the unfamiliar route swear they recognize Dany from the previous day. But that’s impossible: She was at work, she was in Paris, she was miles away...wasn’t she?
From the author of A Very Long Engagement comes a tangled, terrifying psychological thriller worthy of Georges Simenon, Paula Hawkins, or Patricia Highsmith.
Sébastien Japrisot (4 July 1931 – 4 March 2003) was a French author, screenwriter and film director, born in Marseille. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name. Japrisot has been nicknamed “the Graham Greene of France”.
One Deadly Summer was made into a film starring Isabelle Adjani in 1983. A Very Long Engagement was an international bestseller, won the Prix Interallié and was later also made into a film starring Audrey Tatou in 2004.
Narrated by Jenn Lee.
Released 11th August 2022 by Gallic Books.
From the cover:
Dany Longo is blonde, beautiful—and thoroughly unpredictable. After doing a favour for her boss, she finds herself behind the wheel of his exquisite Thunderbird on a sun-kissed Parisian morning. On impulse, she decides to head south.What started as an impromptu joyride rapidly takes a turn for the chilling when strangers all along the unfamiliar route swear they recognize Dany from the previous day. But that’s impossible: She was at work, she was in Paris, she was miles away...wasn’t she?
From the author of A Very Long Engagement comes a tangled, terrifying psychological thriller worthy of Georges Simenon, Paula Hawkins, or Patricia Highsmith.
***********
One holiday weekend, Dany Longo, beautiful, blonde, secretary at a Parisian advertising agency, finds herself doing some extra work at the home of her boss, despite giving the impression to her colleagues that she has exciting plans for the weekend. The next day, after dropping her boss and his family at the airport, she is struck with a sudden dilemma - should she return the shiny, white Thunderbird she has been granted permission to drive, back to their home as arranged, or should she take off on a real adventure for once? She chooses the latter option, heading south in search of the sea, which she has never seen.
However, she soon becomes unsettled by reports from people she meets on her journey that they have met her before - the day before, in fact How can that be? As Dani heads closer to the coast, with events becoming ever more bizarre, she begins to question her sanity. Was she really in Paris yesterday, or is she the lady in the car, with the glasses, from the stories that people keep telling her they saw?
What a fabulous, Hitchcock-esque story this is! Part compelling 1960s road trip adventure, and part delicious noir crime story, this slow burn tale is a many layered conundrum that sucks you in. Told almost entirely through the account of Dany herself, it is pretty clear from the the start that she is a less than reliable narrator, especially since she admits creating a fictional image that she likes to portray to outside eyes to cover up her loneliness.
When Dany suddenly has a serendipitous opportunity to head off on an adventure that allows her to play out some of her fantasies, she gets a lot more excitement that she bargains for. There is something strange about this road-trip, and as the surreal story unfolds, it enmeshes her in the fallout of a shocking crime. Her less than stable mental state is exposed, and as she takes us through the events of the moment and the fractured pieces of her memories, she begins to question reality. Has she done these things that people keep telling her she has?
It is a long time before we find out whether she has or has not, and you are never quite sure of the truth of the matter until the delectable denouement. At each turn, you meet a likely cast of characters whose intentions may be good or otherwise, and your theory about what is really going on here flips back and forth as Dany's encounters with them add new information to the mixing pot. With lashings of mystery, and the most wonderful 60s noir vibes, this really does keep you guessing!
There are some lovely themes explored along the way in this story, especially around obsession, desire, pretence, guilt, and sins that come back to haunt us. There is a cleverly employed thread to the story around children and motherhood too, that slowly reveals itself as one that has a big impact on the unpredictable way Dany behaves. Although it is all very French, the transatlantic drawl of Jenn Lee works beautifully with the Hollywood star mystique that comes with a captivating blonde woman cruising the highways in an iconic Thunderbird, and her voice holds your attention with hypnotic power.
This story was voted one of the Sunday Times Best 100 crime novels, and although I had not heard of Sébastien Japrisot before listening to it, I can tell you that it certainly deserves its place on the list. If audio books are your thing, then I recommend listening to this as the best way to experience it. This is simply brilliant, and it held me spellbound.
Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Gallic Books for giving me an audio copy of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
One Deadly Summer was made into a film starring Isabelle Adjani in 1983. A Very Long Engagement was an international bestseller, won the Prix Interallié and was later also made into a film starring Audrey Tatou in 2004.
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