Heatwave by Victor Jestin

GENRE: Psychological thriller. Novella.

FIRST PUBLISHED: 2018 by Flammarion. My copy, 2021 by Scribner.

THEMES: Suicide. Adolescence. Holidaying. Family. Making friends. Lust. Society. Fitting in. Coming of age. Morality. 

READING TIME: Approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes.

PURCHASED FROM: Waterstones

PLOT: Leonard is seventeen and an outsider. Whilst holidaying with his family during a heatwave in France, Leonard witnesses another teenager, apparently committing suicide. He then decides to bury the body. The story follows Leonard's inner thoughts about the what he has done, what he hasn't done, and about how he sees himself and the'others' in a society he clearly struggles with. 

MY REFLECTIONS: If the song 'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads was a book, this would be it. It is a short story about a boy who does not fit in and his awareness of this. It's fuelled with sexual tension, inner conflict and clever contrasts. The writing is intelligently done. I love how Leonard's descriptions of the 'normality' around him is portrayed as something unpleasant that he cannot understand, and which in turn highlights his distance and unwillingness to be a part of it, which furthermore calls attention to what is unpleasant and difficult to understand in him by the 'others'. His repeated reference to the rest of society as 'the others' is another means of expressing his difference and detachment from people - it's skilfully done. In places it is darkly comical. I think my favourite bit of dark comedy is when we've just left a scene of him having an uncomfortable homosexual encounter, which follows a punch up, and then him waking to say "My parents woke me. They'd just come back from an excellent bingo evening, with drinks."I could hear the unenthusiastic tone. It's the word 'excellent' that does the job so well. There is so much information given about Leonard's personality, and the other characters too, through the writing's attention to detail. This book isn't for everyone. It isn't a comfortable read. If you like it psychologically dark though, like moi, pick it up. It's half price in Waterstones right now, and at £4.50 it's definitely worth a read.