"Polizzotti's crisp and evocative translation keeps the reader hooked."--Publishers Weekly
In his acclaimed semi-autobiographical novella Suspended Sentences, Patrick Modiano recounted a dramatic season in his childhood, of the home he shared with sinister surrogate parents, the mysterious events that took place there, and an infamous heist that was never solved.
In Scene of the Crime, Modiano conjures the aftermath of those years. A decade has passed, and Jean Bosmans, now in his early twenties, becomes aware of a set of disturbing coincidences involving an elusive woman, his childhood home, and a host of disquieting characters who seem inordinately interested in his past, for reasons he can't fathom. As he journeys into the echoes of memory, past and present become increasingly intertwined, forming a web spanning half a century.
With the taut suspense of a detective novel, this book slowly peels away layers of time and forgetfulness to reveal the haunting, threatening, ultimately tragic legacies of what we think we know about our lives.
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“Like all Modiano’s work, the relationship between geography and memory is essential.” Andrew Martino reviews Scene of the Crime, “elegantly translated by Mark Polizzotti.” @apmartino https://t.co/qLA8Fo3O8Q
Honors College Dean, professor, traveler, reader, writer, trouble-maker, husband, father. Opinions are my own.
Scene of the Crime by Patrick Modiano https://t.co/XvOzmGrTil
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"Polizzotti’s translation is beautiful, and non-French readers owe him a debt of gratitude for bringing such a wonderful book into English." —Andrew Martino, @worldlittoday reviews Scene of the Crime by Patrick Modiano https://t.co/JOY0EHdxEx
"Elegiac, bittersweet, ghostly, Modiano's books are like black-and-white photographs from another century, suggestive of all that's been lost and the vague traces that remain. . . . Scene of the Crime [is] gracefully translated by Mark Polizzotti. . . . Modiano's prose is hypnotic, pregnant with mystery, full of dialogue that contains more than it shows."--Frank Lawton, Telegraph
"Polizzotti's crisp and evocative translation keeps the reader hooked."--Publishers Weekly
"Elegantly translated by Mark Polizzotti . . . atmospheric and hypnotic . . . thrilling . . . beautiful. . . . A wonderful book."--Andrew Martino, World Literature Today
"An interrogation of the past and of time itself. . . . Modiano's prose is mesmerizing as ever. . . . The story plays out with the intrigue of a good noir, with an unsurpassed depth of feeling and curiosity."--Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads