The story opens with him watching a suicide and making the conscious decision to not stop it. The reason being hinted at that this other boy had the attention of the girl he wanted to be with. Like when you loath another person and have that horrible fleeting thought, “Oh why don’t they just die and leave me alone then my life would be so much easier,” but in this instance he gets exactly what he wants and is filled with a general malaise.

Heatwave: The most deliciously dark beach read of the summer

Told over the space of a long weekend, this intense and brilliant novel is the story of an adolescent struggling to fit in. Heatwave is a gripping psychological thriller that poses the existential question: Léonard c’è dentro tutto, fino al collo e oltre, non è solo testimone, non è solo spettatore: è complice, è partecipe, è artefice. You devour this book, but its effects linger, so strongly does it reverberate with destinies sacrificed to the yawn of the void’ Le Point You devour this book, but its effects linger, so strongly does it reverberate with destinies sacrificed to the yawn of the void.” —Le Point Victor Jestin’s debut novel Heatwave has an intriguing premise that unfortunately turns out to be only that as what follows isn’t particularly interesting or memorable.Other writers on the prestigious 20-strong list include Kia Abdullah for Next of Kin (HQ), Alexandra Benedict for The Christmas Murder Game (Zaffre), DV Bishop for City of Vengeance (Macmillan), Jacqueline Bublitz for Before You Knew My Name (Sphere) and SA Cosby for Razorblade Tears (Headline), which is also up for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The young author of this first novel keeps all promises, with writing of a rare precision, mature and carnal... Moving and cinematic’ La Vie If so, could Leo be an unreliable narrator and, like in Camus’ novel, the death that occurs is a murder - did Leo actually murder Oscar, because he was jealous of his being with Luce, the girl he fancies, and Leo distanced himself from the crime like he distances himself from everything else in his life, pretending the swings killed him instead? It would explain the bizarre choice of not alerting anyone to Oscar’s accidental death and implicating himself unnecessarily.

Heatwave by Victor Jestin | Waterstones

Tense and brief, this text plays with the codes of a first novel to paint a portrait of a sad and aloof teenager.”— L’Humanite Victor Jestin portrays with cruel exactitude the throes of an adolescent trapped in a secret too heavy to bear’ L’Obs Changeling’ by Bryony Pearce in Criminal Pursuits: Crime Through Time edited by Samantha Lee Howe (Telos Publishing) Victor Jestin portrays with cruel exactitude the throes of an adolescent trapped in a secret too heavy to bear.”— L’Obs The book is filled with empty interactions and fleeting moments. While the narrator bemoans his meaningless existence, it would seem many others feel the same.Stalwarts in contention for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger are MW Craven for Dead Ground (Constable), Laura Lippman for Dream Girl (Faber), Belinda Bauer’s Exit (Bantam Press) and Linwood Barclay’s Find You First (HQ). The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey: A true story of sex, crime and the meaning of justice, Julia Laite (Profile Books) Ma è una sensazione che dura poche pagine. Non si tratta di quell’apatia esistenziale, di quell’indifferenza nei confronti del vivere. This drawn-out wandering of a boy outside the norm has been brought to life by the incredible precision of this young author’s voice’ Prima For his first novel, Victor Jestin displays a stunning literary talent. It’s short, pitiless, polished, perfectly realized’ Livres Hebdo

Heatwave by Victor Jestin | Goodreads Heatwave by Victor Jestin | Goodreads

Victor Jestin succeeds in transporting us with almost nothing, this unique style, this voice—one might almost say these whispers.... A tour de force’ Le Figaro Culture Una condizione che ricorda molto quella di Mersault sulla spiaggia, il caldo, quella luce, l’arabo, la pistola… It is the end of August and the long summer holidays are drawing to a close. Seventeen-year-old Leonard is on a camping holiday with his family in the South of France. Awkward and ill at ease, he is an outsider who creeps away from parties unnoticed after a couple of drinks.

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The book is filled with sexual confusion and teenage angst. Teen boys and girls drinking too much, eager to have their first (or next) sexual experience. All this while the parents have their own fun at the other end of the beach where a bunny-costumed host is prancing around, shouting Olé! Olé! and urging people to have fun! be happy! form a cha-cha line! I wonder if this novel is intended as a modern retelling of Camus’ The Outsider, because Leonard is certainly that - an awkward loner who doesn’t fit into society or really understand how to or want to fit in - and the story centres around a singular death (there are also more superficial similarities like the beach setting, the length of the novel and both authors’ French nationalities). Although it has a slice of the macabre running through it, it’s also a story of youth and summer. The embarrassment of adolescence was captured perfectly, while the image of the intense sun burning down on the players of this story definitely heightened the tension and discomfort. During a sleepless night, Leonard wanders to the beach where he witnesses a tragedy and does nothing to intervene. The existential question posed is: Is doing nothing the very worst thing a person can do? A beautiful narrative that puts into play the kind of guilt that won’t quit a boy who’s alienated from his world and resistant to all its codes.”— Telerama