[Reading] The lady in the car with glasses and a gun - Sébastien Japrisot

[white_hart]

My mother lent me this French crime novel from 1966 (translated, obviously). I approached it with a certain amount of trepidation, but actually it had an interestingly twisty (if somewhat far-fetched) plot and a fascinating heroine, and was a compelling read which felt a bit like a cross between Mary Stewart (strange crime-related events happening to a young woman driving alone through France) and Patricia Highsmith (the more psychological thriller aspects).

Comments

[liv]

Oh, I used to be quite into Japrisot when I could read French fluently. A couple of his books were made into films, Un long dimanche de fiancailles really stuck with me, both the book and the film. The English title I think is A very long engagement. It's not exactly crime, it's about a woman with mild learning disabilities who falls in love with a man and he goes off to fight in WW1 and disappears, due to a brain injury causing amnesia. And the book is about trying to find him again, so it's like a mystery but it's not a whodunnit, it's looking for clues to find this guy. Really good characterisation and sense of place, I hadn't thought of the comparison with Mary Stewart.

[lnr]

I rather love the gently exciting pace of Mary Stewart, so this sounds intriguing!