Poi fa qualcosa di altrettanto irrimediabile, ma anche più assurdo: sotterra in spiaggia il corpo di Oscar sotto la sabbia di una duna. Peter Papathanasiou’s The Stoning (MacLehose) is also in contention, with another appearance on the New Blood Dagger for the best debut novel. William Shaw’s The Trawlerman (riverrun), Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s Daughters of Night (Mantle), Rosalind Stopps’ A Beginner’s Guide to Murder (HQ) and Joe Thomas’ Brazilian Psycho (Arcadia) complete the longlist for the Gold Dagger. Originally published in France with the title La Chaleur, Heatwave is Victor Jestin’s debut novel, masterfully translated into English by Sam Taylor, who has also translated Leïla Slimani’s work. With a searing voice, Victor Jestin captures the stale air of tents, the cheap music, the guys disguised in pink bunny suits who force you to have fun, teenagers as poignant as they are idiotic, rage, desire, absurdity. In effect, scorching’ Grazia A beautiful narrative that puts into play the kind of guilt that won’t quit a boy who’s alienated from his world and resistant to all its codes.”— Telerama

A beautiful narrative that puts into play the kind of guilt that won't quit a boy who's alienated from his world and resistant to all its codes' TeleramaTense and brief, this text plays with the codes of a first novel to paint a portrait of a sad and aloof teenager’ L’Humanite For his first novel, Victor Jestin displays a stunning literary talent. It’s short, pitiless, polished, perfectly realized’ Livres Hebdo Victor Jestin's debut novella centers around the question why Léo didn't stop Oscar, and why he didn't report what he saw and hid the corpse instead. It's all about the complexity of human nature and the atmosphere that is determined by the different associations with heat. I really enjoyed how the author insists on the enigmatic nature of the case he describes, how he doesn't take the easy route, how he brings the place to life and contrasts teenage impulses. The book is filled with empty interactions and fleeting moments. While the narrator bemoans his meaningless existence, it would seem many others feel the same.

Changeling’ by Bryony Pearce in Criminal Pursuits: Crime Through Time edited by Samantha Lee Howe (Telos Publishing) Una condizione che ricorda molto quella di Mersault sulla spiaggia, il caldo, quella luce, l’arabo, la pistola… During a sleepless night, Leonard wanders to the beach where he witnesses a tragedy and does nothing to intervene. The existential question posed is: Is doing nothing the very worst thing a person can do? Victor Jestin portrays with cruel exactitude the throes of an adolescent trapped in a secret too heavy to bear' L'Obs I wonder if this novel is intended as a modern retelling of Camus’ The Outsider, because Leonard is certainly that - an awkward loner who doesn’t fit into society or really understand how to or want to fit in - and the story centres around a singular death (there are also more superficial similarities like the beach setting, the length of the novel and both authors’ French nationalities).Léonard is 17 en brengt met zijn ouders, jongere broer en zus de laatste vakantiedagen op de camping door. The rest of the novella then follows Leo’s guilt at what he has done. As you’re probably confused at his actions, he is too. We find passages of him beating himself up about the circumstances of what has happened, leading to these existentialist questions of why he had to find Oscar and why did he have to be the one to bury him. Someone on Goodreads compared this to The Stranger by Albert Camus and quite frankly I agree with that comparison. It’s like a strange fever dream, which I guess this would be like what our main character is feeling.

You devour this book, but its effects linger, so strongly does it reverberate with destinies sacrificed to the yawn of the void.” —Le Point At 25, Victor Jestin has written a Sagan-like novel. A Francoise Sagan of today under high heat, in the full sense of the word’ Le Parisien DimancheJestin’s charged and chilling debut turns on a stifling vacation that descends from purgatory into a nightmarish inferno’ Publishers Weekly For his first novel, Victor Jestin displays a stunning literary talent. It’s short, pitiless, polished, perfectly realized.”— Livres Hebdo Jestin’s charged and chilling debut turns on a stifling vacation that descends from purgatory into a nightmarish inferno.”

Author Victor Jestin excels at creating a thoroughly claustrophobic atmosphere. He describes the hottest day the country has known in 17 years and we can feel the sweltering heat, smell the suntan lotion and hear the buzz of people converging at the camp and on the beach. The carefree and cheerful mood stands in strong contrast to the death of Oscar. The campers remain oblivious to it and, understandably, carry on with their frivolity regardless. The much-anticipated John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best debut novels. Among the rising stars of 2022 is Hallett with her debut The Appeal (Viper Books) which was a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year. Ma è una sensazione che dura poche pagine. Non si tratta di quell’apatia esistenziale, di quell’indifferenza nei confronti del vivere. It’s well-written, particularly given Jestin’s youthful age of 26 (what is it about France that produces such brilliant writers so young - Rimbaud, Sagan, etc.?), it’s just a shame there isn’t much about the narrative that’s compelling. Teenage alienation, embarrassing moments as boys and girls flirt, that confusing transition phase to young adulthood and all the baggage that comes with it - besides the opening scene, there’s little else in the book to hold the attention. Leonard is an outsider, a seventeen-year-old uncomfortable in his own skin who is forced to endure a family camping holiday in the South of France. Tired of awkwardly creeping out of beach parties after only a couple of beers, he chooses to spend the final Friday night of the trip in bed. However, when he cannot sleep due to the sound of wild carousing outside his tent, he gets up and goes for a walk.Told over the space of a long weekend, this intense and brilliant novel is the story of an adolescent struggling to fit in. Heatwave is a gripping psychological thriller that poses the existential question: