When Madam Préau returns home after several weeks of convalescence, she immediately notices that the neighborhood has changed. A new family has moved in next door and, from her window, she can see their every move. She quickly begins to understand that something just isnt right with them. They have two perfectly healthy children who play in the yard after school, but a third child appears from time to time who seems to be calling for help by throwing pebbles at her window in hopes of getting her attention. The police refuse to listen. Cut off from her own grandson, Madam Préau is determined to help this child.
Who is this Madam Préau? A dangerous paranoiac, as some people claim her to be? An old woman suffering from loneliness if we believe her son? Or a special being, gifted with vision beyond the realm of normal?
- A stifling and moving atmosphere, a dense psychological novel that speaks of the past, of psychoanalysis and offers another vision of the illness of paranoia.
- A book packed with surprises, as in titles by Nicci French, where the insane are not always who we expect them to be.
Author of novels, detective short stories and a children's book, Sophie Loubière also made a name for herself in the publishing community thanks to a unique literary program (Parking at Night, France Inter) and her reviews at France Info (Thriller Info).
"The Stone Boy is an absorbing psychological thriller." The Times
"This novel demonstrates that with such writers as Loubière, Fred Vargas and Pierre Lemaitre, French noir is in the ascendant." Financial Times
"A suspenseful psychological thriller, L'enfant aux cailloux is also a beautiful picture of a passionately loving grandmother, an unreliable old lady, more nosy and intrusive than Miss Marple." Françoise Chandernagor
"This book is a real gem full of creativity, humour and suspense." Le Nouvel Observateur