What She Saw

March 27, 2017
Irish author Stembridge (The Effect of Her) provides a satisfyingly twisty 24-hour thrill ride through the heart of contemporary Paris. Lana Gibson, an American living in Dublin, decides on a whim to fly to Paris, where she intends to see an art exhibition and not think too hard about an old lover living in the city. At the posh Hotel Le Chevalier, she talks to a beautiful woman in the bar. An hour later, the impulsive Lana slips into the hotel’s private elevator, which she knows goes up to a private suite. When the elevator doors open, she spots the woman from the bar resisting the advances of a naked older man. Lana takes photos with her cell phone before the doors close. The man turns out to be Jean-Luc Fournier, an important French politician, and Lana soon finds herself in big trouble. The secondary viewpoint of a frustrated small player in Fournier’s organization adds complexity and raises the tension. Agent: Gráinne Fox, Fletcher & Company.

April 1, 2017
What Lana Gibson saw in an exclusive Paris hotel suite was more than just disturbing. The 35-year-old bipolar American woman, living with her executive husband in Dublin, is in a manic phase when she takes off on a whim for an overnight visit to Paris to see the definitive Edward Hopper exhibit there. When Lana finds an elevator used solely for her hotel's Suite Imperial, she can't resist nosing around until she gets a glimpse inside the suite, where she sees a sex party in full swing and a naked old man assaulting a beautiful, fully clad young woman. Appalled, Lana flees and tries to explain what she saw in a phone call to police. Thus begins a 24-hour whirlwind in which Lana discovers that she's become involved in French politics at the highest level, with her life at risk and her assessments of who she can trust repeatedly shaken. Irish writer and director Stembridge creates an indefatigable protagonist, emboldened and energized by her mania, in a chase through the vividly portrayed City of Light. A thoroughly entertaining mix of suspense and setting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)