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Le second suspect
Un couple elegant quitte un luxueux hotel de Manhattan en pleine apres-midi. Elle porte un attache-case, lui un pesant sac de golf. a l'interieur: le corps d'une prostituee qu'ils viennent d'assassiner au cours de leurs ebats...
Lorsque des policiers en civil surgissent, le film s'accelere: en quelques minutes, Gabriel Santerre, l'un des avocats les plus reputes de New York, et son epouse Ingrid, se retrouvent menottes au poignet.
Au commissariat, un etrange duel a distance s'engage entre Santerre et sa femme. L'avocat accuse sa compagne, psychiquement fragile; cette derniere, hagarde, reste silencieuse comme si elle cherchait a proteger quelqu'un... Mais pour l'inspecteur du NYPD, Carolyn Reese, il ne suffit pas de compter parmi ses amis intimes le procureur general de l'etat de New York pour etre au-dessus de tout soupcon.
Sexe, corruption, luttes d'influence: l'enquete qu'elle va mener mettra au jour l'envers d'un monde en apparence si respectable... Premiere parution: l'Archipel, 2002.
Lorsque des policiers en civil surgissent, le film s'accelere: en quelques minutes, Gabriel Santerre, l'un des avocats les plus reputes de New York, et son epouse Ingrid, se retrouvent menottes au poignet.
Au commissariat, un etrange duel a distance s'engage entre Santerre et sa femme. L'avocat accuse sa compagne, psychiquement fragile; cette derniere, hagarde, reste silencieuse comme si elle cherchait a proteger quelqu'un... Mais pour l'inspecteur du NYPD, Carolyn Reese, il ne suffit pas de compter parmi ses amis intimes le procureur general de l'etat de New York pour etre au-dessus de tout soupcon.
Sexe, corruption, luttes d'influence: l'enquete qu'elle va mener mettra au jour l'envers d'un monde en apparence si respectable... Premiere parution: l'Archipel, 2002.
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First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 5, 2023
Fascinating as a retellling of 'Notice', and deeply moving given what happened to Lewis.
The mystery isn't as well done as it might have been, but this still works as a standalone book.
The mystery isn't as well done as it might have been, but this still works as a standalone book.
August 18, 2016
Full review to be combined with Heather Lewis's The Notice, as these stories are clearly related. As a detective story, this book is fairly routine, but as a depiction of stone-cold courage that gazes into the abyss without even blinking, it is clearly the work of the author of House Rules.
October 31, 2020
Just make me miss my friend even more...
December 6, 2025
I wouldn't just recommend this to anyone, but for those who can handle it, it is one you will not forget. Read "Notice" first!!!!!
I once read someone say that Heather Lewis has a knack at capturing the dark side of humanity. This is seen in all three of her works, "House Rules", "Notice", and "Second Suspect".
There were a few things I felt happened differently than previously written in "Notice" that is revisited in "Second Suspect." Honestly, sometimes Heather Lewis's writing can be confusing in the prose and voice she writes in. I would have to reread and cross-reference.
Very good writer. Very cringy matter. This is her least darkest book of the three, I feel.
"House Rules" is not associated with the same characters or timeline.
I once read someone say that Heather Lewis has a knack at capturing the dark side of humanity. This is seen in all three of her works, "House Rules", "Notice", and "Second Suspect".
There were a few things I felt happened differently than previously written in "Notice" that is revisited in "Second Suspect." Honestly, sometimes Heather Lewis's writing can be confusing in the prose and voice she writes in. I would have to reread and cross-reference.
Very good writer. Very cringy matter. This is her least darkest book of the three, I feel.
"House Rules" is not associated with the same characters or timeline.
August 18, 2020
Very dark crime drama. I am surprised how much I was into this even though almost all of the action is told in flashbacks. Usually, I hate that sort of book. However, I also had already read Lewis's Notice, which in a lot of ways plays as a first hand version of this same story from the teen prostitutes point of view, and without the police angle, so I may have felt a bit more on the inside.
Some of the writing is a little clunky (which is certainly not true of Notice), but it didn't detract from sustaining my interest.
Some of the writing is a little clunky (which is certainly not true of Notice), but it didn't detract from sustaining my interest.
December 21, 2021
Generally, I don't finish a book I don't like so it never appears here. This one is an exception. I didn't really like it but I'm not sure it's not worth reading. It's one of the darkest mysteries I've ever read. Gabriel and Ingrid Santerre are a couple with money and power and they kill young prostitutes. Caroline Reece, NYPD detective, wants to prove this and she wants it badly. While you read the book, you can literally see a black and white movie of it in your head complete with ominous sound track. Interesting.
August 30, 2026
"The twisted truth in these netherworlds...the truth in a place where each and every thing was turned upside down? The truth of such places was that only love mattered, love and the lack of it" (234).
To understand "The Second Suspect", you must read its pseudo prequel, "Notice"- which is one of the most transgressive novels I've ever read.
I suspect anyone who's actually read it feels the same way I do. It's utterly repulsive and dark. It's also one of the most courageous novels I've read about a woman's disassociation from sexual abuse that I simply could not look away.
Heather Lewis (1961-2002) wrote three books in which I've now finished two. She lived a life that was marked by violence and sadism. She wrote much about these experiences in her work. You would have to do some homework and pre-read what her life was like until she killed herself.
Read about Heather Lewis' work and times here:
https://www.thenation.com/article/cul...
"The Second Suspect" is Ms. Lewis' third book, but published second- because publishers did not want to publish "Notice" due to it's harrowing content. It had been considered too raw for publishers.
This is the book that spawned events that have transpired after "Notice" ends. In "Notice" the narrator is a woman who calls herself Nina, a sex worker trapped in a fugue state.
In "The Second Suspect", it is about Detective Caroline Reese of the NYPD who is investigating the murder of a sex worker who's found wrapped inside a golf bag. The perpetrators are the wealthy Santerres: The charismatic and psychopath Gabriel and his seemingly weak willed wife, Ingrid.
It's a night of rough, kinky sex gone awry, and the question beckons: have they done this before?
It is Ingrid who's called the police to notify them that Gabriel has stuffed the girl inside a golf bag. Soon we are taken into a novel that is both a psychosexual study of tortured souls and a noirish procedural that unfolds with grim intensity.
Ingrid may or may not be complicit in this girl's murder, "a dreaming that led her eyes open again but see nothing of her immediate surroundings" (7). Meanwhile, Gabriel is calm and collected about the whole mess, but of course, is somehow shaken that this happened, "his eyes were the true trouble. His eyes were open in a way that could draw you in while letting you know they could close off"(44).
Enter a young woman, kept in style and in isolation named Lynn Carver by Gabriel. We learn she is "Nina" from "Notice"- a sex worker living in a trapped state of both fear and sexual masochism.
Caroline does not know how to even approach someone like Lynn, and she needs her to cooperate and speak up to take down Ingrid and Gabriel.
Caroline finds herself dealing with a woman that is emmeshed in a game of sexual masochism and torture that Lynn is only defined by Gabriel’s power “in every way she'd serve his purpose" (167) because surprise- she looks like the Santerres' dead daughter, Lila, "she'd so resembled his daughter he cautioned himself" (167).
And it is a twisted game of love at its most perverse- is why Lynn, aka Nina, cannot let herself go from their clutches. She pretends to be their dead daughter, whom Gabriel drowned after raping.
Lynn keeps the fantasy going for Ingrid that Lila is back from the dead. For Ingrid this is a way to love the daughter that she didn’t love before. For Gabriel, it is his way of loving Ingrid, having Lila/Nina/Lynn present, and loving Lila again- he is still trapped by the memory of abusing and grooming his dead daughter. Lynn has fallen for Ingrid because she represents the mother figure she never had.
It's truly a deplorable, twisted game that is the stuff of nightmares- and Lewis writes it all down in cold, rational, empathic language.
I can't give this a perfect star rating because it ends too neatly.
Read this article below to have a better understanding of "Notice" and Heather Lewis' psyche:
https://litfemme.substack.com/p/cross...
Read my review for "Notice"- a masterpiece.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
To understand "The Second Suspect", you must read its pseudo prequel, "Notice"- which is one of the most transgressive novels I've ever read.
I suspect anyone who's actually read it feels the same way I do. It's utterly repulsive and dark. It's also one of the most courageous novels I've read about a woman's disassociation from sexual abuse that I simply could not look away.
Heather Lewis (1961-2002) wrote three books in which I've now finished two. She lived a life that was marked by violence and sadism. She wrote much about these experiences in her work. You would have to do some homework and pre-read what her life was like until she killed herself.
Read about Heather Lewis' work and times here:
https://www.thenation.com/article/cul...
"The Second Suspect" is Ms. Lewis' third book, but published second- because publishers did not want to publish "Notice" due to it's harrowing content. It had been considered too raw for publishers.
This is the book that spawned events that have transpired after "Notice" ends. In "Notice" the narrator is a woman who calls herself Nina, a sex worker trapped in a fugue state.
In "The Second Suspect", it is about Detective Caroline Reese of the NYPD who is investigating the murder of a sex worker who's found wrapped inside a golf bag. The perpetrators are the wealthy Santerres: The charismatic and psychopath Gabriel and his seemingly weak willed wife, Ingrid.
It's a night of rough, kinky sex gone awry, and the question beckons: have they done this before?
It is Ingrid who's called the police to notify them that Gabriel has stuffed the girl inside a golf bag. Soon we are taken into a novel that is both a psychosexual study of tortured souls and a noirish procedural that unfolds with grim intensity.
