The former detective isn't that eager to take on this case, but he lets himself get talked into it.

Suggestively, he also mentions one of Madeleine ancestors, her great-grandmother, Pauline Lagerlac, who seems to have suffered from a similar mysterious affliction - and committed suicide when she was twenty-five, coincidentally Madeleine's age now. However, she has these peculiar attacks that leave her absent, as if suddenly lost in a dream or sleep-walking, and Gevigné thinks Flavières might be able to get to the root of this. He wants Flavières to follow her around and see if he can figure out what's going on.ĭoctors have examined Madeleine and say she's normal, while Gevigné has followed her a bit and is certain she's not having an affair. Gevigné comes to Flavières because he is concerned about his wife, Madeleine, who has been acting strangely. The story begins with Paul Gevigné seeking out a friend from his university days, Roger Flavières.Īlthough they used to even share lodgings while students, they have long gone their separate ways.įlavières used to be a police detective, but left the force and now has a law practice Gevigné is an industrialist, ready to make a killing from the war. Vertigo begins in a France where the rumblings of war are everywhere in the background it is the eve of World War II. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review 's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. (.) When at length it comes the explanation is shocking and brilliant but not quite sufficiently so to justify the long trudge through the preliminary story.' - Anthony Meredith Quinton, Times Literary Supplement

'It is a pure exercise in ingenuity of plot.

'Tantalising, and quite irresistible - like the living dead woman herself.' - The Spectator.Vertigo is the basis for the 1958 film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart and Kim Novakī+ : stylish thriller, though a bit drawn-out.Originally published in English as The Living and the Dead now published as Vertigo.Originally published in French as D'entre les morts now published as Sueurs froides.General information | review summaries | our review | links | about the authors

Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs. Vertigo (The Living and the Dead) - Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

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