I started having serious misgivings about this novel in the second chapter. As we are introduced to our hero detective, Commandant Camille Verhoeven, I felt like I was reading a detective story checklist: dead wife and child in tragic circumstances for which he carries massive guilt? An unexpected artistic side? Constantly butting heads with his superiors for doing things his own way? Why, yes! Aside from the fact that Verhoeven stands 4’11”, this felt just a bit too much like every other police procedural I’ve ever read, with the exception of the Paris setting.
What kept me reading was a genuinely interesting plot that shifted gears several times and went in directions I was really not expecting. Beginning with the kidnap of 30-year-old Alex Prevost as she walked home from a restaurant, Verhoeven works the case knowing that with every hour, Alex is more likely to be found dead, if she is found at all. With his oddball team, who are unfortunately also standard cliché characters, they follow a couple of slim leads until they grasp the real situation… which is where things start to become really interesting.
At times I was conscious of the fact that I was reading something translated into English, a couple of verb tenses that didn’t sit quite right, but overall I found this to be a fast and satisfying read.
Cannonball Read V 