Released by Pocket editions this autumn, Vertige, the tenth novel by Franck Thilliez, is an efficient and anxiety-inducing thriller. 344 pages that will awaken the visceral fear in more than one reader of finding oneself trapped underground…
Nice Premium takes you to the depths of the abyss.
Yes, despite the title suggesting peaks and extreme heights, it is indeed underground that the story unfolds.
Jonathan Touvier, in his fifties, wakes up in a cave; it is cold, and he is chained to the rock with a heavy chain. Pok, his faithful companion, a nearly wild wolf-dog, is also present.
After a quick survey, he discovers the environment imposed on him: a tent, warm clothes, a locked trunk, sleeping bags, a helmet with a headlamp. But also two other men: young Farid, chained like him but by the foot, and Michel, free to move but with his head trapped in an iron mask equipped with a bomb, set to explode if he strays too far from his unfortunate companions.
Who are they? Why are they prisoners in this chasm? What is their commonality?
Who will be the liar? Who will be the thief? Who will be the killer?
These strange questions are strapped to the back of each protagonist.
This page-turner by Franck Thilliez is as much a dreadful torture as it is a 100% successful thriller!
The survival of these three men in the bowels of the earth will reveal personalities, unearth secrets, buried pasts, deep faults, and their primal fears. The closed environment will suffocate the reader but also make them eager to continue reading, to discover who could have orchestrated this and above all, why?
The story revolves around Jonathan, a former mountaineer and journalist for an extreme sports magazine, whose wife is awaiting a bone marrow transplant, her last chance.
The novel revisits certain elements from La forêt des ombres by the same author, published in 2007: the cold, isolation, characters with a heavy past.
Thilliez’s style gives no respite to his characters or the reader, pushing them to the limit, sometimes revealing the most vile aspects of humanity in their struggle for survival. The narrative is punctuated with short chapters on the life in the chasm organizing itself as best as possible – Jonathan possesses enough knowledge on living in extreme environments – and moments from the hero’s past life, notably his mountaineering period. The reading remains anxiety-inducing but offers a few breaths of air thanks to passages recounting his adventures on the world’s highest peaks.
One may fear the closed environment and its lack of landscapes or new characters, but Franck Thilliez manages to maintain growing interest throughout the pages. He creates complex, ambiguous, determined, and nuanced characters. Michel and Farid are as interesting to discover and understand as Jonathan.
The plot of Vertige is reminiscent of the Saw film series where the cunning killer tortures his victims both physically and psychologically. Besides, Vertige is not recommended for the faint-hearted, as, like in all extreme situations, some horrors are eventually committed. These scenes, of course, add extra tension, making Vertige a true thriller – from the English to thrill, shiver… Chills guaranteed!
As for the ending – unexpected – of the book, it will leave most readers a bit perplexed as the author reshuffles the cards, manipulating characters and readers alike, instilling a touch of madness and ultimately raising many questions.
“Madness would not sound so hollow. Remember this sound of metal. As long as it resonates in your head, it will prove you are not mad.” – excerpt from the novel Darkness
