The 1995 novel Le Passager (not to be confused with Jean-Christophe Grangé's 2011 novel of the same name) is the first novel I've ever read by Patrick Senécal. The novel follows a young man Étienne who, because (supposedly!) of an accident during his childhood, lost all his memories from before he was eight. At the beginning of the book, he starts a new job as a professor, teaching fantasy literature such as Poe and King. (Horror is often not considered a separate genre in French novels; works that we call horror are traditionally classified as thriller or fantasy.) During his new commuting journey from the university to his Montreal apartment, he meets a hitchhiker called Alex. Alex claims to be a childhood friend of his, and begins jogging his childhood memories. But while trying to find out about his past, Étienne is dragged by Alex into a dangerous - and murderous - game.

The novel starts off fairly slow, and mainly focuses on the protagonist's new life as a professor. In fact, at the beginning, there is more discussion of the horror genre than there is actual horror. However, I still suggest that you read every detail carefully, because a lot of seemingly insignificant details foreshadow major parts of the plot later on. Some details turn out to important pretty quick. For example, there was a scene where the protagonist easily fixed a kid's bicycle despite having no memory of ever learning to ride a bike; we soon learn from his dreams that he did ride a bike before the incident that induced his amnesia. However, the significance of other details may not be apparent until the final pages, so it is always a good idea to keep your eyes peeled.

The central idea of the novel, which is explained early on, is a discussion of why horror stories with evil children affect us so much. The protagonist's original idea is that children are supposed to be pure and innocent, so the contrast between our expectation and what happens in the story creates great unease. However, the antagonist disagrees: According to him, children are not innocent at all, but have always had an insatiable curiosity about cruelty. This curiosity, without adult intervention, can occasionally grow uncontrollably - which is exactly what we see in such horror stories. It's on the basis of this idea that the protagonist began to remember what happened during his own childhood.

To me, though, my favourite things about the novel are the psychological descriptions and the huge plot twist around 15 pages before the end. We have direct access to the protagonist's inner monologue during his commuting journeys. At first, the protagonist's main feeling is boredom, but tension begins to build up during his first visit to Saint-Nazaire, and turns into fear and paranoia after a few trips with Alex. Another source of psychological descriptions is the dreams in the book, which are similar to flashbacks that start out muddy and becomes increasingly clear as the story progresses. I was quite surprised by the plot twist near the end, but in retrospect, many subtle details that I found slightly out-of-place were in fact hinting at the truth.

Le Passager is a short yet gripping read that keeps your eyes glued to the pages. Though the concept is not entirely original, the execution is amazing. It's no wonder that there's a feature film adaption in production. The adaption will be in English, so even if you don't speak French, you will still be able to enjoy it.