We had let ourselves be carried away so well by the previous novel by this American author (Drowningpublished in 2020) that we were very curious to discover this title which is only his second translated into French.
Posted yesterday at 11:30 a.m.
JP Smith, who is also a screenwriter, has published nearly a dozen novels and his first profession rubs off on his writings. As Drowning, The medium is the kind of book that would make an excellent script for a horror movie, a bit like Stephen King – minus the bloody scenes! We navigate here between suspense and supernatural, and the result is an intense psychological thriller which, beyond keeping us in suspense, makes us downright uncomfortable.
Kit Capriol is an unemployed, debt-ridden actress who has lived alone in Manhattan since losing her husband in the 9/11 attacks and her teenage daughter in a coma. To make ends meet, she pretends to be a medium and contacts bereaved people she finds through obituaries published in the New York Times. If this method has so far proved to be a good means of subsistence, trouble arises when she learns that two police officers are investigating her. Strange events then begin to occur at the same time. Where is the boundary between the real and the imaginary? Kit comes to doubt his own sanity as the author mires us in his trap. The result is a captivating read that brilliantly manages to arouse fear, despite a plot that awakens a vague impression of deja vu.
The medium
JP Smith (translated from English by Karine Lalechère)
Gallimard
384 pages