Crowned with the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1997, *Au lieu-dit Noir-Étang* by Thomas H. Cook was only published in France in 2012 by Seuil Policiers. Nice-Premium offers you a journey to the edge of Noir-Étang, to discover its secrets, to meet its characters, a dark and intense visit.
1926, Chatham, a small town in New England, young Henry Griswald observes the inappropriate—by the standards of the time—closeness between two of his teachers. Mr. Reed, married and a father, tries to fill a profound loneliness with Miss Channing, a young and beautiful teacher who recently arrived at Chatham School. Henry becomes a silent and complicit witness to the tragedy that unfolds at the cursed place called Noir-Étang…
Upon its release in France, Thomas H. Cook’s novel was awarded the Prix du Meilleur Polar des Lecteurs de Points. *Au lieu-dit Noir-Étang* tells the tragic fate of heroes from another era, of Mr. Reed and Miss Channing, but it does not leave unaffected the other characters who orbit around this couple, starting with the narrator, Henry. Henry, who has never forgotten that winter of 1926 and who, as an adult, plunges back into his memories to recount the events that disrupted the community of Chatham.
*Au lieu-dit Noir-Étang* is a true noir novel, heavy and oppressive, weighed down by conventions, the watchful eyes of the residents, and the insidious tragedy that hovers around the heroes. Thomas H. Cook, with a fine and slow pen, weaves a dark and sticky web, novelistic and dispenses information drop by drop. The secrets of Noir-Étang will only be revealed to you at the very end of the book, which, I must admit, will leave more than one reader frustrated at times!
The characters are skillfully crafted, from the alluring and mysterious Elizabeth Channing, adventurous and avant-garde, to Mr. Reed, consumed by an icy solitude, to young Sarah. It is regrettable that Mrs. Reed’s perspective is not explored a bit more deeply.
The descriptions of the locations and the era are perfectly transcribed; you might believe you’re in Chatham, strolling down the main street, the walk to the lighthouse, the ocean full of promises, the deserted beach or the path covered in crushed oyster shells. Thomas H. Cook succeeds in creating an atmosphere, somewhat British, of which Noir-Étang bears, much against its will, the weight of tragedy.
Full of emotions, *Au lieu-dit Noir-Étang* tells a captivating story that draws us, pulls us into the deep waters of Noir-Étang, as its characters will be. Profoundly romantic, this novel is also hypnotic and original, cruel, with an end and a fatal outcome that will attract the reader.
