This novel felt like it was lacking a firm path. Maybe it’s something lost in translation but I found myself bored and hoping for more explanation or action.

Unfortunately a DNF for me. I'm not intrigued by the characters or the plot and it's feeling like a chore to get through. Maybe someday I'd pick it up again, but it's just not for me right now.

I was so excited to get an arc of this one as I had heard nothing but good things, unfortunately the dialogue for me was where it lost me. It just wasn’t believable that people would talk like that. The twists and turns were good enough but unfortunately this book left many things to be desired.

A fun twist on a who done it novel. If you like travel and a good unsolved murder this one is for you. I found the pace slow and maybe the translation caused me to not be fully engaged with this one but I did enjoy it none the less.

I was super excited to read this book- the synopsis sounds great and I feel like the bones of a great book are there. However, something just got lost in translation. I was expecting a murder mystery along the lines of Agatha Christie but instead I found myself reading a convoluted corporate conspiracy involving characters whose lives are just as complex. All in all, I was just confused and given it is close to 600 pages, I decided to DNF at 20%. I might attempt to read it again in the future because I really was looking forward to it so much (not to mention that cover is so pretty!) and if I do, I will be sure to update here.

A big thanks to Harper Collins Canada and NetGalley for giving me an arc. All opinions are my own.

The Enigma of Room 622 held such promise for a fantastic read, and instead fell very flat for me. Firstly, this book was far too long, at 498 pages, it probably could have been reduced by a good hundred or more pages and still told as equal a story. There were timelines within timelines, which caused for some confusion, especially for myself as I was reading on a device that didn't allow me to flip back and check things easily. At one point I stormed out of the room I was reading in and declared to no one in particular that all the characters deserved each other. I never really felt like I was rooting for anyone, maybe that was the problem. I wasn't sure who was good, or if anyone in fact was. I saw one of the major twists coming a long way off, though I did not see it to the extent that it ended up going, which was a nice surprise. I really, really disliked the way the book ended. I can't say anything, because I am not about the spoilers, but it ended with a pet peeve of mine.
I will say that Joel knows how to weave a complex and drawn-out tale. One I am sure that many out there will enjoy. I just felt like this was not the one for me.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins Canada for the e-arc of this book and the opportunity to read it. All thoughts are my own.

This book was crazy and SO GOOD! Dicker kept me so engaged from page 1 and the anticipation was so exciting! So original! So unpredictable! Plus amazing characters! It was complicated and complex but easy enough to follow. I also loved his writing style.

The Enigma of Room 622 hooked me from its description. It reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel, or a Sherlock Holmes mystery, and I couldn't put it down. Joel Dicker is such a talented author and really left me hanging off of every word. I read most of this book on the edge of my seat, and the beautifully described landscape of the Swiss Alps helped me transport myself into the story with even more ease. Whenever I read this type of book, I always try to figure out what's going to happen before I get to the end, but Dicker kept me guessing until the very last page.

A joy to read—it's the type of book I would re-read just to see if I could pick up clues on the second go-around that I missed on the first.

Where to begin? The Enigma of Room 622 is a book within a book and so incredibly detailed. Dicker stumbles across a murder that occurred in a hotel in the mountains of Verbier, Switzerland. What follows is a time jumping thriller that follows the lives of Macaire Ebezner, Anatasia Ebezner, and Lev Levovitch as it connects to figuring out who has committed the murder. There was such detail in this book that it was clear that Dicker thought of everything. While it was a lengthy read, I found myself continuing to tell myself "just one more chapter" as I was so wrapped up in the story and the characters.

I really enjoyed “The Enigma of Room 622”, a novel by Joël Dicker, until the very end (I really do mean the very very end, the last two pages or so). It is an homage to intricate puzzle-box mysteries, to flashbacks, to mysterious happenings in old European hotels. Yes, some of the characters and situations are ridiculous, but that’s part of what makes this a fun journey.

The story starts out with our main character, a prominent writer named Joël Dicker (how meta), getting away to a grand hotel in the Alps to mourn the passing of his mentor, Bernard de Fallois, as well as to recover from his recent romantic failure. As he wallows in his despair, he notices a strange fact: there is no room 622 at the Hôtel de Verbier. Goaded on by one of his fellow hotel guests named Scarlett, Joël begins to unravel the mystery behind the missing room 622: an infamous murder that took place there.

We jump back in time to start to piece together the story behind the murder. This being Switzerland, the story involves intrigue at a large private bank. With the death of his father, Macaire Ebezner is set to take over the bank… until it looks like the board might go with the upstart Lev Levovitch. Let the games begin.

So what do we have here? Definitely not a typical corporate thriller. There are love triangles, backstabbing coworkers and friends, blackmailers, false identities, hidden secrets (so many secrets), Russian aristocrats (maybe), counterintelligence spies – all cumulating in the bank’s annual celebration at the Hôtel de Verbier, and the murder in Room 622.

