Title:
After the Crash
Author:
Michel Bussi
Genre:
Thriller, Crime Fiction
Publisher:
Hachette India
Source:
Flipkart Review Program
Pages:
386
Rating:
5/5
‘There had been
the Airbus crash . . . and then the trial, and the verdict.’
Have
you ever read French fiction or have you got the chance to attend French language
classes? You would feel more familiar with characters, their names sounds like music
and then comes a story, full of assumptions, suspicions and coincidences,
brings you in a thrilling mode where you would just want to explore more, What’s
Next?
‘People keep
living in the same houses where their loved ones died, don’t they? They sleep
in the same beds, eat off the same plates, drink from the same glasses . . .
Those objects are not responsible for the deaths.’
After
the Crash, the extraordinary work of Michel Bussi, is about a baby girl, Lylie who
survived after a plane crash, becomes a headline in newspaper as Miracle Baby,
Orphan? Not at all, In fact there are two families; both have their own
justifications to get her custody. Somehow matter settled in a court with misty
proofs, in 80’s DNA testing was not in trends.
“First
it tells them that the Airbus has crashed, that there are no survivors,
stealing from them the two generations on which they had built their hopes for
the future. And then, a few hours later, it joyfully announces a miracle: the
smallest, most fragile being on the entire aircraft has been spared. And they
are even able to celebrate that fact, to thank God, to put aside the deaths of
their other loved ones . . . But then fate plunges its dagger into their backs
a second time. What if that miracle child, the flesh of your flesh, the fruit
of your loins, is not yours after all?”
Lylie
got guardians but the second family, who couldn’t get the girl, hired a private
detective to take care of rest of the case, to identify ‘The Reality’, and this
step changed their whole lives. After eighteen years of research the detective is
going to end his life, suddenly his eyes got struck at some 18 years old
newspaper and…?
The
remarkable thing about the book is the author’s narrative skill, he weaved the
characters so brilliantly that you can sense the story playing in front of your
eyes, Plus Author don’t miss a single chance to let you think between the
lines, and when you started to assume, turns and twists remold what you speculated, U-Turn? That’s what
thrilled me the most.
“Who had dug the
grave on Mont Terri? Had the bracelet been buried there? Or was it a dog? Or a
baby? Who had killed Marc’s grandfather?”
Besides
all the roller coaster part, I’m sure you would love the character, Marc. There
are Tom and Jerry fights between Marc and Melvine, Their conversation is full
of sarcasm, which made you smile, hardly happens in crime novels, isn’t it?
“Marc
. . . pale blue eyes that often seemed lost in contemplation of distant
horizons, perhaps the glorious past of Dieppe and its pirates. And yet, deep
down, Marc was a simple soul. The things he loved best were his home, his
neighbourhood, his friends, his grandmother . . . and, most of all, Emilie.”
Who
is Marc? That’s the mystery in itself, was Marc lylie’s brother or lover or
whatever? You have to explore it by yourself, as story grew up on that puzzle only.
Did
Nicole have the right to be proud of her granddaughter? Was she her
granddaughter? Ten years after the Airbus tragedy, the Vitral family was still
living in its shadow. If this girl really was Emilie Vitral, Nicole’s own flesh
and blood, then yes, it was wonderful – a true miracle. But what if she were
Lyse-Rose de Carville, erroneously sent to live with a poor family, in a very
different world to the one that was her birthright? What if she were being
stifled by her environment? What if she did not belong there?‘
Story plot was interesting as after 18 years of investigation, nobody could able to sense the real identity of baby girl. In
the end when the secret spilled, you left awestruck.
Highly
recommended especially for those who love to savour crime literary fictions, Must
Read!
About
The Author:
Michel
Bussi is a French Writer of detective novels and a political analyst and
Professor.
You can buy online : Flipkart Link