Recommended Reads - Michel Bussi's 'After the Crash'

It is 22 December 1980. The victim of a horrendous snow storm, a plane bound from Istanbul to Paris crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is immediately consumed by flames. All 169 passengers were killed instantly; except one. Referred to by the media as ‘the Miracle of Mount Terrible’, the sole survivor is a three month old baby girl. Now an orphan, the search is on to find her grandparents and reunite the family. Problems arise when two families, one rich and one poor, step forward to claim the child and demand that an investigation into the child’s true identity begins. An investigation that will last for nearly two decades.

Eighteen years later and with the case no closer to being solved, Crédule Grand-Duc, a private investigator hired by one of the families to crack the case, plans to take his own life. His final act is to write down an account of the investigation, leaving it in the hands of the girl. But, on the cusp of midnight, Grand-Duc uncovers a secret that shakes the entire investigation to its core -  and is immediately killed before he can tell anyone.

While After The Crash initially feels like your typical crime novel, you are quickly plunged into a world of secrets, mysteries and deceit, and the twists and turns along the way are enough to throw you off course and force you to re-evaluate everything you think you have discovered so far. Michel Bussi’s thrilling drama explores the tensions surrounding class, politics and identity, whilst simultaneously highlighting the extent that people are willing to go to to discover the truth.

Published in the UK for the first time, Michel Bussi is already an established French crime writer, and fans of his work should have no doubts about the success of his latest novel. After The Crash should further appeal to anyone with a keen interest in the crime genre, alongside anyone searching for an action-packed familial drama that keeps you guessing right until the very end.