As Joël and Scarlett play at Sherlock and Watson, we get flashbacks, stories about Bernard, stories about Joël. We see the plots unfolding and leading to that fateful night. We don’t learn who was murdered until the last part of the book, which builds the suspense even more. And eventually the twists and turns lead us to an unexpected conclusion.

This is an enjoyable book. Yes, it requires some suspension of disbelief, but when the voyage is so much fun you just shake your head and keep going.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from HarperVia via NetGalley. Thank you!

I did not finish this book. I found it extremely long winded with entirely too much detail about certain situations that I don’t think were relevant to the main plot. It took me three weeks to get to 60% and I am usually a book every four days type of reader. The only reason I made it to 60% is that I wanted to find out who was killed in room 622. I ended up just skipping to the end to figure it out. This book could have done with a lot more editing to shorten up some of the winding and convoluted backstory and side story.

A locked room murder mystery at a resort in the mountains! Everything about this book was thrilling. I love the characters, the atmosphere, and truly felt I could get lost in the story along with everyone else.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This started out really strong — the framing device is really fun, and the jumps around in time are an interesting way to experience the story. But the twisty plot was a bit too twisty for me. It's tough to get a grip on the characters, and I would have liked the setting to be more vividly rendered. Thanks for the opportunity to read this one!

I found the premise of this novel to be intriguing. A mystery author stumbles on a murder that happened in the hotel he’s staying in, and he begins to investigate and try to solve it. It is a very complicated plot with lots of characters, certainly not all who they appear to be. It’s a long book and it took me awhile, but I did enjoy it.

A story about succession. A banking family with impeccable pedigree. A lost love. A history of a room that doesn’t exist. It’s delicious, thoughtful look at how families survived through the war. A mother who understands the importance of appearances. She goes to extremes to ensure her daughters don’t share her fate financially. She feels that should be enough. Yet one daughter is just as determined to have life her way.

Such a quirky mystery, that I couldn’t help but fall in love with! The author did an incredible job carrying us along and painting such authentic detail of each and every character. I enjoyed following Macaire’s journey into becoming president, watching the sacrifices he was willing to make and made to achieve his goal. My only complaint was that it seemed a bit long.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Gripping and thoroughly entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where mysteries and thrillers are popular.

Every once and awhile I think to myself, “Let’s spread our book reading wings a little bit, Kaley, and try something a little different.” Sometimes it works and I find a book I love. And sometimes…well…sometimes it leads me to hate reading a mystery that seemed like it should be a good fit for me and is just really, really not. That happened with The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker. I don’t even really know what I read, to be honest.

The book hit my radar at a HarperCollins Canada influencer event. I thought it sounded a little different and like a mystery I could really sink my teeth into. What I ended up getting was a convoluted mystery that the author inserted himself into. I think? Or maybe he was just writing the mystery and turning it into a novel? Or maybe he just made the whole thing up? Smarter readers than I may have it all figured out, but I still don’t know what was real and what was a novel within the novel. And that kind of drove me bananas.

I also didn’t like how the story was written. I don’t know if it was because it was a translation (from French and translated by Robert Bononno) but it felt so choppy and I couldn’t find a good rhythm. And it wasn’t just how the sentences were constructed that I had an issue with. I just didn’t find that the flow of it made any sense whatsoever. It jumped around in time and I couldn’t keep track of much of anything. Then there were a million reveals at the end of the book so I didn’t even get a satisfying conclusion.

I didn’t particularly care about the characters either. I doubt I was supposed to like them but I’m a reader who likes to at least find the characters intriguing even if I don’t particular like them. I don’t think I would have cared if any of them had gone to jail for the murder. As it is, I’ve totally forgotten who committed the crime.

No, The Enigma of Room 622 was not a winner for me. I’m sure there’s an audience for Joël Dicker’s novel but I, unfortunately, was not it.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

The Enigma in Room 622 was definitely a breath of fresh air if you are tired of the same formulaic murder mystery. It bounced around between characters as well as flashed back to the days before the murder and after the murder. It really made me think which I enjoyed, however it was also easy to get confused if you let your mind wander. I would definitely recommend and will be looking for other books by this author.

Wow. This book is not like anything I’ve read before. So many threads – no telling where they’ll lead. Never where you think, for sure. It’s nearly 600 pages, but the payoff is worth it.

It’s got a little bit of everything. Story inside a story. Unrequited love. Backstabbing businessmen in a struggle for power and money. Isolated closed-circle whodunnit. A cold case to unravel.

Nobody is who they seem to be. Who is Scarlett? Who is Sinior Tarnogol? The Enigma of Room 622 will keep you guessing.

It seems oddly anachronistic at times. I kept double-checking dates. Olga and her daughters Irina and Anastasia in particular. They lived by the philosophy that marrying well was a woman’s only option.

The author is Swiss, and the book was originally written in French. The translation to English is flawless, but it still has the undefinable feel of a translated novel.

I received this Advanced Reader Copy of The Enigma of Room 622 from NetGalley and HarperVia in exchange for an honest review.