A man whose wife died in a car accident becomes obsessed with the widow of her wife's lover--who was driving the car they died in. In a Garnier story, normal logic doesn't necessarily apply, but one things leads to another, and...you'll have to read it to find out. Men don't come out so well in most Garnier stories. Women doesn't necessarily come out well either, but they seem to get more sympathy from him. It's a strange but all too real universe depicted here. ( )

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and I really enjoyed it.

I discovered Pascal Garnier about a year ago through the ebook versions of his short novels published by Gallic Books and I am already a die hard fan. Garnier is first rate. His short novels are compelling, tense, darkly humorous, and dripping with noir atmosphere and characters. They are definitely meant to be finished in one sitting. I just can’t imagine stopping before the end.

I don’t want to give away much of the plot so I will be brief. Our humorously quirky and neurotic protagonist in The Front Seat Passenger has recently become a widower when his wife dies in a car accident. He is confused by the circumstances because the accident occurred far from their home and not in a place that she was supposed to be. He then learns that she was not alone in the car (she was the front seat passenger), so he not only has to deal with her death, which he finds most inconvenient, but also the fact that she was having an affair, which he finds embarrassing. Frankly, he is so odd in his twisted perspective that I found myself alternating between finding him humorous and being disgusted by his shallowness and lack of emotional maturity.

For understandable reasons, he is curious to find out about “the other man;” then for reasons that make sense really only to him, decides stalks that man’s wife. The interaction grows more and more tense and uncomfortable as he gets closer and closer to her. He realizes, as anyone would, that he is treading on dangerous ground and I found myself squirming as potential pitfalls started to crop up everywhere. Not wanting to give away anything, I will say that nothing is as it seems and the story gets darker and darker with each surprise and each unexpected development.

To say this would make an incredible movie is an understatement. Absolutely fantastic classic noir story every bit as tense as Double Indemnity.

5 stars. A classic.
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