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American Mysteries in Paris #2
Ghosts of Saint-Michel
Marva Dobbs has a life most people would envy. An American who has lived in Paris for most of her adult life, she runs a popular African-American soul food restaurant, and her thirty-year marriage has produced a beautiful grown-up daughter. So why is she jeopardizing everything for a fling with her sous-chef, a mysterious twenty-eight-year-old Algerian man named Hassan?
Marva begins to ask herself the same question when she returns from summer vacation to find that Hassan is missing, and that he is the main suspect in the investigation into the bombing of a building in Paris that left one man dead. And then she disappears, leaving her bewildered daughter and secretive husband to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Ghosts of Saint-Michel is the talented Jake Lamar's second romantic thriller to be set in the bohemian Eighteenth Arrondissement of the City of Light.
Marva begins to ask herself the same question when she returns from summer vacation to find that Hassan is missing, and that he is the main suspect in the investigation into the bombing of a building in Paris that left one man dead. And then she disappears, leaving her bewildered daughter and secretive husband to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Ghosts of Saint-Michel is the talented Jake Lamar's second romantic thriller to be set in the bohemian Eighteenth Arrondissement of the City of Light.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 30, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 29, 2020
It’s the characters
I’ve read this and it’s this and other books by this author more than a decade and a half after its publication but it feels fresh. I think it’s primarily the characters, which remind me of family and friends and frenemies, and make me want an apartment in Paris. Loved it!
I’ve read this and it’s this and other books by this author more than a decade and a half after its publication but it feels fresh. I think it’s primarily the characters, which remind me of family and friends and frenemies, and make me want an apartment in Paris. Loved it!
October 12, 2009
The Ghosts of Saint-Michel by Jake Lamar is an attempt at an enigmatic spy-thriller based in France that foreshadows the events leading to the infamous September 11th terrorist attack in New York City. The "ghosts" the title refers to are "spooks" or spies who are now aged Cold War operatives who worked for the CIA and similar foreign or covert agencies. They now are dormant, blending effortlessly into society appearing as genteel, old men who sit on Parisian park benches and feed pigeons. But they have never truly left the agency and are really lethal weapons hiding behind kind, harmless facades.
Using a spry, sixty-two year old, African American, diva-turned- restaurateur, ex-patriot, Marva Dobbs, as the focal point of the story does not really add intrigue to a painfully slow-moving plot. Her lover is one of her employees, an Algerian chef, thirty-four years her junior who is wanted by the police for a terrorist bombing of a seemingly peaceful think-tank organization in downtown Paris. When Marva disappears in the middle of the night with a man fitting her lover's description; her husband, Loic, enlists the aid of their daughter, Naima, to find Marva. Then suddenly Loic disappears too under suspicious circumstances, leaving Naima as the unlikely, sole sleuth to solve the mystery of the bombing and her parent's disappearances.
In over her head, Naima is further distracted by her own drama between a former French lover and a current American lover which only clutters the landscape of numerous, mostly insignificant characters. The author spends a lot of time reflecting on their pasts and delving into their complex interrelationships. He compares American and French cultures, attitudes toward race, politics, religion, history, etc., including some very keen societal and political observations. Surprisingly, it was the infusion of such commentaries and other factual aspects I found more interesting than the terrorist plot and "mystery" behind Marva and Loic's disappearance. As you can guess, I never connected with any of the characters and could care less about their fate - regardless of whose side they were on. It took too long to get to the heart of the story and once there, it was somewhat anti-climatic and a bit contrived; in other words, it was too much, too little, and definitely too late to save the story. If this book were not a review book, I would have abandoned it after the first 50 or so pages -- which is something I RARELY do.
I really wanted to enjoy this book because I really liked Rendezvous Eighteenth. Even though it had some of the same elements and setting, I thought this offering failed to pull the reader in from the beginning. In a nutshell, I thought it suffered from too many characters, an elongated plot, and poor pacing. I think those who like reading about the ex-patriot experience in Paris , particularly from an African American point-of-view would enjoy certain aspects of the story.
Using a spry, sixty-two year old, African American, diva-turned- restaurateur, ex-patriot, Marva Dobbs, as the focal point of the story does not really add intrigue to a painfully slow-moving plot. Her lover is one of her employees, an Algerian chef, thirty-four years her junior who is wanted by the police for a terrorist bombing of a seemingly peaceful think-tank organization in downtown Paris. When Marva disappears in the middle of the night with a man fitting her lover's description; her husband, Loic, enlists the aid of their daughter, Naima, to find Marva. Then suddenly Loic disappears too under suspicious circumstances, leaving Naima as the unlikely, sole sleuth to solve the mystery of the bombing and her parent's disappearances.
In over her head, Naima is further distracted by her own drama between a former French lover and a current American lover which only clutters the landscape of numerous, mostly insignificant characters. The author spends a lot of time reflecting on their pasts and delving into their complex interrelationships. He compares American and French cultures, attitudes toward race, politics, religion, history, etc., including some very keen societal and political observations. Surprisingly, it was the infusion of such commentaries and other factual aspects I found more interesting than the terrorist plot and "mystery" behind Marva and Loic's disappearance. As you can guess, I never connected with any of the characters and could care less about their fate - regardless of whose side they were on. It took too long to get to the heart of the story and once there, it was somewhat anti-climatic and a bit contrived; in other words, it was too much, too little, and definitely too late to save the story. If this book were not a review book, I would have abandoned it after the first 50 or so pages -- which is something I RARELY do.
I really wanted to enjoy this book because I really liked Rendezvous Eighteenth. Even though it had some of the same elements and setting, I thought this offering failed to pull the reader in from the beginning. In a nutshell, I thought it suffered from too many characters, an elongated plot, and poor pacing. I think those who like reading about the ex-patriot experience in Paris , particularly from an African American point-of-view would enjoy certain aspects of the story.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews