Pierre Lemaître

"The Pelletiers are a prominent French family living in 1948 Beirut. The patriarch, Louis, has built a successful business that he hopes to pass on to his eldest son. With no head for management, Jean nearly sinks the company, then marries a materialistic young woman who insists they emigrate to Paris and join high society. But there is another reason Jean must leave--he has committed a terrible crime. Youngest son Etienne is sent to make his fortune...

"In 1999, in the small provincial town of Beauval, France, twelve-year-old Antoine Courtin accidentally kills a young neighbor boy in the woods near his home. Panicked, he conceals the body and to his relief--and ongoing shame--he is never suspected of any connection to the child's disappearance. But the boy's death continues to haunt him, shaping his life in unseen ways. More than a decade later, Antoine is living in Paris, now a young doctor with...

Draws on five contemporary and classic literary murder scenes in a prequel to "Alex" that finds Camille Verhoeven linking a brutal double murder to a cold case before his pregnant wife is abducted by the killer.