Thank you Orion books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
This book was a great thriller. After a plan crash where the only survivor is a 3 month baby but which child is it. There were 2 babies on the flight log one from a wealthy family the other from a poor family. Slowly throughout the story clues are left for the reader to determine what child survived. The narrator is a private detective hired by the wealthy family to determine what child survived. He leaves a notebook with his research. Having it set in Paris gives even more charm. I really enjoy it

I enjoyed this book. It kept my interest and kept me wondering and putting pieces together. I did figure out the ending a bit before the characters, but thought the plot and lead up was very good. Characters were intriguing. I think there were a few parts that I thought maybe this isn't the best fit for my YA audience, although I can't specifically recall them now. I don't think it was anything outrageous that probably isn't in other books on the shelves, but I am also not sure the detailed plot following would appeal to some of my teen readers. I would recommend it to other adult readers.

You may remember that I went on a reading hiatus back in 2016 -- I was just dealing with a lot, and my mind couldn't handle additional stimulation. During that time I had a lot of book requests fulfilled and I couldn't make my deadline of reading and reviewing, so I'm catching up on the back catalog now in addition to reading new releases. Michel Bussi's After the Crash was the first on that list.

On an overnight flight from Turkey to Paris, something horrible happens and it crashes into the mountains in France. Every dies -- except for one miracle baby. The surviving family is beyond happy until another surviving family arrives. There were two babies on board, born within days of each other. Which baby is this -- Lyse-Rose, a girl from one of Paris's wealthiest families, or Emilie, the daughter of two working-class parents whose children adore them. Both families desperately want the baby, but only one can have her. Even after the verdict is rendered, the effects of this lost child reverberate for the next 18 years until a small clue gives away the true identity of that little girl.

I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, even in light of the plot twists that I felt were a bit over the top. There were some murders involved, and at the time it felt a bit overwrought in terms of the plot line. I couldn't put the pieces together of what was going on, and it turns out that this story is very intricate. There were a couple of story lines that went with the main story line, but in the middle of the book they all seemed muddled and related but still not at all. Once the end came, it all came together and made complete sense, but at the time I found myself rolling my eyes more than once.

When it got down to the meat of the story, the overall feeling I left with was intrigue. I loved the ending and thought it was fitting (albeit convenient), and the process of getting there was terribly interesting. Bussi did a wonderful job of setting up mysteries and leading me to the answer. I also found the characters to be quite magnetic. Malvina, the older sister of Lyse-Rose, and Marc, the older brother of Emilie, fight over who the young girl really is. One hopes it is her, the other hopes it is not -- and for reasons you might not expect. The Credule Grand-Duc, the private investigator hired by Lyse-Rose's family for the full 18 years to investigate the true identity of the baby, was intriguing in that he was incredibly unreliable while still being sympathetic and, at times, quite hated by both the characters and myself. He, along with the siblings, made for an odd yet exciting triumvirate.

It was great to pick up this book over the summer and dive into it. It's always so interesting to find a book that you have had for a while but end up reading it just when you need it, and this was that book. It gave me a lot to think about in terms of identity development and the self.

Another book I had a hard time reading. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This was a fast paced thriller that I was able to race through in a single sitting. While I don't think it added anything to the genre, it was a fun and enjoyable read.