Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

This is the first section of chapters 1-15. Spoilers are welcome. If the first to post could briefly summarize to drive the discussion it would be appreciated!

My initial summaries may leave a bit to be desired, I am not able to see the French place names and personal names to have a clue for the spelling since I am listening to the audio book. I can get the characters names from Amazon.

The "prologue" was chilling and brief, the crash of a Turkish Airlines Airbus into Mont Terri on the border of France and Switzerland; the details as imagined and experienced in December 1980.
Chapter 1 - it is eighteen years later in Paris France 1998 the private detective Credule Grand-Duc talks to us of his notebook, for Lylie: masterpiece, a mystery story missing the last five pages, eighteen years of work;

Chapter 2 - Mariam recognizes that Marc is in love with Emilie as they sit in a cafe

Chapter 3 - Lylie and Marc in the cafe, are they lovers, siblings? It is her birthday, a beautiful blond girl with a lovely sapphire ring matching the color of her blue eyes; she forces Marc to wait an hour in the cafe as she leaves him to read the journal given her by Grand-Duc

Chapter 4 - the journal begins with the crash aftermath and the discovery of a sole survivor, a baby girl

Chapter 5 - Marc reads more, the fight for custody of the baby begins.
Emilie or Lyse-Rose; initially we meet the paternal grandfathers. First Leonce de Carville, his son, ultra rich Alexander de Carville was flying back home to France from Turkey with his new baby Lyse-Rose and his wife. Their six year old daughter Malvina de Carville flew home earlier and is described as quite mad. The other grandfather, Pierre Vitral makes a claim for his son Pascal's baby, he and his wife Stephanie were on a holiday to Turkey. A popular song connects the baby to a dragonfly

Chapter 6 - Malvina de Carville is in Grand-Duc's home, she is obsessed with getting her sister back. Her grandmother is Mathilde de Carville

Chapter 7 - the fight, the clues, how hard can it be to determine the family of the baby.

Chapter 8 - Marc learns of the legal proceedings from the notebook. too bad they couldn't test for DNA in 1998, both babies have the same blood type.

Chapter 9 - Lylie is determining what to do next.

Chapter 10 - Marc learns of Leonce de Carville's offer of a large sum of money to the Vitrals reading from the notebook

Chapter 11 - Pierre Vitral goes to the media, they will fight for custody

Chapter 12 - Grandmother Nicole Vitral goes out to the public to bring their case to the attention of the masses.

Chapter 13 - the trial was decided over a missing bracelet. Why wasn't the baby wearing Lyse-Rose's gold bracelet? Was it then Emilie?

Chapter 14 - Grandmother Mathilde de Carville is conspiring with Malvina

Chapter 15 - Marc tries to find Lylie and reads in the notebook of the decision granting Lylie to the Vitrals. Mathilde makes Nicole Vitral an offer of money to help raise Emilie / Lylie and gives her a ring to hold for Lylie, with a catch. Only give it to her on her 18th birthday if Nicole has come to believe that the baby was really Lyse-Rose.

So Lylie is the first name given the baby as a compromise between Lyse-Rose de Carville and Emilie Vitral.
The names are beautiful as pronounced on the audio book. Lyse-Rose is pronounced "Leeza-Rose" and Emilie has the emphasis on the second syllable. Lylie is pronounced with the emphasis on the last syllable.
It seems so sad that there couldn't have been some sort of compromise. Shared custody might have been confusing, but certainly anything else would have been better for Malvina who at only six years old is driven mad by the pressure of being the only one who could identify Lyse-Rose.

It's interesting how both Grandmothers are the strong ones over their husbands, though Pierre Vitral is not portrayed as a bad man. Leonce de Carville is despised by his wife and suffered a debilitating series of health issues soon after the custody decision.

I was so confused about who was Lylie and who was Emilie until it was finally explained.

Amy: Lylie vs Emilie vs Lyse-Rose, yes!! it was terribly confusing. I could hear the lyrical names on the audio and it sounded like three girls for a bit and the spelling unknown. Lyse-Rose is such a pretty name.
Instead of reading ahead I went back and listened to parts of several chapters again and used Amazon's look inside the book to find some of the spellings of the names.

