I have been meaning to read another Joël Dicker novel ever since I spent a wonderful afternoon reading The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair while eating a slice of the best cake I have ever tasted in my life. I have an incredibly strong sensory association between the plot of that novel and the incredible frosting on said dessert but all these years later, the pace of my life has shifted and so I read The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer more in snatched fragments. The pace of investigating back across the decades with interweaving narratives was very similar to the Harry Quebert but otherwise the novel had quite a different feel. Written with flair and with a fascinating final reveal, this nevertheless felt like a plot which ... wandered.

The premise goes as follows; in 1994 the theatre festival is about to open in Orphea, a small seaside town. On the opening night however, the mayor and his family are found shot dead along with a young jogger who was shot outside, a presumed witness to the crime. Jesse Roseberg and Derek Scott work hard and solve the case but the process takes its toll. Derek Scott chooses to take an administration role directly afterwards. Twenty years later, Jesse Rosenberg is ready to take early retirement from the police force when he is approached by young journalist Stephanie Mailer who tells him that he made a mistake all those years ago and that the killer walked free. Jesse tries to tell himself that this is not possible, their investigation was too thorough. But as his doubts begin to grow, Stephanie Mailer herself goes missing. What did she know? And what exactly did they miss back in 1994?

There was a lot of great things about this novel. The twists and turns of the plot were entertaining and there were several interesting characters. I feel it rather suffered though because I read it more or less in tandem with Jane Harper's Exiles and I got in the habit of thinking of the two as my plausible thriller and ... the other one. When I told my partner that the plot had got to the point where the man who apparently knew the identity of the killer was only intending to agree it through the medium of his previously unstaged play, Boy who Reads not a Lot asked, 'And have they not just tried waterboarding him to get the answer' and this did seem like the more likely event. Another character is let off possible jail time if she agrees to act in said play. It became ... difficult to sustain one's disbelief. Even more so that Scott and Rosenberg seriously believed that they had carried out an airtight investigation with so many loose threads left swinging in the breeze.

Another problem was Dicker's rather lacklustre dialogue. This became particularly obvious during the conversations between the Eden family. It was all incredibly robotic and I found myself murmuring, 'Nobody talks like this'. Every time Meta Ostrovski came on the page were more howlers - Dicker has actually created a critic character called Meta. The ultimate 'romance' between two of the leads felt completely awkward and unnatural given that there had been no flirtatious interactions in the run-up and it also resolved none of the issues which each character was struggling with. And while I quite enjoyed the descriptions of Jesse's grandparents, I was left slightly bug-eyed by their Jesse/Jessica debacle. I am genuinely amazed that that episode made it past an editor.

Having said all of that, I read the book reasonably quickly and it held my interest. The denouement was genuinely clever even if the route to get there left quite a bit to be desired. It feels rather as if Dicker is trying to write a modern Christie novel with all of the overblown incidences commonly found in her oeuvre in a contemporary setting. Still, I did not find Stephanie Mailer as compelling a story as Harry Quebert so I think I will have to read another Dicker novel for a best of three judgement. Perhaps I can even try to track down some of that cake to read alongside to make for a fair test ...

I was very disappointed in this book. It had the potential to be a fantastic read. But sadly it didn’t deliver. The writing was very amateurish. Not what you would expect from this author

The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended!

I suspect that Joel Dicker is an author whose style you either really like or really loathe because it is definitely idiosyncratic. Like his 2 previous novels, this book reveals its plot slowly, using different timelines to maintain tension.

Captain Jesse Rosenberg is taking early retirement from the New York Police department, having solved every case in his illustrious career. His leaving party is gatecrashed by a young journalist named Stephanie Mailer who tells him that he got his first case wrong. Jesse is intrigued and when Stephanie’s parents report her missing he begins to suspect that there may be some truth to her comment.

Soon Jesse has reunited with his early partner, Sergeant Derek Scott, reopening their first case, a quadruple murder, that took place in a town named Orphea, to see if they missed something. But time is running out for the missing journalist and someone doesn’t want them asking questions.

This is definitely a book you need to give time to as it’s pace is slow and information is drip fed. Personally, I felt that that worked well with the plot and the dispassionate tone which reminded me, intentionally or otherwise, I don’t know, of how I imagine police reports might sound.

Slow but enjoyable.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Quercus Books, for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A lot of murders, a lot of twists and turns, a lot of red herrings, a lot of changing perspectives, a lot of implausible characters (nearly all with a secret), a lot of stilted dialogue, a lot of clichés, a lot of backstories (often more interesting than the main storyline) and a lot of words. All tied up neatly at the end, which was a relief in a way, but by that time I’d really given up caring. And yet, I did manage to carry on reading, and somehow managed to ignore the many infelicities of style, and the sheer craziness of some of the plot lines, so I guess it wasn’t all bad…..although it sure felt that way at times.

In the summer of 1994, the quiet seaside town of Orphea reels from the discovery of four murders.

Two young police officers, Jesse Rosenberg and Derek Scott crack the case and identify the killer.

Then, twenty years later and just as he is on the point of taking early retirement, Rosenberg is approached by Stephanie Mailer, a journalist who believes he made a mistake back in 1994 and that the real murderer is still out there, perhaps ready to strike again. But before she can give any more details, Stephanie Mailer mysteriously disappears, and Rosenberg and Scott are forced to confront the possibility that her suspicions might have been proved true.

