Book Synopsis

Days of Feasting and Rejoicing is a haunting literary crime novel by award-winning author David Bergen

When her friend Christine drowns under suspicious circumstances, Esther Maile--who has always longed to be someone else--slips almost effortlessly into Christine's life. With a new name, easy access to money, and the attention of Christine's former lover, the transformation feels natural.

Until it isn't.

When it becomes unclear whether Christine's death was truly an accident, Captain Net Wantok, a weary Thai police officer, begins to investigate. A trail of accidents and missing people all lead back to Esther. Drawn in by her beauty and uncanny resemblance to his own missing daughter, Captain Wantok finds his judgment clouded as his pursuit of the truth grows increasingly personal.

In Days of Feasting and Rejoicing, innocence and guilt blur together, and the question of who Esther Maile truly is--and what she is capable of--is the most chilling mystery.

Review Quotes

"Days of Feasting and Rejoicing smartly renews the story of dark reinvention we associate with Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels and Antonioni's The Passenger. With his typical elegance, David Bergen compellingly moves us through disquiet, moral tension, high drama, and the fully human dilemmas of chief inspector Net Wantok, and into the killing mind of Esther Maile. The novel beautifully plays the desire for release against the impossibility of true escape."

"A new Bergen is always reason to celebrate."

"David Bergen's new novel is a tightly wound thriller with a monstrous protagonist who induces equal amounts of horror and admiration. It's a hell of a tightrope-walk that brings to mind the best of Patricia Highsmith."

"Taut, engrossing, and tense, Days of Feasting and Rejoicing is a fine-tuned, psychologically nuanced suspense story that offers so much more than most literary, crime thrillers, even those twice as long. Expertly crafted and impossible to put down."