Another incredible french noir novel penned by Pierre Lemaitre. Chilling and thrilling and keeps the reader guessing throughout.

Very well written and indeed translated but I didn't think the mystery was as gripping as others I have read by the author. A solid 3 stars.

I was thrilled to see Pierre Lemaitre had written another standalone novel having vowed to read all of his back catalogue after being wowed by Blood Wedding, needless to say, that hasn’t come to fruition... yet, although all his books are on the wishlist after being even more wowed by Three Days and a Life.

The feel of this book is very different to Blood Wedding, for starters the main protagonist is a child, just twelve years old, and we go back to 1999 to discover the events that led up to the day Antoine accidentally kills his six-year-old neighbour, Rémi. A shocking event, in itself, made no less so by the brutal description of Rémi ’s pet dog which precedes the cold days just before Christmas. The scene is set beautifully in the small town of Beauval in France where Antoine lives with his mother. His father decamped to Germany and consequently he has a distant relationship with him. The crux of the story is that Antoine hides Rémi’s body and returns home to his loving mother and hides as much as possible from reality. He has a child’s view of the world, realistically depicted, and alternately buries his head in the sand and suffers the awful anxiety about his crime being discovered.

Pierre Lemaitre absolutely nails the small town view of the wider world. The people of Beauval collectively hope that Rémi was taken by someone out-of-town, it being far too awful to think that the act was one of their own. Although the pace is slower than some crime thrillers, the tension felt is built very quickly to fever-pitch with this reader see-sawing in hoping that poor Rémi’s mother would find out the truth about what happened and equally hoping that Antoine’s mother would be spared the self-same truth, this emotional push and pull is very hard to pull off, particularly when we have a child who is not displaying much in the way of guilt, although his the fear of discovery is acute.

After following the inhabitants of Beauval through the days following the death of Rémi we next meet Antoine twelve years later and see how the man views that day in hindsight. An interesting concept and one that again the author nailed. Where some of Antoine’s emotions and actions mirrored those he had aged just twelve, the author hadn’t just given the same voice and adult body we see something more of Antoine, not all of it particularly nice. In fact, I felt less sympathetic to him in this part than I had the younger version.

Three Days and a Life ends with a twist that has played on a loop inside my mind since I finished the book. I’m not one to usually draw on this aspect of a book in my review but I have this time because the twist doesn’t change anything read before but adds a whole other layer that made me want to pick the book straight up and start at the beginning again.

If you fancy some French Noir I offer up a fulsome recommendation for Three Days and a Life. Even more so because this book has been exceptionally well translated by Frank Wynne, so much so that I forgot at times that this wasn’t originally written in English allowing the nuance of the tale coming across as expertly as I’m sure it was in its native language.

I'd like to thank the publishers Quercus who allowed me to read Three Days and a Life which was published on 7 November 2017. This review is my unbiased thanks to them, Pierre Lemaitre for the fantastic storytelling and Frank Wynne who brilliantly translated this book into English.

I really enjoyed Pierre Lemaitre’s previous thriller, Blood Wedding when I read it last year. So when I saw he had a new novel out, I couldn’t wait to read it! Part of me wondered whether Blood Wedding was a one off with its twisted tale so I was intrigued to see what Three Days and A Life had to offer.

I don’t want to talk too much about the plot as the whole story hinges on an event at the beginning which isn’t covered in the synopsis….

As with Blood Wedding, it’s a twisted tale but don’t expect anything fast paced. This French standalone is definitely a slow burner packed with intrigue. Antoine, our protagonist, is constantly looking over his shoulder praying he won’t be found out. The question that kept my attention was will he?!

I do like this French writer’s style of writing; now I really want to read his Verhoeven trilogy which Monsieur LeMaitre won two separate Crime Writers’ Association International Daggers for!

Many thanks to Quercus Books, MacLehose Press and Netgalley for my copy of this French thriller!

When I normally write-up a review, I like to start with my version of a synopsis, but only for the beginning of the story. But after reading this book and then re-reading the summery prior to writing the review, I realised how much detail it already included, but it doesn’t take away from the story. It is a story about the mental journey from 1999 to 2015.

