{"product_id":"the-truth-about-the-harry-quebert-affair-isbn-9780143126683","title":"The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair","description":"\u003cb\u003eInstant \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Bestseller\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Unimpeachably terrific.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor fans of Ruth Ware, Shari Lapena, and Donna Tartt: a\u003c\/b\u003e twisty, fast-paced, cinematic literary thriller, and an ingenious book within a book, by the #1 internationally bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Enigma of Room 622\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Marcus Goldman is riding high. The twenty-eight-year-old writer is the new darling of American letters, whose debut novel has sold two million copies. But when it comes time to produce a new book, he is sidelined by a crippling case of writer’s block. He travels to Somerset, New Hamprshire, to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country’s most respected writers, hoping to jar his creative juices as his publisher’s deadline looms. But Marcus’s plans are upended when Harry is sensationally implicated in a cold-case murder: Fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan went missing in 1975, and Harry admits to having had an affair with her. Following a trail of clues through the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, Marcus must answer two questions, which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? And how do you write a book to save someone’s life?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated from the French by Sam Taylor\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Summer by \u003ci\u003eCBS This Morning\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUs Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Hollywood Reporter\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eParade\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHouston Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTampa Bay Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMilwaukee Journal Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eNow a 10-part TV series on EPIX, starring Patrick Dempsey, Ben Schnetzer, Damon Wayans Jr., and Virginia Madsen\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A playful, page-turning whodunit . . . If Norman Mailer had been accused of murder and Truman Capote had collaborated with Dominick Dunne on a tell-all about it, the result might have turned out something like this. Though I suspect this version may be funnier. . . . It’s [Dicker’s] light touch and engaging voice that make the writing so infectious.” —\u003cb\u003eChelsea Cain, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The great American crime novel . . . A breakneck thriller.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDetails\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A terrific read . . . Entertaining . . . Cleverly constructed . . . It’s compelling, challenging, sometimes even funny. The characters are finely drawn. . . . It keeps you, as they say of movies, ‘on the edge of your seat.’ ” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Huffington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A wonderful, fun, and boisterous read, a book with an uncanny ability to both fascinate and amuse you. Twists and turns and oddball characters make this a rollicking bullet-train of a novel.” —\u003cb\u003eAmazon.com, Best Book of the Month\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I haven’t had a suspense novel surprise me like this one in a long time. Joël Dicker is a bright new star of suspense, and he proves his serious chops with this utterly thrilling, delightfully twisted, continually shocking novel. I can’t wait to read what he writes next!” —\u003cb\u003eLisa Gardner, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eFear Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A dazzling thriller—stunningly original and brilliantly plotted, down to the very last twists. It’s a murder mystery, a literary puzzle, and a love story, all ingeniously woven into a masterly novel of suspense. Joël Dicker is an enormous talent, and this book is extraordinary.” —\u003cb\u003eLinda Fairstein, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDeath Angel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Talk about a web of treason and danger: This one unfolds with a relentless sense of urgency and pulse-pounding escapades, entertaining at every turn. Absolutely rousing.” —\u003cb\u003eSteve Berry, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe King’s Deception\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Planes, trains and automobiles: You’ll see people reading this book everywhere. An amazing debut and wonderful summer read.” —\u003cb\u003eMichael Harvey, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Chicago Way\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Entertainingly pulled off . . . Enjoyable . . . It churns along at such a good clip and is rendered with such high emotion and apparent deep conviction that it’s easy to see why it was a bestseller in Europe.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A highly entertaining mash-up of melodrama, metafiction and mystery [with] a slick page-turning plot.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Charmingly off-kilter . . . Sure-footed.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[A] funny, plot-twisting mystery.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWomen’s Day, \u003c\/i\u003e“New Favorites from the \u003ci\u003eWomen’s Day\u003c\/i\u003e Staff”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Stunning . . . Fast-paced, tightly plotted . . . From page one, you’ll be hooked on this fascinating mystery of love and deception.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNational Examiner\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Smart and fun.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHouston Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A clever, tightly plotted thriller with a comic edge.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTampa Bay Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An ambitious, multilayered novel of suspense . . . This tale of fame, friendship, loyalty, and fiction versus reality moves at warp speed.