I read The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair when it came out, many, many years ago and I absolutely loved it. I thought it was well written and I was shocked by the ending. It’s honestly still a book I think about many years later. I was very excited to receive a copy of this author’s latest book. However, The Enigma of Room 622 just wasn’t for me. I was really intrigued at the beginning and couldn’t wait to see where the story was going to go but it just seemed so long and never really got anywhere for me. The jumping between stories was also very jarring. It didn’t seem very cohesive and made it extremely hard to follow along. The characters were also very pretentious and unlikeable, but still I pursued because I loved The Harry Quebert Affair so much. 600 pages later and I finished the book but am still left confused. It may have to do with translation issues, but I wish this book would have been shorter and more to the point. All that said, I would still read another book by this author in the hopes of a more redeeming novel.

Unfortunately this story didn't end up being super engaging for me. While I was intrigued by the initial framing of the story of a writer trying to solve a mystery in a hotel, the other parts of the narrative made me lose interest. I also found the writing style difficult to follow.

This book was such a disappointment. I don’t know if it was an issue with the translation, but I just found it awkward and clumsy.

The Engimma of Room 622
⭐️⭐️
Genre:
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 9/15/22
Author: Joel Dicker
Publisher: HarperVia
Goodreads Rating: 3.91

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and HarperVia and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: One night in December, a corpse is found in Room 622 of the Hotel Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. A police investigation begins without definite end, and public interest wanes with the passage of time. Years later, the writer Joel Dicker finds himself investigating the crime. He'll need a Watson, of course: in this case, that would be Scarlett, the beautiful guest and aspiring novelist from the next room, who joins in the search. Meanwhile, this is occurring in the wake of some political uneasiness. A matryoshka doll of a mystery built with the precision of a Swiss watch.

My Thoughts: I really wanted to love this book after I saw a few reviews on Instagram, unfortunately, if fell a little flat for me. I cannot remember the last time that I rated something only 2 stars. This novel just did not work for me. I was initially very confused by this writing. I thought it was a book in a book, on the premise of a thriller/mystery. This was more of corporation conspiracy, which I am not a big fan of. The mystery/thriller was a very small part of the over 500 page novel. I could not make heads or tails of the characters. When the POV changed, it was inconsistent and without warning. Some of the convulsion may be due to the translation into English, which would not be on the fault of the author.

I want to start off saying that I really enjoyed my time with this book. In spite of all of the things I’ll list below that may be perceived as negatives. The combination of all of these wacky elements somehow made for a fun book. But it was WAY too long.

This felt like a soap opera, noir, and scooby doo all mixed into one. The characters were all silly and self-absorbed (besides Joel which is the author himself being written into the story) and the plot is convoluted and EXTREMELY unbelievable. There is just absolutely no way these events could be believed to have happened in real life between successful, intelligent adults. The timeline jumps around continuously between years and locations and POVs, which did get confusing.

This also is not a locked room mystery/isolated closed circle mystery. While the murder did take place at the hotel, this was in a past timeline and we are not confined to the hotel.

I feel like I’m going to look back on this reading experience fondly as something unique and silly but that kept me entertained through most of the 750+ pages.

I received an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I'd like to thank NetGalley and HarperVia for the digital copy of the Advanced Readers Copy of The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker in exchange for my honest review. I was excited to be selected to review this book ahead of its release in the United States.

Let me begin by saying I had high hopes for Joël Dicker's The Enigma of Room 622, but I found it to be a bit too convoluted and long for my taste. It could have easily been shorter and still gotten the same point across. There were times when the transitions between past and present felt a little off, and my interest in the storyline would wane. Don't get me wrong though, I did enjoy the story quite a bit.

This novel seemed to be somewhat semi-autobiographical with the author using his recently deceased publisher in the story, and the main character is an author having trouble coming up with a storyline after the death of the publisher. I'd be interested to see if anyone else felt the same way.

I also have to mention that there were quite a few words that I had to look up in a dictionary as I had never heard of those words used in common language, or for that matter, in any other books I've read. These words included fecundity, anodyne, bis, and attenuating. I'm all for using synonyms for words, but I don't particularly like it when a word that isn't commonly spoken is utilized when a different, more common word would have sufficed.

All in all, I enjoyed The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker and didn't see the end coming. I gave this book three out of five stars and will definitely read some of the author's other works.