I couldn't figure out who Lylie was, I keep going back and forth to see if I missed anything. It was driving me crazy. LOL

When I saw the structure of the book I decided to read it instead of listening though I think I will listen a bit to hear the pronunciations.

I agree the prologue was chilling and really sucked me into the narrative.

The journal has been interesting but both Malvina and Marc seem completely over the top strange so far and while reading I thought Emilie's best option would be to leave both families behind and make her own life.

Definitely agree that first chapter or 2 was so confusing when lylie was referred to as Emilie and the malvina and mathilde ate confusing also. Definitelycan feel your frustration following the audio. Fairly chilling opening with the crash description and the journal going through all the other crashes that occur around it and how frequent they occur.
I like the way the journal is written with his instinct comments about the characters and the background to their stories.
Finishing this section with the ring has set me back. I thought she would be Emilie but her grandmother gave her the ring indicating she doesn't think she is. I'm in suspense about where she has gone and is she planning revenge and the impending confrontation with marc and malvina.

Jack: I agree with you, the revelation of the meaning of the ring on Lylie's finger is quite a "cliff hanger" for this set of chapters. The ideas of what Lylie is planning to do and why are puzzling and leading us on with anticipation.
Marc's reaction to the ring seemed extreme too and motivated by more than the cost of it compared to his gift. Mariam in the cafe seems to be reading his intentions fairly accurately (and not brotherly love) we are left to wonder how Lylie feels about him.

Jack: I am finding the journal segments in Grand-Duc's voice the most interesting and he is coming across as the most level headed character - except for Nazim's wife. I'm not completely sold that his narrative always sounds like a written journal, but it is informative.
Jack wrote: ...I like the way the journal is written with his instinct comments about the characters and the background to their stories."

Not a bad idea Sandi!
Sandi wrote: "I thought Emilie's best option would be to leave both families behind and make her own life.."

I agree the prologue was a good tease to keep reading more. I wasn't sure why it focused so much on one flight attendant though..

Russ: That is an excellent point! I think I'll comment on your point about the flight attendant in a later segment. I haven't finished the book yet but as I am about half way I don't want my current thoughts to cloud this segment :)
Russ wrote: "I agree the prologue was a good tease to keep reading more. I wasn't sure why it focused so much on one flight attendant though.."

Thanks, Ann! I just finished the first 15 chapters. Thanks for saving a comment until a later segment if it gives away a surprise. :)

As far as Grand-Duc's journal entries are concerned, he seems fairly trustworthy, but possibly biased, and I like it that way. Each of the characters has their own warts but Grand-Duc makes each of them sympathetic too.

Bussi has an effective way of withholding information to build suspense and encourage the reader to keep reading. At times it is as frustrating as it is fun!

The book seems very European in that class conflict plays a central role in the story. Some of the prose is stilted, which I assume is because of the translation. The attraction that the miracle baby’s older brother seems to have for her is creepy.
But so far there’s enough mystery and intrigue to keep reading.

I am intrigued by the journal as I keep wondering if there's more to the story than a search for identity. It's interesting how the voice of Lylie is hardly in the book and is instead dominated by the families with snippets from the detective. Is the story really about how uncertainty cripples lives or is there something else left to be revealed? Back to it.

Good question Anne! The book starts out with the journal and detective's point of view; a device that effectively reveals details and moves the story along - but it isn't clear where the story is going. I like trying to figure out what the author of any book meant us to see while reading.
When it is interesting and elusive in the beginning, all to the good. Lylie's point of view is ceded to Grand-Duc's but why?

Ann wrote: "Good question Anne! The book starts out with the journal and detective's point of view; a device that effectively reveals details and moves the story along - but it isn't clear where the story is g..."

Yeah, I'm wondering how it's going to develop. I hope it manages it and doesn't become one of those books that forever refuses to give you answers. I'll try their get to it tomorrow - just been so busy with work:(

Chikako: you have some good reading and discussions ahead of you!