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “This sprawling, likable whodunit [is] obvious ballast for the summer’s beach totes. . . . Dicker keeps the prose simple and the pace snappy in a plot that winds up with more twists than a Twizzler. . . . [An] entertaining debut thriller.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Tantalizing . . . Compelling . . . There is a \u003ci\u003eTwin Peaks\u003c\/i\u003e–like fascination to the story of Nola Kellergan. . . . Readers are certain to be caught up in the ongoing drama of who killed Nola among the plethora of suspects.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoel Dicker\u003c\/b\u003e was born in 1985 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he later studied law. He spent childhood summers in New England, particularly in Stonington and Bar Harbor, Maine. \u003ci\u003eThe Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair \u003c\/i\u003ewon three French literary prizes, including the Grand Prix du Roman from the Académie Française, and was a finalist for the Prix Goncourt. It has sold more than two million copies across Europe. Dicker lives in Geneva.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSam Taylor (translator)\u003c\/b\u003e is a novelist and journalist who has lived in France for more than a decade. His first literary translation was Laurence Binet's HHhH, which was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected proof.***\u003cbr\u003eCopyright © 2014 by Joel Dicker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Jesus, Marc, have you heard?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Heard what?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“My God, turn on the T V! It’s about Harry Quebert! It’s Quebert!”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI put on the news. To my amazement I saw the house at Goose Cove on the screen and heard the presenter say: “It was here, in his home in Somerset, New Hampshire, that author Harry Quebert was arrested today after police discovered human remains on his property. Initial inquiries suggest this may be the body of Nola Kellergan, a local girl who at the age of fifteen disappeared from her house in August 1975 and has never been seen since.” The room began spinning around me, and I collapsed onto the couch in a daze. I couldn’t hear anything clearly anymore—not the TV, nor Douglas, at the other end of the line, bellowing, “Marcus? Are you there? Hello? He killed a girl? Quebert killed a girl?” In my head, everything blurred together like a bad dream.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo it was that I found out, at the same time as a stupefied America, what had happened a few hours earlier: That morning a landscaping company had arrived at Goose Cove, at Harry’s request, to plant hydrangea bushes. When they dug up the earth, the gardeners found human bones buried three feet deep and had immediately informed the police. A whole skeleton had quickly been uncovered, and Harry had been arrested.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn TV screen they cut between live broadcasts from Somerset and from Concord, sixty miles northwest, where Harry was in police custody. Apparently a clue found close to the body strongly suggested that here were the remains of Nola Kellergan; a police spokesman had already indicated that if this information was confirmed, Harry Quebert would also be named as a suspect in the murder of one Deborah Cooper, the last person to have seen Nola alive on August 30, 1975. Cooper had been found murdered the same day, after calling the police. It was appalling. The rumble grew ever louder as the news crossed the country in real time, relayed by television, radio, the Internet, and social networks: Harry Quebert, sixty-seven, one of the greatest authors of the second half of the twentieth century, was a child predator.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt took me a long time to realize what was happening. Several hours, perhaps. At 8 p.m., when a worried Douglas came by to see how I was holding up, I was still convinced that the whole thing was a mistake.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“How can they accuse him of two murders when they’re not even sure it’s the body of this Nola?” I said.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Well, there was a corpse buried in his yard, however you look at it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“But why would he have brought people in to dig up the place where he’d supposedly buried a body? It makes no sense! I have to go there.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Go where?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“New Hampshire. I have to defend Harry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDouglas replied with that down-to-earth Midwestern sobriety: “Absolutely not, Marcus. Don’t go there. You don’t want to get involved in this mess.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Harry called me . . .” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“When? Today?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“About one this afternoon. I must have been the one telephone call he was allowed. I have to go there and support him! It’s very important.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Important? What’s important is your second book. I hope you haven’t been taking me for a ride and that you really will have a manuscript ready by the end of the month. Barnaski is shitting bricks. Do you realize what’s going to happen to Harry? Don’t get mixed up in this, Marc. Don’t screw up your career.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn T V the state attorney general was giving a press conference. He listed the charges against Harry: kidnapping and two counts of murder. Harry was formally accused of having murdered Deborah Cooper and Nola Kellergan. And the punishment for these crimes, taken together, was death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarry’s fall was only just beginning. Footage of the preliminary hearing, which was held the next day, was broadcast on T V. We saw Harry arrive in the courtroom, tracked by dozens of T V cameras and illuminated by photolighting, handcuffed, and surrounded by policemen. He looked as if he had been through hell: somber faced, unshaven, hair disheveled, shirt unbuttoned, eyes swollen. His lawyer, Benjamin Roth, stood next to him. Roth was a renowned attorney in Concord who had often advised Harry in the past. I knew him slightly, having met him a few times at Goose Cove.