U.V: A31368 (Folio)

Joncour, Serge

3.18

91 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 2070313689 ISBN 13: 9782070313686

Publisher: Gallimard, 2005

A literary suspense novel set in the sultry summer heat of a bourgeois French holiday.
When a handsome blonde stranger interrupts a family holiday to introduce himself as an old school friend of their son, Philip, there is nothing to suggest his intentions may be malign. Philip has been away on holiday in America for 18 months and is due to arrive in Brittany any day, so his family, eager to meet any friend of their son, welcome Boris with open arms.
Confident and charming, Boris quickly establishes himself as a centrepiece in the daily routine, organizing midnight swims and daredevil boat rides as he gradually exerts a powerful influence over the family. Only one person remains impervious to Boris's charms -- Andre-Pierre, Philip's brother-in-law. His knowledge of the real, secret reason that Philip has been in America for 18 months gives Andre-Pierre cause to be hugely suspicious of any 'friend' who imposes so forcefully upon perfect strangers. Why is Boris so evasive when it comes to talking about his school days? And why is he so hard to identify on an old school photo?
As Andre-Pierre's suspicions become a conviction that there is a dangerous man in their home, Boris seems to turn a malevolent eye towards him. UV is chillingly quiet with a persistent sense of tension simmering beneath the surface image of a beautiful, elegant holiday among the French elite.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

" A thrillerish suspense story with a great erotic charge . . . Drop everything and read this!"
-- "LIRE
"
" In every scene a heavy atmosphere of what is unspoken reigns. Joncour's literary style is relatively classical, without surprises, but it is the complexity of his characters, their ambiguity, that makes the story so interesting"
-- "Paris Magazine
"
" In the company of this Ripley of another genre, the reader waits for Philip, just like one waits for Godot. Inevitably you think of Patricia Highsmith to whom Joncour renders homage"
-- "Elle"

"A thrillerish suspense story with a great erotic charge . . . Drop everything and read this!"
--"LIRE
"
"In every scene a heavy atmosphere of what is unspoken reigns. Joncour's literary style is relatively classical, without surprises, but it is the complexity of his characters, their ambiguity, that makes the story so interesting"
--"Paris Magazine
"
"In the company of this Ripley of another genre, the reader waits for Philip, just like one waits for Godot. Inevitably you think of Patricia Highsmith to whom Joncour renders homage"
--"Elle"

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.