The Front Seat Passenger by Pascal Garnier

The Front Seat Passenger (1997, this edition 2004) is set in Paris, France.

Whenever Fabien Delorme visited his father in Normandy for the weekend, he remembered his mother Charlotte, and her death, even though he hadn’t seen her for 35 years. The novel begins with Fabien visiting his father and then returning home to an empty house – perhaps his wife Sylvie is at the cinema.

Sylvie dies in a car accident in Dijon. What was she doing there? Fabien is stunned to learn that the male driver also died. Who was he? Sylvie’s lover was 50-year-old Martial Arnoult – a married man from Paris. Martial’s wife was 31-year-old Martine.

Fabien begins stalking Martine – the front seat passenger of the big grey BMW driven by Madeleine. His intentions towards Martine were somewhat vague, but it was something like this: ‘that man stole my wife; I’m going to steal his.’

He wants to get Martine on her own, but her protective best friend Madeleine is like a ‘bulldog’ by her side. He even follows Martine and Madeleine to Majorca, for their 10-day holiday. And then, one day, he becomes Martine’s front seat passenger.

‘Misfortune had got its foot in the door … it would never leave now.’ How did Fabien get himself in this predicament, and how is he going to get out of it?

This is a dark tale of paranoia and revenge, of dependency and isolation, of fear and resignation, of subjugation and detachment. There are twists and turns that make this novel extremely interesting and gripping to the end.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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