Title: The Enigma of Room 622

Author: Joël Dicker with Robert Bononno (Translator)

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Why I read it: Found at the library

The Enigma of Room 622 was just that – an enigma. It has a solid premise; a writer goes on vacation to mourn his longtime publisher’s death, and uncovers that there is no room 622 at his hotel. As he works to uncover why that may be, he is drawn into the world of private banking, espionage, and secrets that make the unsolved murder that happened in the now-missing room 622 all the more intriguing. 

I saw this book at the library many months ago and decided I needed to save it for a later date, because it was too long to fit into my current reading plan. Many months passed, and I couldn’t stop thinking about this book – it seemed perfect! I love a mystery in a hotel, the premise of an amateur sleuth, secrets in high society… it appeared to have it all. But when I finally started reading it, I was so disappointed.

To paint you a picture of what I experienced, imagine this scenario. You see an attractive person in passing. For whatever reason, you don’t get the opportunity to meet; however, your every thought is consumed by the possibility of what could have been. Then one day, several months later, you see them again. You think, “This must be it; it must be a sign.” Now, you’re on a first date, and every word they say is sending alarm bells through your head. Nothing feels right, nothing feels like you had imagined, but you stay on the date, thinking it’s salvageable. By the end of the date, you sadly realize you have royally wasted your time, and the expectations you had in your head are not at all like the person you just spent too much time with. That is what reading this book was like for me – a tragic disappointment and a classic example of expectations not meeting reality. 

The main character, Macaire, is unlikable (in my notes, I described him as a man-child), and there is far too much plot dedicated to giving him a redemption that I’m not sure he deserves. This made it hard to connect with the book because at no point was I rooting for him. The characters I did like seemed to get a fraction of page time and felt very one-dimensional. Which is shocking because how do you have a 600-page book where every character has a lengthy backstory, yet everyone is shoved into a tiny one-dimensional box? I’ll answer that – you have a plot that is so complicated with a convoluted non-linear timeline that bounces around so wildly that the reader is left thoroughly confused. There were multiple times that I was so confused that I just gave up trying to understand and pushed through, hoping that it would all come together at some point. Oh, and have I mentioned yet that a bulk of the plot relies on miscommunications between the characters? Talk about EXHAUSTING.

This book is meta-fiction, where the main narrator (Joël – not to be confused with the main character, Macaire) is a fictionalized version of the author. I have never read a book like this before, so this made the first several pages very confusing, as well as the ending. It is an interesting concept, and one I think I could try again, but only if the main narrator (the writer) wasn’t so full of himself! It made the whole premise of the book feel icky, like Joël (the author) was using this to somehow prop himself up as a genius writer who was so smart to have come up with the concept of this book. I would pull a quote here, but to be honest, I don’t have the energy to flip through 600 pages to find one. However, trust me when I say that multiple times the character Joël refers to himself as attractive, smart, etc. (I seem to recall the last book I read by a man doing the same thing…)

So why did I rate it two stars? Like I said, I like the premise. It was an interesting story. Was it a quick story? No. Is it a thriller like advertised? Also no. But it was unique, so I have to give the author some credit there. I also did enjoy the star-crossed lovers sub-plot, and really, that was the only thing that kept me turning the pages. I also give it a few points because I did not see the ending coming. The reveal of the mastermind was satisfying, even though it was supremely unrealistic. Lastly, it does jump between POVs quite a bit, which kept it from being a complete bore.

TL;DR:  Don’t waste your time, it’s just not worth it! Unless you want to struggle, then in that case, you do you. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.