“The Enigma of Room 622” by Joel Dicker - BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤/5

A dead body is found in Room 622 at a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps, Hotel Verbier. A few days prior, Macaire Ebezner is on cloud 9 thinking he is being named President of his family’s bank … but suddenly the title is going to someone else outside of the blood line 😬. This madness must be stopped immediately! But how???

Years later, author Joel dicker arrives at the hotel and becomes CONSUMED with the mystery of Room 622. He joins forces with another hotel guest named Scarlett, whose curiosity is just as piqued about what REALLY happened in Room 622. The murder was never solved and they are adamant to solve it for themselves and perhaps be the topic for Joel’s next best selling book.

So, I LIKED this mystery book but I do have a couple qualms about it:
-Confusing at times (hard to keep track of dual time lines and characters)
-Too drawn out (much longer than it needed to be; 600 pages was far too long)

Thank you @harpercollinsca and @netgalley for an advanced digital readers copy of this book in exchange for my honest review ⭐️

Frist and foremost, I loved this book. Switzerland. Luxury Hotel. Murder. For fans of mysteries and suspense, The Enigma of Room 622 is what dreams are made of.

This book is the classic definition of a page turner, as I could not read it fast enough to learn what happens next. With twists and turns to the very end, the novel kept my imagination racing.

Overall, this novel should be the blueprint of how to write a mystery novel: the scenery, the setup, the characters, the clues, the crime, the reveal... the real reveal.

This was my first book by Dicker, but it definitely won't be my last.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Joël Dicker for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Enigma of Room 622 coming out September 13, 2022. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Joël is Switzerland’s most renown novelist. He plans a getaway to the Hôtel de Verbier, which is a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. He had a recent breakup and is grieving his longtime publisher’s death. Joël hopes to rest. However, his plans quickly change. It begins with a seemingly odd detail: at the Verbier, there is no room 622. 

Soon after Joël and another guest Scarlett uncover a cold case that transpired in the hotel's room 622. It all has to do with the succession of Switzerland’s largest private bank, a mysterious counterintelligence operation called P-30, and sabotage of hotel hospitality.

First of all the murder occurs on my birthday and I love that, haha! I wasn’t aware this book was a translation into English, but I found the story fascinating! I enjoy reading translated stories for the different perspective. I think it was well-written and captivating. I felt transported into this world that I have little experience with. The timeline does jump around quite a bit, so I definitely had to pay attention to what was going on. The book was on the long side. The parts about picking the new bank president did go a little slowly for me. I understand there are politics that go into choosing a successor and that people tend to get greedy and want to be the next president. So it did play a part in the murder, but the process for choosing the successor took a little long. I was more interested in Joël and Scarlett solving the mystery of Room 622. Anastasia and Lev were also really interesting, fleshed out characters to me. I think it could’ve been a little tighter story-wise. Some of it ended up feeling slightly repetitive and I wanted them to find out the killer faster. I did enjoy the twists though.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries set in luxurious hotels around the world.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unfortunately, The Enigma of Room622 ended up in my "did not finish" pile. From the description, I was expecting a face-paced, traditional mystery novel. At first, it seemed the The Enigma was going to deliver.
I enjoyed the European locale, the backstory of the main character (an author)and the mysterious hints about a secret in the hotel's past. However, the conversations were stilted and the story veered off into international business intrigue and espionage. That was where I lost interest. I am a little sorry I didn't push through... I feel like maybe there was a pay off in there. I would recommend to readers looking for rhose elements, but it just didn't capture my interest.
I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for my opinion.

This book had a lot going on. Many characters, and side stories as well as a story within a story.
It was too much for me, but many will love it.

Hmmm. The Enigma of Room 622 was definitely an enigma for me. Over 600 pages leading to nowhere. I can’t believe this mess was written by the same person who wrote the excellent Harry Quebert book. This book was definitely not worth eleven hours of my time—or of yours. 1 star.

Thanks to Harper Via and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

This was ok. I felt like it was far too long and the author was trying to be clever and instead made things too complicated and it fell flat. The random jumps in time made it hard to follow.

With everything from adultery to espionage to murder plots this book is a fantastic fast moving multiple point of view story that keeps you on your toes.

