Bernard Besson

I wanted to like this book. I tried to like it. It is a very good story. Lots of action and intrigue. But I simply couldn't enjoy it enough to finish it. I got 52% of the way through, so I did give it a fair chance. I'm not really sure why I disliked it enough to bail on it - which is something I *rarely* do and it always hurts my book loving heart when I do it. So it's not a decision I take lightly. It is translated from French and I did find the many, many references to locations in Paris ~ everything from corner stores and bakeries to apartments and government buildings ~ very distracting. Of course, it assumes the reader is at least somewhat familiar with these locations since it is a French book. But being an American with only limited knowledge of those areas, it made it hard to keep up. I tried very hard to not allow this to color my view of the story though and I will reiterate again that this is a good story. I thought it was such a silly thing to allow to color my thoughts on a book. But in the end I thought that perhaps it may be a valid complaint to those not familiar with the localities of that territory. I took some time to read other reviews and found other readers who felt the same way, so at least I wasn't alone in that.

In the end, I wanted to really enjoy this book but I couldn't. The story didn't hold me tight enough to make the distractions worth it. It started to feel like a waste of my reading time, especially when I have so many other books waiting to be read.

Life is too short to read books you don't enjoy.

I'm giving it three stars because it's a fast action story that lots of other readers will probably love. There wasn't anything wrong with the writing or the story. It simply wasn't for me.… (mehr)

I wanted to like this book. I tried to like it. It is a very good story. Lots of action and intrigue. But I simply couldn't enjoy it enough to finish it. I got 52% of the way through, so I did give it a fair chance. I'm not really sure why I disliked it enough to bail on it - which is something I *rarely* do and it always hurts my book loving heart when I do it. So it's not a decision I take lightly. It is translated from French and I did find the many, many references to locations in Paris ~ everything from corner stores and bakeries to apartments and government buildings ~ very distracting. Of course, it assumes the reader is at least somewhat familiar with these locations since it is a French book. But being an American with only limited knowledge of those areas, it made it hard to keep up. I tried very hard to not allow this to color my view of the story though and I will reiterate again that this is a good story. I thought it was such a silly thing to allow to color my thoughts on a book. But in the end I thought that perhaps it may be a valid complaint to those not familiar with the localities of that territory. I took some time to read other reviews and found other readers who felt the same way, so at least I wasn't alone in that.

In the end, I wanted to really enjoy this book but I couldn't. The story didn't hold me tight enough to make the distractions worth it. It started to feel like a waste of my reading time, especially when I have so many other books waiting to be read.

Life is too short to read books you don't enjoy.

I'm giving it three stars because it's a fast action story that lots of other readers will probably love. There wasn't anything wrong with the writing or the story. It simply wasn't for me.… (mehr)

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I felt that it started out slow and sped up a lot towards the end. It almost felt rushed in that sense, while still taking me a while to make it through the book. The story felt like it was playing out well. Beatrice was a pleasant addition until the end of the story. She is a bright child, but it almost felt like a disservice to have her just sent off to some other school. Aside from those few things, I did enjoy the book. Maybe since it was a translation, some things didn't come across as well, but I'm giving it a 3/5. I don't find this to be a bad rating by any means, it just means I enjoyed the book but it didn't do anything above that for me.… (mehr)