Member Reviews
What makes this book different from all others? And why should anyone care?
The biggest highlight of this book is that it's a phenomenal murder mystery. It executes the "mystery" part of the brief exceptionally. I wasn't able to piece the mystery together and solve it until two or three pages before the author got there, which I really enjoyed. The construction of the plot and throughlines are beautifully crafted, making this a very technically excellent book.
My only complaint is with the pacing. The first half of the book is very slow and almost unrewarding from a murder mystery perspective. With that, the second half of the book made up for a lot of my complaints with the first half, but with a book nearly 600 pages long, it took a lot of faith in the author for me to continue to pick up the book and keep reading. I am really glad that I finished it though.
This is a book I'm going to keep thinking about for a while, and it's a book I'll continue to admire for the plot twists and turns.
This book seemed promising based on the blurb and the first few chapters. However I made it about 20% of the way through and unfortunately had to DNF. I’ve tried multiple times to pick it up but I just can’t get into it. The plot bounces from past to present far too often, and I feel like in the chapters about the past, the author uses far too much detail about the events leading to the murder. It was just too wordy and slow paced for me.
I loved this book. From page one I was sucked into the story and mystery. It is so fun and keeps you guessing all along. The story is so masterfully written and paced. The characters are so fun to read about and their stories. I would definitely recommend this book
While on an escape at a hotel in Switzerland, a writer named Joel is determined to understand why the rooms on the six floor are missing the number 622. After some investigation, Joel and his equally curious new friend Scarlett, find out that there was a murder that took place in the hotel years before and the hotel management is determined to rewrite the hotel's history by erasing room 622. Inspired by the information they discover during their investigation, Joel begins to write his next novel based on the events of that fateful night in room 622.
I really enjoyed Joel Dicker's novel "The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair" so I was eager to give this a read. But I can confidentially say, this book was not for me... at all! The plot description is what drew me in, but the story ended up being way too convoluted. It's told in multiple timelines, bouncing back and forth between them so quickly that its hard to keep track of what happens when. I also felt like we spent way too much time within the storyline of the actual events leading up to and including the murder. I know we need to know what happened, but truly that could've been its own novel entirely. The chapters where we went back to Joel and Scarlet jarred me because I had totally forgotten about them since we hadn't spent time in their storyline for a while. I was also confused, is the character of Joel supposed to be Joel Dicker? Did I miss that, because there was a moment where he mentions that he wrote "The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair." Thought it was very strange.
This book was also entirely way too long. 500 pages! 500 pages that could've easily been 250 to 300. Like I said the storylines of the events leading up to and including the murder and the one with Joel and Scarlett didn't fit together well. I feel like there was a barely a thread of a connection, and I wasn't able to connect with either Joel or Scarlett enough for me to care about them. I also wasn't a fan of the ending: that Joel's investigation never even happened. He never went up to the Hotel, Scarlett wasn't real, it was just all an allusion to him getting so invested in writing his book that it felt like he was actually on the hunt investigating. As a reader, the "it was a dream" trope really makes me feel as though I have wasted my time. I couldn't tell was the murder even real, or was it all just fiction for his book? Wasn't made clear.
Overall, I think this was a great plot but with convoluted execution and just wasn't the book for me. I want to thank HarperVia and Net Galley for giving me an advanced copy.
I really struggled with this one.. I was so excited by the blurb, the cover, and the potential. It started out interesting, but quickly got bogged down in excessive detail, lots of backstory that didn't actually feel relevant to the developing mystery, and a meandering writing style that did not mesh with the whodunit nature of the story as described in the blurb.
I also had a hard time connecting with the characters. The protagonist was fairly unlikable, and the characters around him felt pretty one-dimensional and stereotypical. While that isn't necessarily a problem in a mystery, when the main character is when you can't connect with it is very difficult to keep reading - especially in a difficult and lengthy book that moves very slowly.
I ultimately couldn't finish. I tried repeatedl, as there would be flashes of brilliance and great storytelling, but that would almost immediately be followed by dozens of pages that I had to slog through and eventually it just was too much work for the style of book..
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ebook.
Sadly I had to DNF.
It started out good and caught my attention. It was interesting. But then it started to drag on and I needed it to get to the bulk of the plot already. I became bored.
This had potential though and maybe those that power through end up enjoying it.
I usually do not rate books I DNF but I can’t submit this Netgalley review without a star rating.
