cover image Replay

Replay

Marc Levy, trans. from the French by Kate Bignold and Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Iyer. Europa (Penguin, dist.), $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-60945-202-5

A riveting paranormal premise propels this thriller from French author Levy (If Only It Were True). Andrew Stilman, a New York Times reporter, awakens two months before someone fatally stabs him while jogging along the Hudson, determined to find and stop his killer. Suspects abound. On his wedding night a week before the murder, Andrew revealed his obsession with a mysterious woman to his wife, leaving her devastated. His recent exposé of Chinese child trafficking has drawn death threats and a bat-wielding attacker, whose estranged wife could be even more dangerous. An ongoing investigation of Argentine war criminals triggers dicey Buenos Aires encounters and leaves him with merciless enemies. A rabidly jealous, coke-snorting coworker hacks his computer, breaks into locked desk drawers, and maintains a vitriolic Web presence. Levy’s page-turner—as much about war crimes, children stolen from their parents, and generational secrets as about Andrew’s fate—builds with satisfying suspense, but some readers will feel cheated at the end. Agent: Laura Mamelok, Susanna Lea Associates. (June)