Garnier, Pascal: The Front Seat Passenger

For once the reviews proved worthwhile.   This is the final novel of a French author whose work is
more than a little reminiscent of Simenon but with humour and surrealism added.   A man loses his
wife in a car crash driven by her lover, something he appears not to have suspected.   He decides to
track down the wife of the dead man, does so under an assume name and becomes involved with her and her best friend.   The latter was the first wife of the dead man but seems to exercise a strong control over the widow who is rather submissive.   She does not like the man but accepts him for her
friends' sake and invites them both to a weekend in the country where she reveals his real identity.
This is the point at which the plot turns into something else ( not revealed to avoid spoiling).   While
naturally read in translation which I am sure maintains both the feeling and meaning of the original, I
found the events believable, clearly expounded and the denouement, while unexpected, perfectly
plausible.