The author manages the difficult feat of making the reader care about some very unsympathetic characters within a page turning tale. I think the ending will be very divisive but I enjoyed it

Another book from Netgalley and this one follows the unassuming and routine life of Manfred within a small village in France near the Swiss border. He frequents the same restaurant, he has a mundane job and a lonely, uneventful life but the disappearance of Adele Bedeau brings up secrets from his past.

I like the cover, I loved the writing style as I loved his previous book (His Bloody Project) and it was a fairly quick read. It is such a bleak, melancholy book with an intriguing couple of mysteries and I would definitely recommend it as an autumnal or winter read.

Written and published before his hit His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet’s The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau is being relaunched. Though we never learn much about Adèle, this novel grants us access to the innermost thoughts of the man being investigated for her possible murder and the detective trying to work out what really happened. This surprisingly affecting novel is packed with twisty revelations that had me guessing and second-guessing myself all through.

I hope I can write this review without giving too much away.

Manfred Baumann is the sort of man who gives women the creeps. He’s a creature of habit who spends too much time inside his own head trying to behave normally and not raise anyone’s suspicions. Manfred has been pretending to be himself for twenty years, ever since he lost his parents and went to live with his stiflingly proper grandparents. He might have gone on another twenty years constantly worrying about what people think of him if Adèle, the waitress at his local restaurant, hadn’t gone missing. As soon as Detective Georges Gorski of Saint-Louis, Alsace’s finest shows up to ask questions, Manfred’s life quickly unspools.

Gorski is a competent detective, even if he did learn most of his craft from reading Georges Simenon novels. But he’s not nearly as good as Manfred thinks he is. As Gorski asks questions and pokes into Manfred’s life, Manfred becomes paranoid. He sees conspiracy everywhere. Manfred’s deteriorating mental state even destroys his nascent relationship with a funny, lovely woman in his apartment building.

For most of the book, I had no idea if Manfred was guilty or not. Given his obsession with appearing normal, anyone would think that he’d at least done something criminal. The revelation of what happened to Adèle and Manfred is a work of manipulative genius. I can just picture some readers hurling the book across the room after reading it—which will prove how effective this story is at winding up its main character and its readers. I can honestly say, I’ve never read anything like The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau before. It’s fantastic choice for readers who don’t mind mysteries that are a bit too clever for their own good but will definitely keep them guessing.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 3 October 2017.

I've not yet read His Bloody Project, Graham Macrae Burnett's Booker shortlisted second novel but if it is half as good as this, his first, it will be outstanding. I loved everything about this novel.

In the nondescript (but very well realised) little town of Saint-Louis, a sullen, slightly overweight young waitress disappears. The detective investigating this is still obsessed by his first case, the murder of a young girl twenty years earlier and feels that the two may be linked. The characters in this novel revolve around the little bistro where Adele worked. They are a motley lot, not very prepossessing, least of all, Manfred Bauman who soon comes to the detective's attention.

Bauman is a brilliantly done character. We live in his head as he ruminates about all that is going on around him. He worries unnecessarily about almost everything: will his staff notice if he's late coming into work at the bank, is he being followed, will his non appearance at the restaurant lead to comments? All of these thoughts preoccupy him. It is quite exhausting.

With nods to Camus' L'Etranger and the Maigret series by Georges Simenon this is a great read and surely must become a classic. And not since Ian McEwan's Enduring Love has there been such a surprising and satisfying epilogue. Brilliant.

I found this to be an intelligent, clever and original psychological thriller, and one which I very much enjoyed. I don’t want to say too much about the plot and the framing device – many of the reviews give far too much away in my opinion – as the gradual reveal is part of the pleasure. Essentially it’s the story of a misfit and outsider called Manfred Baumann, a man of quiet routines, who turns out to be more than at first might appear. Set in a small French town, this unusual crime novel is unpredictable and well-paced and a compelling and engaging read.

Manfred is stuck in a rut. He lives in a small town in France, works in the bank, eats at the same restaurant every lunchtime, drinks at the restaurant in the evening, plays bridge on a Thursday with three others that he can't stand. He can't change his routine and frets endlessly about the minutest variation in his day. The first third of the book sets this scene. Just as you are getting lulled into thinking that it's a nice gentle story about a Frenchman - perhaps he will find love in later life or something similar - there is a massive plot twist that comes out of nowhere. You won't suspect before it comes. Great effect. I do recommend this book.

This book was written before the highly successful "His Bloody Project"(shortlisted for the 2016 Booker Prize )and it has some of the same characteristics. The atmosphere and setting (in this case,a small Alsatian town)have a surreal touch.It feels as if the whole town is caught in a dark time stop(although Mulhouse and Strasbourg, both very much alive,are in the vicinity ). Furthermore, the whole town seems to be inhabited by thoroughly unpleasant and yes,slightly weird people (a bartender who hardly says a word,a desk sergeant who's not inclined to do any work,people in bars just staring at nothing(or their glass)).
This book is,although very well written,difficult to classify. The best description(that I can give)is a written film noir with undertones of Patrick Süskind and Simenon.

This novel is both intriguing and thought provoking. I enjoyed the writing style and while the characters are well developed I was not fond of any of them. It is an interesting look into one mans mind. An interesting read that will linger in your thoughts.

The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau is a bit of a strange take on a detective novel. Manfred Baumann is a habitué at a small restaurant in the rural backwater of Saint-Louis. One night the waitress, Adèle, disappears. Local cop Gorski investigates and starts to suspect that Manfred is not telling the truth.

The novel very much hangs on Manfred as the protagonist. He is a very Raskalnikovian character, spending endless slices of the book asking himself whether what he is doing looks normal and whether he is being watched by Gorski and how he should behave so as not to attract attention and a host of other tiresome angst. Burnet drums up some sympathy for him with a recursion to his childhood, but in the end I simply couldn't warm to him. Gorski was a character that I could get behind, but Burnet did not give him much to work with. The novel lacked surprises and plodded drearily. I also thought Burnet's device of pretending that the work was by another author (which he repeated with His Bloody Project) somewhat pointless and facile.

Manfred Baumann is a loner, an outsider, he is the type of man others would have unfounded suspicions about. His life is governed by routine, every evening he visits an unremarkable bistro in the small French town of Saint Louis and watches those around him including Adele Bedeau whom he fantasizes about. Manfred's world is about to be destroyed when Adele disappears and George Gorski, a detective who is haunted by a past case begins to investigate the case.

Although Adele's disappearance is what triggers this novel, the literary mystery isn't about Adele, it is a psychological dissection of Manfred's life and that of Gorski. It is unsurprising that Burnet is a fan of Simenon as this novel is clearly more than a 'nod' towards the Maigret books. Burnet plays with his reader right up until the final sentence of this highly readable, intelligent novel. A must for fans of Simenon and Highsmith.

Could not download - it only showed a couple of pages. The cover looks cool.