Library Journal
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Bound to become a best seller, de Rosnay's latest (after Sarah's Key) is a taut, suspenseful, elegant novel with a secret at its heart that has the power to destroy one of the most wealthy families in contemporary Paris. As it begins, Antoine Rey, our narrator, is in a hospital waiting room eager to hear whether his beloved sister, Melanie, survived the car crash that brought him there. The two were driving back to Paris after a weekend at Noirmoutier Island, a getaway planned by Antoine as a surprise for Melanie's 40th birthday. As they reprise memories of the Rey family vacations on the island, including one trip shortly before their mother died, Melanie realizes the truth of the old family mystery, revealed as bits of memory pieced together along with a bit of detective work. This startling revelation causes her to drive the car off the road, endangering her life and her brother's. By the end of the story, Antoine, Melanie, and their friends and family suffer several deaths, culminating in a vision for the future that makes life and their fleeting moments of happiness all the more precious. Verdict The reader will immediately become submerged in the world de Rosnay so beautifully creates and will turn the pages quickly; it's not hard to imagine downing this in one or two sittings. Different from the historical Sarah's Key but with as profound an effect; highly recommended and bravo!-Lisa Rohrbaugh, National Coll. Lib., Youngstown, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Frenchman Antoine Rey wants to do something special for his sister Melanie on her fortieth birthday, so he surprises her with a weekend trip to Noirmoutier Island, where the two spent many idyllic childhood summers until their mother's untimely death. While the weekend itself goes well, on the drive back home to Paris, Melanie is overpowered by a memory of her mother and drives off the road. She suffers extensive injuries, and as she heals in the hospital, Antoine obsesses over just what it was that his sister recalled. He is determined to find answers, but where and how? There are few surviving family members, and those remaining resist his unsettling queries. Meanwhile, distractions abound, as Antoine takes up with the sexy hospital mortician (who wears black and drives a Harley-Davidson, ooh la la). He and his ex-wife must also deal with their badly behaving son, who's recently landed in jail. Internationally best-selling French novelist de Rosnay renders swift, lucid prose and steady suspense (even though one of the novel's big secrets is revealed mid-tale). Expect demand among fans of both literary mystery and high-end romance.--Block, Allison Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The story of an emotionally distant family as it struggles to come to grips with changing dynamics and the mysterious death of a young mother many years ago.Like de Rosnay's bestselling Sarah's Key (2007), this novel is set in Paris, but while her earlier novel explored a national tragedy, this one tackles a personal one. Antoine Rey, son of the famous attorney, and his sister, Mlanie, are returning from a visit to the family's old summer vacation stomping grounds when Mlanie tells her brother she has remembered something important about their mother's death. She promptly steers the car into a wreck, putting herself in the hospital, unable to remember the important detail she once recalled. Antoine sits vigil by his sister's side, trying to figure out what has gone wrong with his life: His wife has left him for another man, of his three children only one seems to like him anymore, and he is tired of dating vacuous young women. His father, who comes from a well-known Parisian family, is old, paunchy and distanta complete shadow of the man who was married to the gorgeous Clarisse. Clarisse, Antoine and Mlanie's mother, died when they were small children, supposedly succumbing to an aneurism in their apartment, but when Antoine starts questioning the version of her death they have always accepted as the truth, he stumbles upon some disturbing possibilities. In the meantime, he becomes involved in a relationship with a woman his own age who impresses him with her independence and sexuality, squares off against his eldest son and helps his daughter through a tough loss of her own. De Rosnay's writing is eloquent and beautiful, and her characterizations are both honest and dead-onanyone with a teenager will recognize the parental angst Antoine experiences as genuine. But the plot meanders to a conclusion that seems anticlimactic at best, a letdown at worstthe secret is hardly worth the trouble it causes.For any other writer this would be a fine novel, but de Rosnay's fans will expect more than the central character's aimless journey.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Together, de Rosnay and Simon Vance guide us through a sister and brother's traumatic search for the real cause of their mother's death some 30 years before. Vance is a reader's reader, and he narrates de Rosnay's novel with nuanced tones, rhythms, cadences, and subtle modulations, intonations and pauses to etch each character indelibly in the reader's memory. He has the rare ability to do convincing women's voices without sounding silly, and his French is very good (though his American accents are slightly overblown). A St. Martin's hardcover (Reviews, July 26). (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The long-delayed resolution of a French family's mystery electrifies de Rosnay's (Sarah's Key) glimpse at the crushing cost of keeping secrets. Parisian architect Antoine Rey and his sister, Melanie, celebrate her 40th birthday on the island where they vacationed as children with their mother, until she died there in 1974. Upon returning, Melanie is gripped by a shocking repressed memory and loses control of the car. After a brief spell of amnesia, she tells her brother what it was she remembered: their mother had been in love with a woman. As a skeptical Antoine investigates this twist in their mother's past, an upsetting chain of events unfurls: his daughter's best friend drops dead of a heart condition at only 14 years of age; his teenage son is arrested; and he learns that his father is dying of cancer. Antoine gets support in his quest from a new lover, a Harley-riding mortician who teaches him how respecting death helps one to embrace life. This perceptive portrait of a middle-aged man's delayed coming-of-age rates as a seductive, suspenseful, and tres formidable keeper. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Library Journal
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this literary mystery, Frenchman Antoine Rey surprises his sister on her 40th birthday with a weekend visit to their childhood summer retreat. On their return trip, as Melanie is about to share an unsettling memory of their mother, she drives off the road and is critically injured in a car wreck. The plot drags through Antoine's split with his wife, his son's drunken spree, the death of his daughter's best friend, and the one bright spot: his blossoming love affair with a sexy female mortician he meets at the hospital after the wreck. Hearing Simon Vance's (see Behind the Mike, LJ 11/15/08) British-accented reading of this French story results in a disjointed experience. Even though de Rosnay's (tatianaderosnay.com) previous work, Sarah's Key (2007)-also available from Macmillan Audio and AudioGo-was an international best seller, this ranks as a marginal purchase. ["Different from the historical Sarah's Key but with as profound an effect," read the review of the St. Martin's hc, LJ Xpress Reviews, 9/30/10.-Ed.]-Sandy Glover, Camas P.L., WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.