Blood Wedding

Like an ingenious long con, this devious psychological thriller from Prix Goncourt–winner Lemaitre (The Great Swindle) promises a satisfying eventual payoff—but only to readers willing to persevere through a depressing first half centered on a protagonist who’s pretty hard to root for, despite the many tragedies in her young life. Down-on-her-luck Parisian Sophie Duguet becomes the subject of a nationwide manhunt, accused of cold-blooded murders—including the strangulation of the six-year-old she was caring for—which she has no recollection of committing. From there things swiftly worsen for the fugitive, who seems to be struggling more with paralyzing nightmares and other manifestations of what she interprets as mental illness than with evading capture—until a second main character, the mysterious Frantz, bursts onto the scene. His arrival turns everything you think you know about Sophie and the story so far on its head, setting up an intensely suspenseful, if wildly unbelievable, cat and mouse game. (Sept.)