This book is a noir fiction. it focuses on Antoine Coutin from the small French town of Beauval, and the way he deals with the accidental killing of a younger boy. It is a very well laid out story from the outset. The reader is introduced to the setting and the characters. It discusses their relationships and dynamics within their various groups. The first half of the book deals with 1999, the lead up to the death, the death itself and the thoughts of Antoine as he deals with what he has done. His state of mind, what his first responses are, the way he thinks through the consequences and how thinks people look at him now. From then a leap forward to the year 2011, now older, Antoine’s state of mind as he has moved on, but how he still deals with occasional troubled thoughts and dreams. Then another jump to 2015 to tell of where Antoine is and how he is still dealing with the event. The setting has been very well described, the author has managed to build a very convincing visual image of the town, it’s surroundings and also the time of year. As each of these time jumps occur, the author has included a brief explanation of events as the story then continues.

I found this very different to a previous book by Lemaitre and was very surprised by the contrast in styles. This is well laid out as it explains the way the main protagonist thinks. It comes across as quite a subtle story, it is one that just gradually consumed me, the way that Lemaitre has very cleverly explored the way a 12-year-old may see the world, his thoughts, actions and consequences was very addictive reading. I read this in one sitting, almost a novella sized book. The story leads the reader and by the end was absorbed, but when the end arrives there is a sudden twist, that completely blindsided me. Finishing this on a high.

I would recommend this to readers of noir fiction, of psychological fiction, as well as readers of general fiction, murder and mystery genres.

5 shiny stars for this French noir crime novel.

Blood Wedding was my favourite read of 2016 and I was therefore chomping at the bit to read this one too. I certainly wasn't disappointed.

A simple storyline but one which is original and well crafted. In line with previous novels of Lemaitre's that I've read, this novel centres around a key protagonist Antoine, who despite having accidentally commited a crime, you can't help but love. The novel is so well written that you can't help but feel the guilt and anguish that Antoine is feeling. At one stage, I was almost ready to admit to the crime myself such was the power of the writing.

A well paced, suspensful and addictive read that will keep you hooked until the very end.

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC, for which I have given a voluntary and unbiased review.

A different slant on a murder theme albeit an accidental death. This took place in a small french village where there is really nowhere to hide. 12 year old Antoine accidentally killed a little boy and the covered up the crime. the story is how this affected him living through the village grief and anger. Will the nature of parochial village add to the consequences. Will he survive or will he crumble under pressure internally or externally brought throughout his life all in an effort to keep his secret. I recommend this book and it is the first i have read by this author but will go on to read more.

This is a psychoanalytic French Noir study of 12 year old Antoine Courtin who in 1999 commits an accidental act that results in the death of the 6 year old Remi Desmedt, who idolised Antoine. Set in the small town of Beauval, where everyone knows everyone, this is a dark literary novel that explores crime and punishment with regard to Antoine. It all begins with Ulysses, a dog that is hit by a car, and is then shot to put it out of its misery. Banned from being with friends obsessed with games on playstations, a solitary Antoine finds comfort and companionship with Ulysses. He is desperately upset and distressed in the woods, where he had been secretly constructing a tree house when Remi's death occurs. His vivid imagination supplies him with fearsome consequent scenarios that would befall him as a child murderer and how it would affect his mother, this drives his decision to hide the body in the woods.

Lemaitre paints a picture of a small community, seething with petty jealousies and resentments, that initially comes to organise searches for the missing Remi. The police are called in, and question a highly stressed boy slowly coming apart as he thinks of running away. Rumours and suspicions abound, fuelled by arrests of a teacher and Monsieur Kowalski, aka Frankenstein, a butcher for whom Madame Courtin works. His mother views Kowalski with contempt, so Antoine feels no remorse for what the butcher has to go through. His concern is for himself as he imagines himself being hauled in for the murder as the community are in the process of searching the woods. Antoine escapes detection as devastating storms and floods splinter peoples lives apart, and the business of surviving and rebuilding becomes the overriding priority and the search for Remi disintegrates. Antoine's life moves on but he can never forget. He becomes a medic and is engaged to Laura when at his mother's insistence he returns to Beauval for a party. A careless drunken sexual act with someone from the past has unexpected repercussions for Antoine as Remi's body is discovered.

