by Michael Bussi
Hachette 2015
376 pages Mystery
After the Crash by Michael Bussi is pure mystery-lovers'
escapism—implausible but intriguing at the same time. The events of the book
occur in the 1980s and 1990s, and the story is all woven together by a report
written by a private investigator, Credule Grand-Duc, eighteen years after the crash of an airliner in the
Jural mountains in 1980.
The plane had been on a trip from Istanbul to Paris. On the
plane were two families with infant daughters, Emilie and Lyse-Rose; one
returning to a rich family and the other returning to a working class family.
Only one infant survives and captures the media's attention as "the
miracle baby", but it is impossible to deduce which of the two babies has survived.
The de Carville family (the rich grandparents, of course) hire Grand-Duc to use
whatever means possible to solve the mystery within 18 years. Much of the novel
evolves in 1998 as the eighteen years end. Lyse-Rose's sister, Malvina de
Carville, and Emilie's brother, Marc Vitral, have spent much of their lives also
trying to solve the mystery. The surviving girl is now affectionately called
Lylie, a combination of both babies' names, and she is the first to to receive Grand-Duc's
report. She then promptly disappears, and the reader doesn't know until the end
of the book where she has gone.
You ask, "Why didn't they just use DNA testing to prove
which girl survived?" Well, Grand-Duc did conduct the test, after the test
was developed, but much of the plot takes place before the DNA test was
invented. The mystery is perplexing, which is what makes this novel so
attractive; the reader is completely caught
up in trying to figure things out, and the author leaves little clues
that worry the reader's brain until the mystery is solved. It is the story of
class, family ties, love, and obsession.
Bussi is a French writer and professor.After the Crash is his first international success and the
first of his novels to be translated into English. (The translator is Sam
Taylor). This book has sold nearly one million copies and appeared in American book
stores this week.
The headline in the Boston
Globe review says "it's best to just enjoy the ride," and I would
agree. There is much that is implausible. "Parts of “After the Crash” have
elements of over-the-top Gothic melodrama, evoking everything from V.C.
Andrews’s “Flowers in the Attic” to cheesy horror movies, but Bussi’s tucked a
lot of enjoyable — and enjoyably surprising — pieces into his puzzle as well,
making the novel a drawn-out, page-turning tease." I do have to mention that I was disappointed in the ending. I felt that Bussi rushed the conclusion. The ride had left me completely drained, and as I closed the book, I sighed and felt totally let down. Was it still a fun ride? Absolutely.
Early on in my reading
of After
the Crash, I was reminded of a plane crash novel that I read several
years ago, The Three,
by Sarah Lotz. Although a bit more apocalyptic, The Three is chilling reading and equally as interesting. Check it
out as well.
The review in the Boston
Globe.
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