The Enigma of Room 622 – A Book Review

The Enigma of Room 622 was my first encounter with Joël Dicker. I went into this book with no real expectations. But based on the amount of buzz it was generating in some of my reading circles and the book jacket copy I hoped for the best–an exciting, entertaining read that left me energized and enthralled.

Just look at this blurb: “A burnt-out writer’s retreat at a fancy Swiss hotel is interrupted by a murder mystery in this metafictional, meticulously crafted whodunit.” Oh! Vacation interrupted by murder? In a metafictional story? That sounds fun. I mean I know The Enigma of Room 622 is not the most unique concept for a book, but I’m a writer. I have a healthy respect for tropes. And a much needed respite interrupted by murder happens to be one of them.

Then I saw that The Enigma of Room 622 was likened to a story by the mistress of mystery herself, Agatha Christie (I love her!). A.J. Finn (author of The Woman in the Window, which I have not read, a fact which alone should have caused me to approach this book with ore caution) named some of my favorite mystery writers: Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware, and Anthony Horowitz, as worthy comparisons to Dicker.

The lost art of editing

So I hit purchase and two days later the book arrived on my doorstep. All 574 pages of it!!

That should have been clue number one. The Enigma of Room 622 is one long ass book.

I love to read. I read voraciously. I read across genres. I’m, not afraid of a long book. But 574 pages! Seriously? Just as I don’t want to watch a three hour movie, I don’t want to read a ten pound tome that rivals a textbook for fun. When I see a story that takes this long tell I am immediately suspicious of the story teller. Why so many words? Whatever happened to editing?

Suddenly, I found myself wishing I had read Joël’s other books, Maybe then I could understand why this author no longer had to follow conventional rules of publishing. (And now that I finished this one, I wish I read one of the other books first so that I could understand the acclaim).

But, I put my doubts aside and gave the book a try. I sure hoped The Enigma of Room 622 was worth it.

My initial reaction . . .

It wasn’t . . . terrible. At least not at first.

Not all of it..

My early complaints revolved around word choice and repetition of phrase. I know these shortcomings are more likely the fault of the translator than the author. And so, I’m willing to cut the guy some slack. But he often used the same exact phrases there times on one page. And he must have stated the name of the city Geneva 300 times.

Most readers probably won’t be bothered by this minute detail. I’m currently doing line edits of my own work and I’m on the lookout for those telltale phrases I use way too often, so the “sloppiness” of The Enigma of Room 622 was immediately apparent to me.

Is anybody buying this plot?

A problem far bigger than the word choice was the plot.

The Enigma of Room 622 starts interestingly enough with Dicker himself, living in Geneva, going through a bad spell of writer’s block after the death of his mentor. Add the tragedy of a bad break up, which is tough to buy because the relationship itself is never developed in the book (yep, 574 pages and he doesn’t have time to establish the impetus for his flight from the city), he flees to a hotel in the mountains where he’s soon embroiled in trying to solve a decade old murder. The investigation in turn leads him to the Swiss banking world, something I admittedly know little about.

Any of these story lines could have made for an interesting novel. But, Dicker’s doesn’t adequately explore any of them in any detail. Instead he overcomplicates matters and layers storyline on top of storyline on top of storyline, which for this reader proved to be too much. He quickly and simultaneously introduces multiple characters in multiple time periods each with their own convoluted story. My own head was spinning trying to keep them all straight, and I wondered how he kept track of what he was writing. The man must have a very good organization system.

All the jumping back and forth made it difficult to remember who was who and how the characters were related to one another and who knew what when. Keeping these stories straight required a ridiculous number of rereads (I was glad I was reading a hard copy book and could flip the pages rather than trying to scroll through back through an ebook or God forbid, an audio book), and some mental gymnastics.

Characters or caricatures? – The real Enigma of Room 622

The characters themselves are not very likable, Not one of them. I know flawed characters are what make a book work, but you also want some redeeming qualities. The characters in the Enigma of Room 622 were all dumb and their actions bordered on ridiculous. I had no idea who I was supposed to be rooting for throughout this story.

The men came across as power hungry. Other than Lev, who had a number of issues of his own, the only thing they seemed to care about was status and success. Macaire, who may have been the protagonist, although that was probably the author himself was completely self-absorbed, delusional, unable to make a decision, and and afraid of commitment. Although now that I right those words, they are equally descriptive of the narrator himself.

The women are poorly developed characters, who all desperately need be loved or saved. Bleh! Both Anastasia (the wife) and Alma (the maid) are little more than superficial stereotypes. I’m sorry, but when I’m not invested in the outcome of any of the characters it is difficult to stay engaged in the reading.

But keep reading I did. All the way to the end. At which point I wrinkled my nose in disgust and did another round of flipping back a few pages to reread to make sure I understood correctly. Sadly, I did.

Instead of picking up pace in the last third of the book (you know, the part that would have been edited out of the book in a normal novel), I began losing interest. The surprise revelations grew more absurd by the page, and I almost abandoned it.

After what seemed like forever, I made it to the final twist. Which Dickers then wrapped up in the shiny bow of a “happy” ending. I rubbed my eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on me. Then I rubbed my head and wondered why I had just spent umpteen hours reading this book.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. My honest recommendation, is don’t waste your time on The Enigma of Room 622. I’d generously give it 1.5 stars.

Happy Reading!

PS: Want to read a better book? Try The Start Up Wife, by Tahmima Anam.