Probably a top favorite book of the year. I got immediately pulled into this story and the writing style. I don't know how to explain the tone and style of writing, but it is perfect. I loved both storylines and the way they weaved together. I don't know how Dicker did it, but he got me to be so invested and interested in bank management drama. I think it's best to go into this book blind and just enjoy the ride. There is great mystery, great characters, and a beautiful relationship between a writer and editor. There is a murder mystery at the center of the story, but it really isn't about that, it's more of a slow burn character driven study. The ending was beautiful. I think this is a book I will revisit and I hope to read more from this author.
This book was full of twists and turns. A writer is at a hotel for some time to think. He notices there is no room 622. He starts to investigate to write a book about it and it is a long story.
I liked the overall plot of the book. It was very unexpected. But this book is very long and took awhile to read. There are also a lot of back stories on back stories of the characters so it got to be a lot of information. But you want a long book to read that’s full of drama, this one is good.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book, unfortunately I can not recommend it. Though the cover text implied a whodunnit style mystery with thriller elements, it failed to deliver. The characters we're one dimensional, the main character was casually misogynistic, and given how stereotyped the female characters we're, the author may be as well. The pacing was off throughout the book. There were moments that would catch my interest but the book would veer into long passages on the swiss banking system or the pseudo espionage subplot and lose me. The mystery could have been cleanly written and finished at half the length.
What the author was exactly trying to accomplish remains an enigma to me. Having never read another book by Joël Dicker I did not know what to expect. The beginning premise starts out with promise: Dicker, himself is a character (The Writer) in the book. He is mourning the loss of his mentor, wants to write a book about him, but is stymied. Soon the story veers off in another direction and becomes a supposed murder/suspense novel.
Joël travels to a posh hotel in the Swiss Alps to clear his head and hopefully the break will enable him to write his tribute. At the hotel he meets Scarlett and together they decide to investigate an unsolved mystery from the hotel's past. It seems Room 622 (where a murder occurred) no longer exists in the hotel and no one is willing to explain the anomaly. While Scarlet and The Writer investigate they unearth a scandal involving the family/owners of a well-known private bank in Geneva. The reader doesn't find out just who has died in Room 622 until almost the end of the book despite numerous clues and hints peppering the storyline.
Time flip flops from past to present and back to the past, characters are numerous, but no one is who you think they are. The storyline continually veers off on tangents and the action stutters causing unneeded confusion. The simplistic sentences and vocabulary plus the use of clichés and, often, hackneyed phrases were unpleasant surprises. I am not sure if the translation is the reason for this but I was disappointed in the quality of the writing as well as the annoying characters.
The author does tie up the loose ends with sort of a plausible finish and my rating is rounded up to 3 and a half stars due to this plus the sheer size of the tome. I am still not sure the purpose the author had in mind while writing this book though he does allude to it being an adventure. It is unlike any mystery I have previously read (and that is my go-to genre) leaving me still scratching my head.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for the ebook.
I have never read Dicker's novel before. that being said, this is a very long twisty turning kind of crime novel with a slightly bouncy feel, at times it feels much more like a screwball comedy or a low-stakes romance. It is distinctly old-fashioned.
It is very long, much longer than it needs to be. You could easily edit this book to half the size.This book will never explain something in a paragraph when it could give you a whole subplot of flashbacks.
A writer of the same name as the author travels to a luxury hotel to rest following the death of his publisher. Rest eludes because mystery interferes as he discovers there is no room numbered 622 in this hotel due to a murder committed years ago. The twisty plot featuring the author as main character feels very much like Anthony Horowitz. Set in Switzerland and translated from the French, this mystery is sure to captivate readers.
I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book stars out fast and pulled me right in they discover there wasn’t a rom 622. We wanted to know what happened to that room or in that room. So you automatically think ask an employee..... they act squirrelly when asked. Ok we have to peel more on this onion.... I tall leads to the bank in Geneva ask the first teller he can’t say. Then he passed a note to meet him in a tea room around back of the bank at. 11:00. You think we are getting somewhere now. We’re not.. this is a very long book that goes forward zigs backwards in time even within the same chapter. I couldn’t read it straight through drove me crazy all the back and forth. Seems like we needed to see the same scene from many points of view. I found the ending contrived shoved into the last few pages. Had I known that I would have saved myself a lot of time and just ended it 600 pages sooner. Special thanks to NetGslley, Harper Collins Publishers,, Joel Dicker, and Enigma of Room 622. for the opportunity to read early.. if the book was tightened up quite a bit the book would be awesome however as is I find it meh.
