The Scapegoat

Du Maurier, Daphne. The Scapegoat. New York: Doubleday. 1956. Print

First Sentences:

I left the car by the side of the cathedral, and then walked down the steps to the Place des Jacobins. 

It was still raining hard. It had not once let up since Tours, and all I had seen of the countryside I loved was the gleaming surface of the Route Nationale, rhythmically cut by the monotonous swing of the windscreen wiper.

Description:

Sometimes just the premise of a book is enough to hook you into at least picking it up to read. Examples? A man inadvertantly left all by himself on Mars (The Martian). A trip down the Nile River from origin to mouth in a kayak (Kayak Down the Nile). Creating a sport fishing spot in the desert (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen). The auction of the furnishings from a luxury apartment in Paris that has not been opened in seventy years (A Paris Apartment). And, of course, the history of the library card catalog system - be still my heart - (The Card Catalog). In the hands of a talented author, you have a compelling read.

It is on such an interesting premise and masterful writing that I stongly recommend Daphne du Maurier's The Scapegoat. 

Here is the set-up. A Englishman, John, desperately depressed as his vacation in Europe ends and knowing he must return to his dull teaching position, happens one night to meet another man, Jean, the wealthy Comte de Gue. They are strangers to each other, but soon realize they are not ordinary strangers. The men immediately see that they could be exact twins.

I realized, with a strange sense of shock and fear and nausea all combined, that his face and voice were know to me too well. I was looking at myself.

Over drinks and later in Jean's hotel room, they talk about their lives before John passes out. And when he awakens the next morning, he is alone in the room with only Jean's suitcase, clothes, and possessions. Jean is gone along with John's clothes. The hotel staff immediately mistake John for the other man and when Jean's family car arrives to take "Jean" home, John decides to play along and see what living like the wealthy Jean would be like ... and whether he can pass as another person with a stranger’s family and friends.

What an opening premise! From then on, every page is a nail-biter as to whether this counterfeit Comte de Gue will be unmasked. Each sentence “Jean”/John utters, each person he pretends to know, each family business transaction he oversees puts him in peril of discovery along with the unimaginable consequences. 

And where is the real Comte, John continues to wonder? What will happen when he shows up in his own home?

There it is. A deliciously devious plot with danger and cleverness on every page, masterfully related by the skilled storyteller, Daphne DuMaurier. How can you possibly resist? Well, don't resist. You won't be sorry.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

DuMaurier, Daphne. Rebecca  

Classic Gothic fiction story of a newlywed couple who returns to the husband's home to live, only to be constantly reminded of his beloved first wife, Rebecca, whose spirit permeates the estate.