The formatting of a story within a story within a story I love, it keeps it interesting and shows you all the moving pieces while giving you time to try and put the puzzle together.

This is a hefty book at almost 600 pages but it's worth the time investment to either read or listen to it. The characters and world building are so full and immersive that as you get drawn into the story you don't even notice the time flying by.

Overall I'm glad I read this one, my brain feels like it's going in circles and I love that feeling of trying to move all the pieces into the perfect position in your mind.

Someone was murdered in Room 622 at the Hotel Verbier; initially we don’t know who. The crime occurred during a gala weekend sponsored by a bank in Geneva. The murder remains unsolved. A few years later, a well known author visiting the hotel and a woman he meets there embark on finding out just what happened and soon the reader is immersed in the worlds of Swiss banking, international intrigue, and entangled romantic and familial relationships.

I selected this book because of the setting; I love Switzerland. I really liked the first half, but soon I thought the plot was all over the place. The story devolved almost into a farce.

Acknowledging that this is a translation, the writing was good. There were many twists, some a bit absurd. The narration skips around in time filling in background on the various story lines. I felt that some of those lines and some of the repetition could have been edited out to make it more tightly plotted and livelier paced.

I did like the reveal at the ending; not the revelation of the killer, but the final ending. That increased the appreciation of the book for me.

This one was a little too pleased with itself for me. The narrator sounded (rightly or wrongly) like a smug writer who is too proud of his own writing. Something about it rubbed me the wrong way.

Joel Dicker needs a break. A young but successful writer, Joel has lost his publisher and friend, alienated his girlfriend, and his life is in a bit of a shambles. What better to relieve stress than a weekend in a mountain resort? But the first thing he finds is an attractive neighbor and a titillating mystery.

There were times I loved the book, times I kind of hated it, times I found it compelling, times I found it a bit dull. Yes, it was that long. As much as I love mysteries and appreciate thrillers, there are times where it's all too much. This book pushed that envelope several times. Even 1/4 of the way through it there were twists that hinted at an ending long before I was ready. These twists piled up, one on top of the other, until they toppled over themselves. But even though I may have rolled my eyes a time or two, I have to say I loved the ultimate twist at the very end.

Though I maybe didn't love this book, it had a lot going for it and I did find myself getting a bit lost in it (in a good way, because in spite of all the jumps in timeline I was able to keep track of things for the most part which is saying a lot for me). If you're into thrillers with a business slant you might enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Fantastic! I just loved the layers in this story. Not only do you not know whodunnit, but you don't even know who was murdered! The back and forth in time was easy to follow, even when back in time, he took you back further. Excellent book. I will recommend it frequently.

The Enigma of Room 622 is a story within a story. After having just broken up with his girlfriend, the main character, Joel heads to the Hotel Verbier in the Swiss Alps. There he meets Scarlett and together they try to solve the mystery of room 622. The Hotel Verbier has no room 622. Just 621, 621B, and 623. As Scarlett and Joel work together to find out who committed murder in room 622, we learn the story of Macaire, Anastasia, and Lev Levovitch.

I really enjoyed the premise of this story. I would get so involved in one part of the story that by the time the scenes switched from past to present or present to past, I had completely forgotten a second story was happening.

The characters evoked a lot of emotion from me. I found myself disgusted by Macaire and then pitying him. I was upset with Anastasia for cheating on Macaire, and then pitied her for the horrible situation she was put in by both her mother and Lev's father. Lev was an unsung hero and then untrustworthy. My thoughts bounced around so much that I felt I could never predict what would happen next

There was certainly a lot of different plots in this book, but I felt the author addressed them all very well and wrapped everything up nicely. While this was the first book I read by Joel Dicker, I am interested to read more!

Pros: I almost did not read this book because of its length (almost 600 pages!), but I am so glad I did. The story-within-a-story structure made me think of Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders, which is a good thing! There are so many mysteries in this book—not only do readers not know who the murderer is . . . we don’t know who the victim is for most of the book! I thought this book was smart with unexpected and clever twists throughout. If the book weren’t so long, I might reread it to see how the author made the twists work.

Cons: I don’t think this book needs to be as long as it is—a bit of editing (ironically, the storyline of the main character’s editor could be removed) would have been appreciated.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for the opportunity to read this book.

I've shared this review on Goodreads and StoryGraph.