My thanks to Net Galley and Harper for letting me review this book. Unfortunately I coukd not connect to this book to give an accurate review. The premise of the murder and the missing room really drew me in but then the story went into the direction of the background of the banker and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be focusing on? Style of writing was also confusing. Can't recommend.
Joël Dicker, a prominent novelist and the author of this work, goes to the Hôtel de Verbier in the Swiss Alps. Disheartened over both a breakup and his mentor’s death, Joël hopes to rest, but soon he and fellow guest Scarlett uncover a long-unsolved murder that transpired in the hotel's now-missing room 622.
This one fell part for me. A sexist protagonist, cliche and unlikable characters, unrealistic dialogue, multiple time jumps within a chapter, pages of rambling exposition, multiple twisted plot lines, a deus ex machina, and, coming in at around 600 pages, it was a long read. Some might find the ending twist clever, but by the time we got there I didn’t care.
I’m not sure who the audience is for this book. I like mysteries with amateur sleuths and was expecting something like a thriller, but this just didn’t have the pace and energy of a thriller nor the emotional connection to a detective that I could cheer for.
A tough book to rate because it’s tough to recommend. I think you have to be a very specific type of reader to enjoy this. I’m not sure it will find its audience, but I hope so. I do believe I am a good reader for this in general because i love an old-school who-done-it, and I don’t mind a quirky read. I can tell you this book is bit old fashioned. It’s getting compared to Agatha Christie. I don’t see that comparison so much as this reminds me of the show Twin Peaks, but specifically the town drama. There are some preposterous moments in this that require you to suspend your disbelief. However, I found this to be old-school fun. It’s dramatic, it has a compelling mystery, and it kept me rapidly turning the close to 600 pages. A quick note about format: I did NOT listen to this on audio, and I’m of the opinion that this book would be disastrous on audio (at least for me personally). It’s just too complex and constantly moving between multiple timelines and time periods to forgo a physical copy. I will definitely be looking into Joël Dicker’s backlist and future books because I think he is an excellent writer who builds incredibly unique stories.
This murder mystery is far too convoluted to be worth the payout. The writing is repetitive and drags what could easily be a 200 page novella to a trudging tome far longer than it deserves to be. The characters are all unlikable, and their actions make so little sense, they unnecessarily complicate every situation. The central conflict is our mc’s obsession with becoming president of the bank he works at, and it is frankly a boring motive that never succeeded in investing my interest. The meta fictional aspects were clumsily done and though there were moments of insightful writing, that prose came off quite purple in comparison to the underwhelming majority of the book.
The enigma of Room 622 by Joel Dicker is an engrossing nd interesting read with fully detailed characters and plot. Well worth the read!
This is the first novel I read by this author and I really enjoyed it.
I loved the way this book was written the dual time lines and the different characters point of views. Also liked the the short chapters.
Couldn’t put this book down, I was so anxious to get to end and find out who the killer was.. Thru out the book my guess of he killer kept changing. Loved that by the end of the book all my questions were answered. I was surprised, I wasn't expecting that person to be the killer.
Was really surprised by the twist at the end.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Enigma of Room 622.
I'm not sure how to review The Enigma of Room 622.
First, I liked the cover. And...that's the only thing I liked.
I could say it was too wordy, but that would be an understatement.
There was unnecessary, ridiculous, bloated exposition on nearly every character, nothing more than needless filler; constant timeline flip flopping, you don't know who is killed until more than halfway through this skull crusher, and you don't get the big reveal of the killer until the last five pages.
I could also say the characters were meh, one dimensional people whose names I've already forgotten nor did I care about.
There are plenty of moments where you need to suspend disbelief, and if you enjoy doing that, you'll like The Enigma of Room 622.
After the 5th time I was forced to suspend disbelief and imagine the characters were acting their own version of Mission Impossible, I checked out.
Then, we have the finale, the meta finale.
This has to be the recent, annoying trend where the author talks to the viewer or puts him or herself into the story since this is not the first book I've read that's used this plot device.
I get a bad feeling it won't be the last.
As some reviewers noted, this would have worked better as a novella or a short story. I highly agree!
The plot about who would succeed as bank president was beyond dull, and then to piggyback 700 pages of filler on that was excruciating.
The writing wasn't bad and I appreciate the opportunity to read this before publication but this was SOOO not for me.