"The Enigma of Room 622", by Joël Dicker

On the trail of an unsolved crime

This is one long journey that cannot be read quickly. This massive page-turner of 577 pages is a prolonged teasing of us the reader. So be patient this story is filled with humour, unrequested love said in a clever and intriguing way. This is the story of an amateur sleuth investigating a murder while writing a book on his discoveries.

It starts when an author named Joel retreats to a Swiss Alps luxury hotel to restore after personal traumas: the death of his mentor and being snubbed by the woman he was drawn to. At the hotel he is assigned to room 623. Looking for his room he noticed that on the 6th floor the number go from 621, 621A, 623. Where is Room 622? Curiosity got the better of him thus the start of this wonderful and captivating story.

This story has multiple layers but I found it to be easy to follow even with its frenzy switching back and forth between the past and the present. By the end I thought this to give a touch of burlesque to the experience. But I assure you, once into the beat of the story I was totally hooked. The author is so adept with his sleight of hand; concealing essential facts from us for instance we are deep into the novel before we find out who was murdered and finding out the murderer took close to 577 pages to discover.

This novel is one that oscillates between suspense and vaudeville, mixing bank embezzlement and amorous intrigues without exits. What could be more Swiss than a group of bankers or a fallen Russian aristocrat who seeks to marry her daughters to one of them? “The Enigma of Room 622”, is a completely addictive novel that winks at the banking world, plays on several levels and pays tribute to its publisher, Bernard de Fallois, deceased
in Paris in 2018.


I loved every moment reading this book