The Man Who Flew Away - Antoine Bello

"Walker would have hated his own funeral. Proof? He didn't even show up."

Here's what I respect most about Antoine Bello: the guy surprises me every damn time. Each novel feels like a completely new beast. This one? Miles away from the previous one. We're tracking a man on the run, watching a hunt morph into psychological warfare.

John Walker runs a successful business in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From the outside: thriving company, solid marriage, three kids, mansion, personal plane. The American dream, right? Wrong. It's all facade. Walker's drowning in obligations—family, social, professional. What he doesn't have: time. The one thing money can't buy. He feels like he's sacrificing his one precious life for success and family duty.

"If every generation erases itself for the next, when do we actually live?"

So Walker starts fantasizing about escape. Not just daydreaming—planning. He'll fake an accident, disappear, start over with zero constraints. Only problem: his insurance company won't pay out 30 million without a serious investigation. Enter Nick Shepherd, a skip tracer—basically a modern bounty hunter—who's never failed a case. Shepherd sniffs out the fake accident fast. Walker's alive. The hunt begins.

You can assume Bello put himself into this character—the businessman dreaming of vanishing, the family man with too many hats. But the midlife crisis isn't really the point, even though the book makes you think hard about what happiness actually means. It raises real questions about marriage and fatherhood.

The story quickly becomes a manhunt. Bello—who loves multiple POVs—gives voice to three people here: Walker, Shepherd, and Sarah. Sarah's the wife, doubly betrayed. Burying a beloved husband is one kind of hell. Discovering he bailed on you is another. The question haunts her: "Why?"

Sarah becomes Shepherd's key to understanding Walker. Good hunters know their prey intimately. Better hunters get inside their heads, think like them, become them. Classic Bello theme: psychological arm-wrestling between the one who wants to know and the one hiding truth.

What follows is a cat-and-mouse game across America, full of humor and tension. A subtle dance of doubles where Sarah acts as the mirror—reflecting, inverting.

Bello's inventiveness and storytelling gift shine through. You'll race through the first three-quarters, then slow down deliberately in the final stretch because you don't want it to end. Who wins this poker game of lies? I dare you to guess—Bello shuffles the deck masterfully. Total success.

Cuné loved it too.

Gallimard, 2017; Folio, 2024. - 320 pages