"Simply thrilling. Its surprising denouement works a retrospective magic."
- New York Times Book Review "Van Cauwelaert has assembled his plot perfectly, like an intricate timepiece, and we are amazed by the precise ticking that sounds at every twist in the tale. The book reads like a close cousin of Philip K. Dick, the acknowledged master of doubting what's real."
- Olivier Delcroix "A devilishly well-oiled plot, which grabs the reader with both hands, drags him along, and twists him around."
- Le Spectacle du Monde Martin Harris returns home after a short absence to find that his wife doesn't know him, another man is living in his house under his name, and the neighbors think he's a raving lunatic. Worse, not a single person—family, colleague, or doctor—can vouch for him. Worse still, the impostor shares all of Martin's memories, experiences, and knowledge, down to the last detail. He is, in fact, a more convincing Martin than Martin himself. Is it a conspiracy? Amnesia? Is Martin the victim of an elaborate hoax, or of his own paranoid delusion? In his high-powered new novel, Didier van Cauwelaert, the award-winning author of One-Way, explores the illusory nature of identity and the instability of the things we take for granted. Dispossessed of his job, his family, his name, and his very past, Martin Harris is an Everyman caught in an absurd and yet disturbingly convincing nightmare, one that seems to have no exit and that resists every explanation. Part moral fable, part Robert Ludlum-style thriller, Out of My Head is a fast-paced tale of one man's desperate attempt to reclaim his existence—even at the cost of his own life.
Author
Didier van Cauwelaert est un romancier et dramaturge français, né d'une famille d'origine belge. Didier van Cauwelaert is a French novelist and playwright with Belgian roots. Well-known French writer Didier van CAUWELAERT has some very big literary successes in his portfolio. From the age of 8 he dreamed of taking up a pen to become independent and feed his family. After devoting several years to theatre, to playing Sartre and directing Beckett, Anouilh, Ionesco, and after a brief career as a children's book critic, a chance meeting with a certain Greta GARBO got his foot in the door. In 1982 he published (at last) his first book “Vingt ans et des poussières” with Editions du Seuil, just after his 22nd birthday. He would reach an ever wider public with every new book. Awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1994 for “Un aller simple” (One way) this voracious writer let his imagination run rife and arrived at the pinnacle of his career. An extraordinary author, Didier van CAUWELAERT has sold over 5 million copies and been translated into 30 different languages. Films have been made of several of his books: “Un aller simple”, “Hors de moi” adapted for film as “Sans identité” and “J’ai perdu Albert” taken from his novel of the same name. His latest work “La bienveillance est une arme absolue” (goodwill is the ultimate weapon) takes the mind to new horizons. The ultimate weapon, a weapon to shock, to create joy, goodwill is the only answer to the moral crisis in which society finds itself. Source : https://wtca-brussels.org/en/classes/...
