French author Bernard Minier's Don't Turn Out the Lights opens with a deeply disturbing prologue depicting the grisly events encountered by a man walking in a forest with his dog. The scene is unsettling, and will keep readers on edge during what lies ahead.
Radio host Christine finds an unsigned and unaddressed suicide note in her mailbox on Christmas Eve, indicating the writer will kill herself if the letter's recipient doesn't intervene. Christine believes the note was mistakenly delivered to her, but it turns out to be the beginning of a nightmare, one in which her life is insidiously destroyed, by unknown persons and for no reason she can imagine. Will she be able to fight her invisible enemy, or will she choose to end the torture with her own suicide?
This psychological thriller is told primarily from Christine's point of view and that of the man in the beginning chapter, Martin Servaz (who appeared in The Circle), a cop on leave for depression. He receives clues from an anonymous sender imploring him to reevaluate an old case labeled a suicide, making Servaz wonder if a more sinister story lies behind it. His path eventually converges with Christine's, but he fears he may be too late to save her.
Minier sustains a sense of dread throughout. It's frustrating--and sometimes unconvincing--how easily Christine's tormentor can manipulate her supporters, including her fiancé, to turn against her, but once she's forced to fend for herself, she becomes a resourceful heroine. Christine endures one blow after another, but her nemesis finds it's harder than expected to put her lights out. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd