Vertigo was written by Boileau-Narcejac, the nom-de-plume of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, one of France's most successful writing duos. From the 1950's to the 1980's they produced more than fifty thrillers, inspiring numerous films including Les Diaboliques (based on She Who Was No More) and Alfred Hitchcock's classic Vertigo. The film version closely follows the story, but there is more freedom in the novel, ramping up the violent paranoia.
It's a classic.
"Do you think it's possible to live again, Monsieur? I mean...is it possible to die and then...live again in someone else?"
Flavieres is no longer with the police, but a friend asks him to watch his wife while he is away. She has been behaving strangely - disappearing for long periods like a sleepwalker, believing she has become someone else! - traits she claims are hereditary. When he follows her through the streets of Paris, and meets her, they are compelled to begin an affair. He invents ways to keep his friend from Paris as he becomes obsessed with Madeline. On one of their romantic outings, she climbs the tower of an old church, and accidentally falls to her death! Heartbroken, he has difficulty moving on.
Years later in Marseille, his friend is dead and Flavieres is still haunted by the events, when, one night at a hotel he sees a woman who looks identical to Madeline! She calls herself Renee, and pretends she has never met him. He first tries to make her admit she is Madeline! and then they fall into an affair. So obsessed is Flavieres that he forces her to change her dress to look more like the dead woman. Is he beginning a breakdown where the boundaries between the living and the dead begin to blur? and what will happen when the true story of Madeline's death begin to reveal itself!
Nothing is what it seems.
This is a dynamite thriller, written in 1954 and just as raw and intense today. Flavieres begins with obsession and continues into tortured paranoia. It's an ingenious story with truly shocking ending that completely differs from Hitchcock's film. Author Cornell Woolrich began what is known as Noir fiction (and film noir) with titles like Rendezvous in Black, Deadline at Dawn, and The Black Angel, and the mystery novels of Boileau-Narcejac stand right beside the best of the genre.
Still original and unforgettable, this is a classic mystery to be sought out.
Originally published as D'entre les morts, also available under the title The Living and The Dead.
My other reviews for Boileau-Narcejac:
1954 / Tradeback / 189 pages
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