Incertitude

by Michael Larsen

Le journaliste danois Martin Molberg se retrouve dans un hôtel de Los Angeles d'où il est censé chasser les stars et envoyer des reportages "people" à son journal. Mais ceci n'est que la version officielle. En réalité, Martin est aux États-Unis pour tenter de résoudre l'énigme d'une image qui le hante, et il y a de quoi : cette photo, c'est celle de Monique, son ex-fiancée, "le visage tordu de plaisir", en pleine extase sexuelle dans les bras d'un inconnu dont on ne voit pas le visage. Et depuis, Monique a été retrouvée assassinée. À Copenhague. Dans une cave. Pourquoi chercher à Los Angeles, alors ? Parce qu'au dos d'un bout de papier qui accompagnait la photo, Martin a lu un nom et une adresse : Jack Roth Pascal, Hôtel Four Seasons, chambre 505. Mais à Los Angeles, personne ne semble connaître ni Monique, ni cet homme… Le psychiatre de Martin aura fort à faire avec ce client grand consommateur de médicaments et d'alcool. À tel point que, comme Martin, le lecteur ne peut jamais distinguer le réel du virtuel…

Un roman en forme de labyrinthe dont on ne sait trop s'il emprunte davantage à Kafka qu'à Hitchcock. Une œuvre troublante, poétique, qui pose les bonnes questions sur ce que nous pouvons percevoir de la prétendue réalité, dans un univers truffé d'images virtuelles, de trucages. Des États-Unis au Danemark, on plonge sans retenue dans ce monde de dingues. Puissante réflexion sur le pouvoir des images, le texte est servi par une écriture enlevée, remarquable. Le tout débouche sur une impression de malaise lancinant qui taraude le héros… et lecteur ! Une réussite, par l'auteur d'un autre excellent roman noir, Le Serpent de Sydney. --Bruno Ménard

Genres: Fiction, Danish

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 10, 1996

About the author

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Reviews

[Larissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book began with a great premise: in the wake of his girlfriend's murder, a man discovers a picture of her having (porno-style) sex with another man. Though this is his only clue, and despite the fact that he is still the police's main suspect, he decides--vigilante-style--to solve her murder himself. Along the way, he begins to sleep with a woman who not only resembles his deceased girlfriend, but who also works for the same airline. The Hitchcock-ian echoes compound when he begins spying on his neighbors (and they on him) from his...Rear Window. Unfortunately, even for these great (and as it has been pointed out to me--Thanks, M. Asher--rather De Palma-esque) cinematic flourishes, the narrative simply cannot sustain itself under the equal weights of empty characterization (we know that the main character is a war reporter and a technophobe, but don't know why or really see any traits in action) and a foolish plot which presupposes the downfall of contemporary civilization via the evils of digital television.

Rather than give us a true picture of our anti-hero, Larsen hides the man behind incendiary speeches about the masses' inability to understand modern art, society's dumbed down morality and passivity, and strangely damning monologues about having raped women who he knew actually 'really wanted it in the end.' Which doesn't really give us any reason to invest in this person when the plotline--hinging on the untamed power and evil of High Definition Television (that is, H.D.T.V!)--spirals into a the paranoiac realm of such Technopocolypse classics as "The Net."

What's worst for me, however, is that we're seeing, yet again, a novel that begins with an exciting, meaning-laden, and (gasp!) entertaining concept, degenerate immediately upon trying to tackle--with a remarkable lack of foresight--some bigger, grander issue. Because apparently, one murder is not enough for us, and nothing really counts unless we can attach some grand, global crisis to it.

[Indrė Česnavičienė · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is 1 sakinio padaryti 5 sakiniai. Vietoj ,,raudonas kilimas" - ,,karaliskai bordinio rausvumo ir kreminio saulelydzio atspalvio kilimas". Erzino skaitant, pasidaviau po 3 skyriu. Nors pats siuzetas - sudomino.

[Olivia L · Rating 3 out of 5]

A suspenseful, short novel I read on holiday a few years ago. It was written in 1994 so some of the concepts and themes are quite outdated and make the ‘reveal’ somewhat anticlimactic if you happen to read this in the 21st century. Time Machine recommended.

The narrator is definitely an anti-hero and the book has themes a lot of readers would consider disturbing.

I can’t remember if my Nan gifted me this book, or if I bought it from an English book shop in Portugal but I sincerely hope it’s the latter, given the content.

Well written, page turning, confusing book that reminds me how god awful some people are.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Progresas yra siurbele, parazitas, kurio didziausias ateities pasiekimas bus tai, kad jis pajegs susvelninti savo paties sukeltas katastrofas."

[Tiah]

A very readable page turner of a sorts.

I think the problem with this book is that it isn't old enough to be "old" but it is too old to be current. So I was laughing at many sections that were never made to be funny. The premises hinges on the fear over technology - primarily computers. But given the book was copyrighted in 1994 even the internet as we now know is a murky world left to the techies. The bit where somebody talks about this "new" program named Explorer had me in stitches.

This is something that can happen to any book trying to explore modern times. It doesn't make the book bad - I enjoyed it. But yes, with my laughing at all the wrong places (it isn't supposed to be a comedy) this did prevent me from giving it four stars.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover of my edition is not so racy! But if it had been, I might have saved myself the trouble of reading it. The book raises some interesting questions, but they get rather drowned in the sex and drugs and paranoia. Uncomfortable to read, and I stopped really caring during the climbing-all-over-a-fancy-hotel-face-while-pursued scene. Maybe good for those who like really hard-boiled but not really realistic novels?

[Liam Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read an advance readers' copy of this in 1996

[Ken Fredette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an old book from 1996. It is full of TV lore HD TV and how people have been duped. Something to think about. It was a good old journalistic who done it.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts out well and seems quite interesting. In the last third of the book the story becomes too unrealistic and I loose interest.