cover image After the Crash

After the Crash

Michel Bussi, trans. from the French by Sam Taylor. Hachette, $26 (400p) ISBN 978-0-316-30967-7

French crime author Bussi makes his English-language debut with an insightful thriller. A three-month-old girl, dubbed the Dragonfly by the media, is the sole survivor of a 1980 airline crash in the Jura Mountains at the Franco-Swiss border. The Dragonfly was one of two babies the same age on the flight from Istanbul to Paris, but during the crash any bits of identification were lost. Was the baby Lyse-Rose de Carville, granddaughter of a wealthy family and now heir to an industrial fortune? Or was the little survivor Emilie Vitral, whose grandparents operate a van that sells snack food in Dieppe? Both sets of parents died in the crash, and the primitive DNA testing of the time can’t provide an answer. Meanwhile, sleazy Crédule Grand-Duc, a former mercenary turned private detective, spends the next 18 years trying to uncover the child’s identity. This fascinating tale of intrigue and murder delves into complicated family bonds as it builds to a surprising and shocking conclusion. [em](Jan.) [/em]