Ingrid may or may not be complicit in this girl's murder, "a dreaming that led her eyes open again but see nothing of her immediate surroundings" (7). Meanwhile, Gabriel is calm and collected about the whole mess, but of course, is somehow shaken that this happened, "his eyes were the true trouble. His eyes were open in a way that could draw you in while letting you know they could close off"(44).
Enter a young woman, kept in style and in isolation named Lynn Carver by Gabriel. We learn she is "Nina" from "Notice"- a sex worker living in a trapped state of both fear and sexual masochism.
Caroline does not know how to even approach someone like Lynn, and she needs her to cooperate and speak up to take down Ingrid and Gabriel.
Caroline finds herself dealing with a woman that is emmeshed in a game of sexual masochism and torture that Lynn is only defined by Gabriel’s power “in every way she'd serve his purpose" (167) because surprise- she looks like the Santerres' dead daughter, Lila, "she'd so resembled his daughter he cautioned himself" (167).
And it is a twisted game of love at its most perverse- is why Lynn, aka Nina, cannot let herself go from their clutches. She pretends to be their dead daughter, whom Gabriel drowned after raping.
Lynn keeps the fantasy going for Ingrid that Lila is back from the dead. For Ingrid this is a way to love the daughter that she didn’t love before. For Gabriel, it is his way of loving Ingrid, having Lila/Nina/Lynn present, and loving Lila again- he is still trapped by the memory of abusing and grooming his dead daughter. Lynn has fallen for Ingrid because she represents the mother figure she never had.
It's truly a deplorable, twisted game that is the stuff of nightmares- and Lewis writes it all down in cold, rational, empathic language.
I can't give this a perfect star rating because it ends too neatly.
Read this article below to have a better understanding of "Notice" and Heather Lewis' psyche:
https://litfemme.substack.com/p/cross...
Read my review for "Notice"- a masterpiece.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
January 17, 2025
The Second Suspect (of De tweede verdachte in de Nederlandse vertaling) kent een interessante voorgeschiedenis. Oorspronkelijk was het plan van Lewis om met
Notice
, die ik recentelijk las en waanzinnig vond, te debuteren, maar deze werd door achttien uitgeverijen geweigerd, vanwege de inhoud. Zodoende stelde haar literaire agent voor om het boek te herschrijven naar een thriller voor een 'groter publiek', en dat werd De tweede verdachte.
Met deze kennis is het waardevol om beide boeken naast elkaar te lezen, aangezien dit boek zich een jaar of tien ná Notice afspeelt. De horror blijkt nog niet voorbij te zijn. Bij vlagen merk je dat het thrillergenre Lewis niet helemaal ligt, maar alsnog weet ze een scherpe en wederom, bij vlagen ook, angstaanjagende roman te schrijven.
Met deze kennis is het waardevol om beide boeken naast elkaar te lezen, aangezien dit boek zich een jaar of tien ná Notice afspeelt. De horror blijkt nog niet voorbij te zijn. Bij vlagen merk je dat het thrillergenre Lewis niet helemaal ligt, maar alsnog weet ze een scherpe en wederom, bij vlagen ook, angstaanjagende roman te schrijven.
November 20, 2021
It's interesting reading a book written in a mindset of 2 decades ago. The wife clearly has some PTSD and mental health issues, but these are just played off as being crazy or not worth mentioning, which is a reflection of the misunderstanding of the time. The book itself is dark in concept but just does not engage the reader fully, being your typical detective drama. I was also left confused by the ending.
January 13, 2026
The second book of the trilogy. I plan on finishing them all and then reading them once again. Unfortunately, I met Heather Lewis very recently and learned that she has only three books published. I guess the universe, or the divine creator or whatever you like to believe, don't know what to do with precious things. The way she writes is beyond my description skills. its beautiful, its sad. Its real
July 7, 2020
I give this 3.5 stars.
I read another book by this author which was very disturbing and yet very compelling, which is why I wanted to read this. It has some of the same elements but didn't have the same pull.
I read another book by this author which was very disturbing and yet very compelling, which is why I wanted to read this. It has some of the same elements but didn't have the same pull.
May 5, 2021
Superb writing - grim and grubby and squalid - tension written delightfully
May 25, 2022
I couldn't not recommend this enough
July 9, 2015
I had to chose a book for a challenge that I'm working on that had received bad reviews, so I searched a few places to find some ideas and this book mentioned in an review from and Ivy League school. I enjoyed the book though. I very often figure out who the culprit is in crime stories, but this one kept me on my toes.
May 13, 2009
Compared to 'House rules' and 'Notice' this book was very disappointing. I actually got bored reading it. Would never had thought that, as I loved Heather's other books (though they were difficult to read because of the subject matter). Too bad there won't be any more...
December 5, 2013
This was a fast read, however, the story did not flow as well as I would have liked. Overall a good book. I was just frustrated at times trying to follow the present/past conversations.
April 9, 2016
Who is really responsible for the murder of a young prostitute? Husband and wife are both suspects, and while it seems as if he is framing her, the wife’s innocence is questionable too.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews