“Boileau-Narcejac characters typically have character traits which make them susceptible and vulnerable, and they find themselves in situations under pressure. The more they resist, the greater the pressure, and the more inevitable their eventual fate. The situation in question may take the reader into the realms of the fantastic or supernatural before a final twist reveals the workings of some criminal machination. By which time it may be too late for the victim, and the reader should have been drawn into a climate of unease, disorientation, and angst. This is a constant in Boileau-Narcejac’s work, a formula which realizes suspense through the rhythmic combination of retention and release.”(Crime scenes: detective narratives in European culture since 1945. Mullen, Anne, O'Beirne, Emer. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 2000. p. 49. ISBN 9042012331.)
(布瓦洛·納爾采亞克的角色通常具有易受傷害或攻擊的體質,他們發現自己處於壓力之下。他們抵抗得越多,壓力就越大,最終命運就越不可避免。這種情況可能會把讀者帶入幻想或超自然(圖 1)的領域,直到犯罪機制被最後一個反轉揭露出來。那時對受害者而言恐怕為之過晚,而讀者則早已沉陷於一種不安,迷失和焦慮的氛圍。在一張一弛的節律性混合中實現懸念,這項公式在布瓦洛·納爾采亞克的作品中一以貫之。——作者譯)