Continuing with my French SFFF readathon, I picked this book partly because of the cover, and partly because it had just received a prize. I really enjoyed it, but having finished I couldn't really get why it had been shelved as SFFF when it's 98% detective story.

Our main character, Hugo, has come back to the small town where he grew up for his parents' funeral after they died in a car crash. But Hugo never wanted to come back there - too many wounds never healed, too much trauma. And when he has to extend his stay because it turns out his parents' car was sabotaged and it was clearly murder, he has no choice but to face his demons, one of whom is the night-faced princess, a local legend said to be responsible for several children's disappearances over the centuries.

This book was a very classic detective story, with our main character a relative of the victims as well as a suspect. It was engaging and fast to read, and I enjoyed the settting of the small countryside village which reminded me of the one where my grand-parents live. But I also read it fast to get to the point where the SFFF part of the story would show, only to find it at the very end. So I'm not entirely sure what to think. I didn't dislike it, but detective fiction is a genre I usually avoid because of all the horrible things that happen, and this one was no exception. I wish there had been content warnings because that book is dark. Like, very dark. I think in itself it's really good, but I wish it had been marketed more clearly.

Rep: it's never told, but Hugo sounded aro/ace.