Mark Pryor

“History will judge these days, monsieur, it is not for us to do so. We must only live them the best we can.” (Quotation page 3)

Content
An old man in Paris writes a letter and puts it together with something special, he calls “le cadeau”, in a small box, hidden in a wooden chest, a kind of sailor’s chest, but solid, made from walnut, and more ornate. More than two hundred years later, this long forgotten chest is somehow connected to to an American senator’s visit a Paris. A visit at very short notice from Charles Lake, senator and presidential candidate. Hugo Marston has to be a kind of personal bodyguard, he calls it “babysitter”, of the senator, who will attend negotiations and talks about the Guadeloupe Islands, held for two days at Chateau Tourville near Paris. The morning after the first night at the Chateau, Senator Lake declares that he woke up during the night because somebody was in his room and even leaned over him, touching his face. An intruder in his room means clearly a security breach and Senator Lake asks Hugo Marston to begin immediately with his investigations. As this has to be done with discretion, Hugo calls his friend Capitaine Raul Garcia. Everything changes, when one of the prints found is connected o an unsolved murder, a burglary in the old country house of the Bassin family.

Theme and genre
This crime novel is about secrets, hidden deep in the past. There is somebody, who finds out and tries to reveal it and somebody, who just wants to avoid this, at any price.

Characters
Time again to investigate and try to solve a case like a tricky puzzle for Hugo Marston and Paul Greene.

Plot and writing
This book three of the Hugo Marston series begins with a letter in the past, but passes immediately into the present time and develops around Hugo Marston. The investigations and events are told chronologically, without giving to many details too early. Therefore, and together with unforeseeable twists, the guessing of the readers remains interesting and gripping.

Conclusion
An interesting story with some unforeseeable twists, gripping and entertaining to read.… (mehr)

“Right now it doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong. The simple truth is, if we treat this as a terrorist act we get more resources from our people and more cooperation from the French.” (Quotation page 27)

Content
A man at the famous Père Lachaise cemetery at night, two whispering voices near the headstone of “James Douglas Morrison”. The next morning a young man and a woman are found dead near the grave. When Hugo Marston arrives at his office at the US embassy, he finds his friend, CIA-man Tom Green, deep in conversation with is boss, Ambassador Taylor. The dead man is American, the son of a senator. The woman on the other hand seems to be connected to terrorism. Definitely a case for the CIA. When Hugo sees a strange injury at the shoulder of the dead woman and more unusual transactions are found out, Hugo Marston, also an experienced profiler, is sure, that there must be not only a terroristic background. Somebody is collecting very special items and does it with a system that Hugo has to find out with high urgency, in order to prevent further assassinations. Who is this person moving unseen between graveyards and leaving small figurines, scarabs, with his victims?

Theme and genre
This thriller is the second book of the Hugo Marston Novel Series, with gripping actions and investigations and the psychological conflict shows what a painful childhood can make to the later adult person.

Characters
Again, they work together, officially and nonofficially too: Hugo Marston, Tom Green and Capitaine Garcia from the French police.

Plot and writing
This second case definitely is much more a thriller than a crime investigation, such as the first Hugo-Marston-Novel. A serial killer, lots of action and some unsettling crime scenes could definitely be too much for fainthearted readers. However, the story is still believable, well developed and thrilling. The plot combines two alternating narrative storylines, one of it telling the activities of the Scarab.

Conclusion
An exciting and gripping read.… (mehr)

“If peace had a smell, he thought, it would be the smell of a library full of old, leather-bound books.” (Quotation page 221)

Content
Hugo Marston, forty-two years old, a former FBI profiler and now security chief at the American embassy in Paris, loves Paris and old books. Therefore, on his first day of a vacation he did not ask for, he visits his friend Max, a bouquiniste who owns one of the traditional bookstalls on the bank of the Seine. His has to watch as Max is kidnapped at gunpoint. The Paris police does not show very interested in Marston’s observations, because some witnesses, other bouquinistes, confirm they had seen no violence. But soon more booksellers disappear and fortunately Tom Green, an old friend of Hugo Marston, former CIA agent, now kind of retired as he says, has come to Paris for a visit and together they immediately start their own investigations and researches. Is the disappearance of Max connected to one of his special antiquarian books, and who tries to take over the bookstalls? How can so many different traces fit together?

Theme and genre
This first book of the Hugo Marston Series is a crime novel located in Paris. Themes are investigation, crime and books.

Characters
We meet different characters, they all have their own stories and background. Their actions and behavior are believable and plausible.

Plot and writing
The story, based on crime and investigations, takes place within a tight time schedule and is an enjoyable mixture of action, researches and a lively description of Paris and everyday life in the vibrant, famous city Paris. The plot brings up different themes, some of them reaching back into the past, and has enough unpredictable turns to maintain the narrative tension.

Conclusion
An interesting, gripping crime novel with surprising twists, where some antiquarian books play an important role. Enjoyable read, not only for booklovers.… (mehr)