What happened to Stephanie Mailer?

This was a hard to read story due to the slowness throughout and some points that weren't relevant to the story. I love crime books and TV series but this didn't get me hooked. It was intriguing and interesting when the case had me hooked with details.

The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker translated by Howard Curtis

This is a beautifully described crime drama set in Orphea, a small town in the Hamptons, not far from New York. Stephanie Mailer is a journalist who is investigating a historical murder case, upon her disappearance the local police and those involved in the original case work together to try and find her. Finding out her disappearance could be related to the case she was investigating, the old case is reopened to the upset of almost everyone. Could the original murderer still be at large? Could the original team have accused the wrong man? The story proceeds to answer these questions fully.

The characters are all well described with plenty of time discussing everyone’s background and motives. The events happen around the opening of a theatre festival so all the great and theatrical are involved which is perfect for great characters, the critic, the actress and the playwright all contribute to the exuberant cast.

The story telling is split between the current time point from Jesse Rosenburg, the New York Captain who was one of the team investigation the 1994 murders and the 1994 time line told by Derek Scott who was the other half of the team. Betty Kanner the local deputy officer, helps the two senior detectives with her local knowledge. I like the 3 main characters Jesse as the 100% case solved detective is under a lot of pressure for this case to be solved, Derek has come out of the office to help solve the mystery and Betty is a hard working small town cop.

The plot is simple find out what happen to Stephanie and why. However, they go the long way round in a very local police kind of way, lots of dead ends and red herrings before they finally get on the path to answers. I would say enjoy the ride as it’s well written and the story fills out, don’t be too angry when you have ideas and only 100 pages later do the cops pick up the thread, it doesn’t make it a bad book just thorough!

I enjoyed this book, it does seem a little long for a crime drama but there are plenty of characters and suspects to entertain you on the way, I think it would work well as a screen play, appropriately!

I wouldn’t describe it as action packed but as the narrative moves from ’94 to ’14 and back, there are plenty of cliff-hangers to keep you turning the pages. A full on 4*

Thanks to NetGalley and Querus for the ARC

The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker
Pub Date 2 September 2021
A twisting new thriller from the author of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair
In the summer of 1994, the quiet seaside town of Orphea reels from the discovery of four murders.
Two young police officers, Jesse Rosenberg and Derek Scott, crack the case and identify the killer.
Then, twenty years later and just as he is on the point of taking early retirement, Rosenberg is approached by Stephanie Mailer, a journalist who believes he made a mistake back in 1994 and that the real murderer is still out there, perhaps ready to strike again. But before she can give any more details, Stephanie Mailer mysteriously disappears, and Rosenberg and Scott are forced to confront the possibility that her suspicions might have been proved true.
What happened to Stephanie Mailer?
What did she know?
And what really happened in Orphea all those years ago?
From the synopsis of this story, I was looking forward to reading it. I managed to finish the book but found the writing style poor, the plot vast, and the pace is slow-burn.
Sadly not a title I would recommend.
I want to thank NetGalley, Quercus Books and author Joel Dicker for a pre-publication copy to review.

This book did not do it for me. I found it a struggle to read as I found the writing to be very amateurish - I don't know if this is from the original text or from the translation. The characters seem to be a one dimensional version of what they could be and the plot is overly complicated, and while I wanted to know who did it, it was a hard slog to get to the end.

Harry Quebert is one of my top ever books and enjoyed The Baltimore Boys enormously but I just couldn’t get into this. I’m not sure if the translation but it all just felt a bit clunky and not enough flow for me. Really struggled to get momentum even though I know there is a really good story in there.

Well I finished it - but it was a bit of a struggle. It is a shame because the actual plot is sound but the prose. length and editing let the plot down. I could not work out if it was the translation that was poor but I think the original text must be pretty dire. This is not a direct quote as I can't be doing with going back through the book but it was along the lines of
"Mayor Gordon entered the room.
'What is happening ' said Mayor Gordon. "

Repetitive, simplistic and very slow story telling makes this a hard sell. It must be Joel Dicker's style but I don't think he would many prizes for creative writing in a Year 6 primary school where he would be told to use a more concise and interesting narration.

A wonderdul mistery crime thriller of my favorite author all time. I loved so many stories that were conected and reveled page by page...

We read the story that happened in 1994 and 2014. All together is connected with a play that is taking place on stage. Both years it happend the tragedies. And it is interesting to follow the leads with the main investigators and each of them has his story to tell.

This unique style of giving us a story is really fantastic. Never boring.

Thank you Netgalley.com and MacLehose press for a free xopy in echange of an honest review.

Having loved the truth about the harry quebert affair i was very excited to read this. With multiple narratives and timelines, this is an engrossing read and the story unfolds in a very compelling and subtle way. The characters were all well thought through and beautifully developed overt the course of the novel, giving them well rounded and believable layers.

This is a novel to get lost in, very enjoyable

Rounding up to three stars


I feel my main issue with this book was pacing,it just was so slow .
There was a lot going on that didn't need to be going on for me,which could have cut the book length a great deal.
Due to the somewhat slow pacing,I was never that invested in the who or why or what.

That being said,it's a huge book,and something kept me going to the end of it... some relatable characters,and town festival perhaps?