In kidnapping cases, the first few hours are crucial. After that, the chances of being found alive go from slim to nearly none. Alex Prevost - beautiful, resourceful, tough - may be no ordinary victim, but her time is running out. Commandant Camille Verh/ven and his detectives have nothing to go on: no suspect, no lead, rapidly diminishing hope. All they know is that a girl was snatched off the streets of Paris and bundled into a white van. The enigma that is the fate of Alex will keep Verh/ven guessing until the bitter, bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries.
A really excellent suspense novelist. Stephen King. MacLehose has done it again ... in Pierre Lemaitre he has unearthed another master of crime fiction destined to become a household name. -- Adam Sage The Times. Grippingly original ... It enthralls at every stage of its unpredictability. -- Marcel Berlins The Times. Moves from read-as-fast-as-you-can horror to an intricately plotted race to a dark truth ... Alex is about thrills. -- Alison Flood Observer. An invigoratingly scary, one-sitting read. -- Laura Wilson Guardian. 'An absolute gem Eurocrime. Eurocrime
'Brutal crime writing with a tinge of Gauloise ... brilliant' Daily Mail. Daily Mail
'Relentlessly gripping, Lemaitre is worthy of all the fuss' Independent. Independent
'Hailed as the most important crime novel in translation since Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Alex similarly features as an intriguingly flawed feminist heroine bent on vengeance, and will likely prove a sensation of the crime fiction year' Irish Times. Irish Times
'Moves from read-as-fast-as-you-can horror to an intricately plotted race to a dark truth' Alison Flood, Observer. Observer
'It enthrals at every stage of its unpredictability. Grippingly original' The Times. The Times
Author
About Pierre Lemaitre
Pierre Lemaitre was born in Paris in 1956. He worked for many years as a teacher of literature and now devotes his time to writing novels and screenplays. In 2013 he was awarded the Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award, for Au revoir la-haut. Frank Wynne is a translator from French and Spanish. His translations include works by Michel Houellebecq, Marcelo Figueras's IFFP-shortlisted Kamchatka and Alex by Pierre Lemaitre.
