The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker translated by Robert Bononno

It all starts with an innocuous curiosity: at the Hotel de Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps, there is no Room 622.

This anomaly piques the interest of Joël Dicker, Switzerland’s most famous literary star, who flees to the Verbier to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his publisher, and begin his next novel.

Before he knows it, he’s coaxed out of his slump by a fellow guest, who quickly uncovers the reason behind Room 622’s erasure: an unsolved murder. The attendant circumstances: a love triangle and a power struggle at the heart of Switzerland’s largest private bank, a mysterious counter-intelligence unit known only as P-30, and a shadowy émigré with more money than God.

A Russian doll of a mystery crafted with the precision of a Swiss watch, The Enigma of Room 622 is Joël Dicker’s most diabolically addictive thriller yet.

I’m a huge fan of Joël Dicker’s novels and have been since I read The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair back in 2014 (before I started blogging!) I’ve since read all his novels that have been translated into English, and I can’t tell you how excited I was to receive a copy of his latest novel ahead of its publication on 15 September. It more than lived up to my expectations, delivering a novel with an engaging mystery where nothing is quite as it seems.

There’s a lot going on in this novel, not entirely surprising when it clocks in at almost 600 pages. That said, it didn’t feel like a long book, and I read it in three sittings, thoroughly engaged throughout. There are two narratives which the novel alternates between. In 2018, we see Joël Dicker mourning the death of a close friend as well as suffering in the aftermath of a recent break up. Deciding to get away from it all, he travels to Verbier in the Swiss Alps. In his hotel, he idly notes that the rooms on the sixth floor are numbered 621, 621A, and 623, a pattern that doesn’t seem to be repeated for other room numbers or floors. He is gradually drawn into the mystery by his new acquaintance, Scarlett, particularly as they discover that the absence of room 622 is due to a murder, still unsolved, that took place in that room.

These sections are semi-autobiographical in tone, and I always think that it’s an interesting – and brave! – choice to write yourself into the narrative in this way. The Joël we’re presented with is a likeable and well-balanced individual – we see his flaws and his ego alongside his better traits that endear him to the reader. Dicker’s publisher did pass away, and it seems plausible that the two were friends outside of their professional relationship. His recollections of Bernard are brief yet heartfelt – there’s clearly a great deal of feeling there as he revisits their first interactions, how their friendship gradually developed, and the idiosyncrasies that made Bernard the man he was.

These sections also serve to move the plot along as Joël and Scarlett investigate the murder, following the clues in a bid to solve the mystery, and perhaps give Joël some inspiration for the novel that he’s writing. I enjoyed their investigation – it provides the reader with an opportunity for some armchair sleuthing and it’s easy to imagine yourself tagging along for the ride. It helps that Joël is who he is – it seems that wherever they go, most of those they encounter either recognise him or have at least heard of him and his work (I told you there was an ego there), although I’m sure that few would hesitate to play that particular card if it was available to them.

The murder – we don’t know who the victim is at the outset, never mind whodunnit – takes us into the second narrative arc, set a few years earlier during the election of a new president for one of Switzerland’s leading private banks. It should be a straightforward process, and the role has traditionally passed from father to son (always through the male line), but the former president introduced changes to the process, opening the role up to others. You might not think that the election of a bank’s president would be all that exciting, and I think that you would normally be correct in that view. This is no ordinary election, however, and to understand the manoeuvring of those involved, the reader must also understand their history and the events of the 15 or so years leading up to this election.

This section introduces us to some wonderful if not entirely likeable characters. Macaire would be the new president by tradition as the former president’s only son and heir. He reeks of entitlement – he’s lazy, arrogant, and work shy, shirking his duties with the knowledge that he’s unlikely to be challenged. He may not be an untouchable as he believes, however, and under the bluster, there’s a surprisingly fragile individual. His main competitor, Lev, comes across as sympathetic in comparison. Lev wasn’t born into a banking (or any other) dynasty, and has instead worked his way up from more humble beginnings. He hasn’t been gifted opportunities as Macaire has been, and has earned respect from his peers as he’s climbed the corporate ladder. On the surface, he seems more deserving of the role.

Of course, nothing is as straightforward as it seems, and there are plenty of secrets for the reader to unravel in this second narrative. It’s a brilliant and complicated plot containing a love story, espionage, and plenty of double-crossing as these men seek to grab power – and other things – for themselves. It’s a fascinating tale, and I was completely gripped in trying to work out the murderer and their victim, and what it meant for the bank and presidency. It is, overall, a playful novel where nothing is quite as it seems, and I can’t recommend it enough.

The Enigma of Room 622 will be published on 15 September by MacLehose Press and will be available in hardback, digital, and audio formats. Huge thanks to Corinna Zifko and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review ahead of publication.

Disclaimer – I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has in no way influenced my review.

Also by Joël Dicker: