At the hospital, police begin to ask a series of odd questions, and Luc learns that they suspect foul play as Romand's wife and children were already dead before the fire started.
Fascinated by the case, which quickly became a nationwide sensation, author Emmanuel Carrère sends a letter to Romand through his lawyer in 1993 asking to speak with him about writing a non-fiction account of the murders.
In 1996 Romand finally replies back saying that he had been unable to speak with him earlier on the advice of his lawyer, who counselled him not to make contact with Carrère until the investigation was over.
He eventually claimed that he had cancer to explain his scholastic absences to his friends and meanwhile re-enrolled in school and attended classes for over a decade in order to maintain his status as a student without taking any exams.
During the trial, it also revealed that Romand kept the family afloat by taking the retirement money of his parents, uncle and in-laws and claiming to invest it through Swiss Bank accounts.
That evening, after returning to his home, he poured petrol through his house and set it on fire before drugging himself in a suicide attempt, but was eventually rescued by local firemen.
"[4] The New York Times gave it a favourable review praising its "highly personal inquiry, written in lucid prose that has been elegantly translated by Linda Coverdale.