The New York Times - Sarah Lyall
The Great Swindle…is a big, swirling tale that…reads like a 19th-century novel. Heavy on extravagant characterization, kaleidoscopic description, third-person omniscient analysis, occasional first-person authorial digression, moral accounting and dissections of the motivations, thoughts and prejudices of its protagonists, this book is thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world…Mr. Lemaitre's background in crime fiction shows through in the intricate plotting and suspenseful pacing of The Great Swindle, which at times reads like a thriller. Its characters harbor so many secrets that part of the enjoyment in the book comes from seeing how the author plans to disentangle them.
Publishers Weekly
07/13/2015
Winner of the Prix Goncourt, Lemaitre’s assured, somber exploration of post-WWI French society opens shortly before the 1918 armistice. Lt. Henri d’Aulnay-Pradelle murders two of his soldiers to provoke a French attack on German territory, then unsuccessfully tries to eliminate the two witnesses, Albert Maillard and Édouard Péricourt. After the armistice , Albert works menial jobs to pay for morphine for Édouard, whose jaw was blown off when he saved Albert from Pradelle. Pradelle, meanwhile, makes his fortune reburying French soldiers in proper cemeteries. Édouard decides to exploit his country’s desire to honor fallen soldiers by contracting to build memorials and then absconding with the down payments. Lemaitre (Alex) captures the venal capitalism of the postwar period, in which Pradelle’s company buries German bodies as French soldiers and saws off corpses’ feet to fit into cheap coffins; meanwhile, politicians speak of honoring the dead, but soldiers like Édouard and Albert live in poverty. Despite his unscrupulous scheme, Édouard proves impossible to dislike. His determination to play a great trick on the society that betrayed him is infectious, and readers cannot help rooting for his plans as they reach their dark, bizarrely joyous fruition. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Winner of the Prix Goncourt
Winner the International Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel
"Mr. Lemaitre's background in crime fiction shows through in the intricate plotting and suspenseful pacing of The Great Swindle, which at times reads like a thriller. Its characters harbor so many secrets that part of the enjoyment in the book comes from seeing how the author plans to disentangle them."—Sarah Lyall, The New York Times
"Lemaitre's tale is carefully researched, and most of the story's value lies in its historical authenticity....the battlefield and hospital scenes convey Lemaitre's mastery of imagery."—Kirkus Reviews
"[An] assured, somber exploration of post-WWI French society...Lemaitre captures the venal capitalism of the postwar period...Despite his unscrupulous scheme, Édouard proves impossible to dislike. His determination to play a great trick on the society that betrayed him is infectious, and readers cannot help rooting for his plans as they reach their dark, bizarrely joyous fruition."—Publishers Weekly
"A fast-paced tale, filled with twists and turns, following a mischievous, disillusioned view of post-war France."
—Astrid de Larminat, Figaro
"A masterly epic of post-war France, where impostures triumph and capitalists grow rich from the ruins."
—Macha Séry, Le Monde
"You feel the author's indignation . . . Who really profits from war? Crooks, the vengeful, and frauds. The Great Swindle is political as much as it is picaresque."
—Christine Ferniot, Telerama
"A dark, burning requiem delivered in glorious prose that is as tough and effective as a punch in the face . . . It will leave you stunned."
—François Busnel, Express
"Its themes connect elegantly with its action . . . a striking critique of a grieving nation's desire to prettify its past."
—Times Literary Supplement
"Pierre Lemaitre breaks the elitist mould with passion, clarity, and originality . . . moving, angry, intelligent—and compelling."
—Marcel Berlins, The Times
"You'll be horrified and angered, yet often amused at this clever look at war's aftermath."
—Weekend Sport
Kirkus Reviews
2015-06-30
The battlefields of World War I give birth to two different, but related, schemes to swindle grieving French families out of their money. It's November 1918, and word is that an armistice is nigh: French soldiers on the battlefield are keenly aware that they may be going home. Thus it's with great dismay that Albert Maillard finds himself back in the fight following the shooting of two soldiers, "an old man and a kid," who were sent on a reconnaissance mission by Lt. Henri d'Aulney-Pradelle. When Albert comes across their bodies in the ensuing battle, he realizes the officer shot his own men in the back to restart the fighting, but before he can tell anyone, he finds himself buried alive after d'Aulney-Pradelle pushes him into a shell crater that then collapses on him. That's when he meets fellow soldier Edouard Pericourt, who digs him out and resuscitates him and who is then wounded himself when he catches a piece of shrapnel in the face. The shrapnel wound is terrible—it "ripped away his lower jaw; below his nose is a gaping void"—but Edouard, the artistic son of a rich man, refuses to allow any type of reconstructive surgery. He lets his family think he's dead so they won't have to see him with his terrible injury. Albert keeps him alive and, when he's released from the hospital, stays with him out of a sense of duty. Together, the two men concoct a scam to support themselves by selling war memorials they don't intend to build, while d'Aulney-Pradelle, who has married Edouard's sister, Madeleine, becomes involved in another scam to rebury French soldiers in undersized coffins. Lemaitre's tale is carefully researched, and most of the story's value lies in its historical authenticity. The book is much too long and often repetitive, and the character of Edouard is both bizarre and unsympathetic: Lemaitre never establishes a reason why he would refuse further medical intervention. The battlefield and hospital scenes convey Lemaitre's mastery of imagery, but his characters—Edouard in particular—fail to arouse much empathy in readers.
