Carousel, J. Robert James (2.5)
The premise of this book drew me in, but the execution was
not as good as I had hoped. The book is a mystery set in occupied Paris during
WWII. It is one, though not the first, of a series featuring an unusual pairing
of a Gestapo agent and a French detective. The complications of this pairing
and the time period portended a deep, interesting setting. The story starts
with three seemingly separate deaths: a strangled young girl, a carousel
operator and a German corporal. The crime fighting pair seem to be set-up for
failure with all three deaths by various complicated parties (French
underworld, multiple German overlords, etc.). Linking all the deaths seems to
be a possible bevy of gold coins. Part of my problem with the book is coming
into the set-up with no knowledge of the preceding books (my own fault). There
were many confusing references that seemingly would have been clear with earlier
books. But the main oddity was in the writing that continued to cause stumbles,
specifically the practice of writing from each characters point of view,
without clarifying who was ‘thinking’. By content, one could usually figure it
out, but the flow was slow and cumbersome. I feel that I missed a lot of the
depth of the story, as the reading experience was painful and I hurried to
finish. This book was recommended by a mystery buff friend, who apparently has
a lot more patience than I do!
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