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe whole country was able to watch the hearing live as Harry pleaded not guilty, and the judge ordered him remanded into custody in New Hampshire’s State Prison for Men. But this was only the start of the storm. At that moment I still had the naive hope that it would all be over soon, but one hour after the hearing, I received a call from Benjamin Roth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Harry gave me your number,” he said. “He insisted I call. He wants you to know that he’s innocent, that he didn’t kill anybody.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I know he’s innocent,” I said. “Tell me how he’s doing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Not too great, as you can imagine. The cops have been giving him a hard time. He admitted to having a fling with Nola the summer she disappeared.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I knew about Nola. What about the rest?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRoth hesitated a second before answering. “He denies it. But . . .” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“But what?” I demanded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Marcus, I’m not going to hide it from you. This is going to be difficult. The evidence is . . .”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The evidence is what? Tell me, for God’s sake!” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This has to stay a secret. No one can know.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I won’t say a word. You can trust me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Along with the girl’s remains the investigators found the manuscript of The Origin of Evil.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I’m telling you, the manuscript of that damn book was buried with her. Harry is in deep shit.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What does Harry say?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“He says he wrote that book for her. That she was always snooping around his home in Goose Cove, and that sometimes she would borrow his pages to read. He says that a few days before she disappeared, she took the manuscript home with her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What? He wrote that book for her?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Yes. But that can’t get out, under any circumstances. You can imagine the scandal there’d be if the media found out that one of the bestselling books of the last fifty years is not a simple love story, like everyone thinks, but based on an illicit affair between a guy of thirty-four and a girl of fifteen . . .”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Can you get him released on bail?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bail? You don’t understand how serious this is. There’s no question of bail when it comes to capital crimes. The punishment he risks is lethal injection. Ten days from now his case will be presented to a grand jury, which will decide whether to pursue charges and hold a trial. It’s just a formality. There’s no doubt there will be a trial.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“And in the meantime?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“He’ll stay in prison.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“But if he’s innocent?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“That’s the law. I’m telling you—this is a very serious situation. He’s accused of murdering two people.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI slumped back on the couch. I had to talk to Harry. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Ask him to call me!” I said to Roth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I’ll pass on your message.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Tell him I absolutely have to talk to him, and that I’m waiting for his call.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRight after hanging up, I went to my bookshelves and found my copy of The Origin of Evil. Harry’s inscription was on the first page:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo Marcus, my most brilliant student\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYour friend,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eH. L. Quebert, May 1999\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI immersed myself once again in that book, which I hadn’t opened in years. It was a love story, mixing a straight narrative with epistolary passages, the story of a man and woman who loved each other without really being allowed to love each other. So he had written this book for that mysterious girl about whom I still knew nothing. I finished rereading it in the middle of the night, and contemplated the title. And for the first time I wondered what it meant: Why The Origin of Evil? What kind of evil was Harry talking about?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e---------\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo days passed, during which the DNA analyses and dental impressions confirmed that the skeleton discovered at Goose Cove was indeed that of Nola Kellergan. The investigators were able to determine that the skeleton was that of a fifteen-year-old child, indicating that Nola had died more or less at the time of her disappearance. But, most important, a fracture at the back of the skull provided the certainty, even after more than thirty years, that Nola Kellergan had died from at least one blow to the head.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI had no news of Harry. I tried to get in touch with him through the state police, through the prison, and through Roth, but without success. I paced my apartment, tormented by thousands of questions, plagued by the memory of his weird call. By the end of the weekend, I couldn’t take it anymore, and I decided that I had little choice but to go to see what was happening in New Hampshire.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303302779109,"sku":"NP9780143126683","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780143126683.jpg?v=1767741928","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-truth-about-the-harry-quebert-affair-isbn-9780143126683","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}