Lemaitre displays a real talent in being able to enter the mind of a 12 year old boy and capture the tumultuous feelings, stresses and emotions in a way that feels so desperately authentic. All this is achieved amidst the background of Beauval, riddled with a morass of human frailties and personal relationships with a long history, so some seek vengeance and judgement at the most inappropriate times, displaying their inhumanity in public. All this history shapes the community response to missing Remi and his family, and their commitment to finding him. This is a story of twists, suspense and dark thrills. It takes as its starting point a 12 year old boy who finds himself committing an act he never meant, and then follows through on its implications, many unexpected, and how they define Antoine's entire life. It raises issues of morality and asks whether what happens to Antoine is punishment enough? Is it too much? What would have happened if Antoine had been honest? If you are looking for something different in the field of psychological crime fiction, this would be an excellent novel to read. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Pierre Lemaaitre, and Maclehose Press Quercus in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

I was intrigued by the title of this novel and was not disappointed. This story begins over Christmas holiday in 1999 in the small French town of Beauval. You will quickly become a part of the village life and understand the problems and personalities of the villagers. Twelve year old Antoine Courtin is isolated this holiday as one of his regular playmates has a new Playstation and Antoine's mother won't let him join the usual crowd as they learn to play electronic games. But he still has his neighbor and young friend, six year old Remi Desmedt, who will follow him anywhere.

Antoine makes a couple of very bad decisions and we watch him struggle with the repercussions for years. There are interesting twists and turns, and this is a very fast read. I very much enjoyed this novel.

Pierre Lemaitre, Three Days and a Life, tr. Frank Wynne
ISBN-13: 978-0857056627

Hard to read for a variety of reasons, Lemaitre’s tough, ironic stories require of the reader girded loins and an ability to deal with a variety of mischance, bad luck (not quite the same thing), descriptions of horrible violence, and breath-stopping twists. I started to read this a first time and had to put it down and go for a walk. You have been warned.
It is 1999, and twelve-year-old Antoine is building a tree house in deep woods, followed by Remi, an adoring six-year-old who lives quite close to him in a quiet village. The first violent act comes from Remi’s father shooting the family’s old dog to put it out of its misery (and his own). The second is an accident, the repercussions of which will shadow Antoine for years to come, spoiling his days, his ability to love, his career as a doctor, his relations with his mother, with the woman he thought would share his life, the doctor who cares for him, and a nymphomaniac who blights his present and future. Is that enough? I ask because there’s more, above all what has become of his precious watch?
This is not a crime novel in the usual sense, more Raskolnikov meets petty-bourgeois France, therefore focussed on one character, with almost everything seen from his point of view. That Lemaitre manages to keep the plot going, the suspense high, and the reader’s views of his unfortunate protagonist somehow sympathetic, is a tour de force of what good writing can do with good plotting. Frank Wynne's excellent translation never calls attention to itself. So tightly designed is this book that I have to stop here, because any nod or wink from me would do damage to the experience of reading this circumscribed and heart-breaking world.

Christmas week, 1999, and Antoine hasn't got the best of situations. Some of his friends have parted company with him because of the new-fangled Playstation, which his mother refuses to let him waste his time on. He's built a treehouse all by himself, and decided it was solely to woo the girl next door that he loves, but she's rejected it. And his best company, the dog from the other house next door, was injured in a hit and run, and shot to be put out of its misery. In the process of angrily demolishing the treehouse, he's visited by his very friendly and adorable neighbour, the dog's six-year-old owner, and Antoine's swung some of the wood at him – and killed him with one fell and very foul sweep. As the title suggests, there will be a very tense few days and nights while the guilt amasses with the lad – and/or a lifetime of living on a knife-edge, where any false move could lead to him being found out…

This is a really intriguing thriller, and a clever one, however you may raise an eyebrow at certain points. I do feel as if I have to plead your trust over this at times, for I had issues in the reading of this, but still found it really worth the effort come the end. The first half has a little bit of the longueur about it, and I did wonder if enough was happening. But the actual narrative, that had always been quite blatant in its use of dream or fantasy sequences, soon managed to play with us just as much as it was with Antoine, in making us question and doubt things. What is the true consequence of his childish suicide attempt? What life could he be in stall for with the guilt thrumming at his mind all the time? And what are we to make of the thing that's been blatantly mentioned then ignored (as there'll be marks deducted if it doesn't eventually become relevant)?

The second half features a jolting change, inasmuch as we leave the thriller element for a different strand to the story, which is really well evoked, and then we go into – well, that would be telling. Towards the end we find that Antoine has been allowed to grow into quite the misogynist – but he's still just about likeable enough for you to care about his situation. After all, this is a kid who doesn't seem to know the meaning of manslaughter (which I'll admit might not be a distinction allowed in France) and never strictly intended killing anyone. It's a very close look at his mindset – you'll notice instantly how the second chapter drops into present tense for added immediacy – but it's not a book that forgets about the consequence of the crime, as the grieving family comes across most vividly.

