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Il Mistero Di Rue Des Saints-Pères (2003)

by Claude Izner(Favorite Author)

2.88 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

8850213727 (ISBN13: 9788850213726)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

TEA

series

Victor Legris

review 1: Un giallo spento e poco interessante, che ha come sfondo la Torre Eiffel e i padiglioni dell’esposizione universale del 1889 di Parigi. La trama promette all’inizio ma si spegne subito, perdendosi nelle elucubrazioni del protagonista, il libraio Victor Legris, personaggio insignificante come gli altri di una storia che si rivela banale e poco interessante. La ricostruzione storica della Parigi dell’epoca avrebbe potuto essere il punto di forza del libro, ma secondo me è fatta in modo superficiale, riducendosi a un’accozzaglia di indirizzi e di personaggi senza colore, che non rimangono in mente. Una lettura di cui mi sto già dimenticando, del tutto evitabile.
review 2: This book started out with some promise, but then became directionless and mired in... more pointless detail. Paris is a wonderful city, and definitely the star of this story. Unfortunately, there are too many other characters wandering around being suspected then being eliminated from suspicion in the most predictable ways. There is no cohesiveness to the plot, no foreshadowing, barely any suspense. We keep returning to the bookshop and an endless parade of customers being served by the shop assistant -- why? Why do we need to know this? I get that Victor Legris is a bookseller who lives above his store. I get that the store is successful enough to earn him a good living. The assistant Joseph is a character with a mildly diverting history and a few interesting quirks, but do we really need to know about every customer he is dealing with as Legris enters the shop? Every book collector, countess, parvenu, and bourgeois couple and whether they want books by the yard or books by the latest racy author? Oh, and Legris in his travels finds so many odd certificates, hastily scrawled notes, and random newspaper clippings! It's like one of those bad walk-through computer games -- only without the sense that these are vital clues that might actually lead somewhere.I finally managed to finish the book and I have found out that that Claude Izner is a pen name for TWO people who collaborated on writing the book. I have the feeling that one author wrote the beginning and end while another (less skilled) dragged out the middle of the book. If that's the case, I suggest dropping (or at least heavily editing) the second author and allowing the skilled writer to create the story. less

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