A review by serenereader9
The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker

adventurous mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was really intelligently done. I always find 500+ page books daunting so I struggled a bit at first, but I do recommend it was really well done. To be honest I don't enjoy writers writing themselves into books as the protaginist we follow (like in Anthony Horowitz's 'The word is murder'). But because there were so many layers and stories within the story that we didn't dwell on him too much.

I thought all the nods to Bernard were very sweet and clever.

I found Lev's dad and Anastatia's mom so infuriating! But for the most part I liked all the characters. I thought the three main characters are well potrayed as not all good or all bad but very much in between which isn't always the case with books. There were some good twists

I knew there had to be a reason the book kept stressing the acting! But my jaw dropped when I figured 4 characters were Lev! Another good twist was that the mystery was another layer deeper into the book. So not just a book within a book, but a book within a book, within a book within the book.

I also liked how we kept moving throughout the various timelines in a non-linear way. This just kept me on my toes and we never stopped moving so nothing got boring. I also appreciated that we never really ended a chapter of a timeline with 'and little did we know the lies that awaited us' or 'little did we realize the trouble ahead'. That irks me all the time. The grief that is dealt with by many of the characters is also beautifully illustrated. 

Life is a novel whose conclusion we already know: in the end, the hero dies. The most important thing is not how our story ends, but how we fill the pages. For life, like a novel must be an adventure. And adventures are life's vacations.

There were so many beautiful messages in this book about living your life to the fullest, and setting your priorities straight because in the end it's not the job or the reputation. It's the people that are important to chase after. That is what truly makes us happy. The parallel between the day he wants to forget: 6/22 and the room # and it's story that the hotel wants to forget: 622 was very interesting to me.

 I very much enjoyed the setting of the hotel and Switzerland. If you're looking for a complex, escapist, espionage/thriller then this is for you.