You could also say the whole milieu of the village is here – the crabby mayor, who's also the town's biggest employer but is most keen on wielding the P45 and sacking all his staff in quiet moments at the factory, and on down. There are phrases such as A rumor (sic) is a delicate sauce, either it takes or it doesn't – there is the feel of a real village community at play here, complete with housewives' sayings, even if a heck of a lot is played out in the mindset of Antoine. Further to that, there are at least half a dozen instances of the narrator mentioning something, and someone Antoine's conversing with responding to that, in a stylish stylistic quirk that economises as well as gives us further closeness to the character, as he seems to be thinking things but is really saying them out loud.

I might be defining that in a very poor way, and in some sense that's relevant to the whole book – I did, to repeat, find a niggle here and there that was a little elusive in pinning down. But dammit, by the end I've only spent four hours in the company of Antoine but I'm really invested in his lot, and the end – without giving anything away, trust me – was touch and go like so much that came before. I could raise an eyebrow at it, but at the same time it's going to stick in my mind. Actually, I can feel the after-effects of this quick read lasting longer than many a comparable novel, so while it's not perfect it really has to be recommended.

Antoine is 12 years old , his parents divorced and he lives with his mother in Beauval, a small backwater town surrounded by forests.

It's a place where nothing much happens, but in 1999 shocking events happen. A young child vanishes without trace, the adults in the town can't explain this disappearance and are totally shocked, but for Antoine it all starts with the violent death of his neighbours dog. Just from that brutal act his fate and the fate of his neighbours' six year old Son Remi are bound forever.

In the years to come after Remi's disappearance Antoine wrestles with his actions and the role he played. An inescapable net begins to tighten and to break free from the suffocating Beauval becomes an obsession. How far does he have to run until his past catches up with him?

This is a great book, really couldn't put it down, didn't want to give too much of he story away to spoil your reading. Not read any by this author before but after this book I will be putting the name on my list of good reads.

Being a confirmed admirer of Pierre Lemaitre’s books to date, I rather enjoyed the subtle shift of style and location that Three Days And A Life reveals. Turning his attention away from the big city to the rural backwater of Beauval, Lemaitre constructs a slower and more introspective novel than we have come to expect from him, but equally produces a more heightened, and psychologically deft portrayal of human frailty and morality…

Time after time, I become disappointed, and as you know more than a little incensed, by the unnatural narrative voice given to young protagonists. Consequently I avoid reading many books that have a pre-sixteen narrator or central character. With Antoine, the dislikeable little person that he is, Lemaitre captures beautifully his perception of the world, and his reactions to the consequences of his severe misdemeanour. Antoine is realistically imbued with a child’s thought processes, as to how to conceal and avoid punishment of his crime, and I enjoyed the authenticity of his under-developed sense of morality, which he seems to carry quite happily into his adult years too. I thought the portrayal of his mother was also excellent, and how Antoine’s childish perception of her as just his mother actually spoke volumes to the reader about her true emotional state. Equally, I loved the depiction of parochial small town jealousies, and ill-feeling, that reminded me of the observational prowess, and skewed morality that is so familiar in the works of the late Pascal Garnier. Lemaitre reveals a boiling pot of tension and envy that perfectly fits with the feel of a small community under pressure, and the distrust of their neighbours.

The latter stages of the book are hewed from Antoine’s re-visitation of childhood events from an adult perspective, and Lemaitre’s control of his narrative once again comes to the fore. With Antoine being as utterly self-absorbed as he was as a child, but perhaps with a greater perception of the fall out for others from his actions, and indeed, closer to home, there is another twist in store for the reader, and there was me beginning to worry that the king of the psychological twist would disappoint! Once again, a precise and engaging translation from Frank Wynne allows us to fully appreciate this tawdry and morally ambiguous tale of childhood mistakes, and Lemaitre has again demonstrated his flexibility and natural flair as a storyteller. Three Days And A Life is entertaining, thought-provoking, and as always highly recommended.

An emotional rollercoaster with a real sense of menace. Antoine's actions are fascinating as we gain insight into how a 12 year old sees the world and how the neighbours will react if they discover the truth. Loved this short tale of small town life, the speed at which rumours spread and how quickly people's behaviour changes. I didn't feel any sympathy for Antoine by the end of the story. Very well written. Love this author!