Carousel, J. Robert James (2.5)The premise of this book drew me in, but the execution was not as good as I had hoped. The book is a mystery set in occupied Paris during WWII. It is one, though not the first, of a series featuring an unusual pairing of a Gestapo agent and a French detective. The complications of this pairing and the time period portended a deep, interesting setting. The story starts with three seemingly separate deaths: a strangled young girl, a carousel operator and a German corporal. The crime fighting pair seem to be set-up for failure with all three deaths by various complicated parties (French underworld, multiple German overlords, etc.). Linking all the deaths seems to be a possible bevy of gold coins. Part of my problem with the book is coming into the set-up with no knowledge of the preceding books (my own fault). There were many confusing references that seemingly would have been clear with earlier books. But the main oddity was in the writing that continued to cause stumbles, specifically the practice of writing from each characters point of view, without clarifying who was ‘thinking’. By content, one could usually figure it out, but the flow was slow and cumbersome. I feel that I missed a lot of the depth of the story, as the reading experience was painful and I hurried to finish. This book was recommended by a mystery buff friend, who apparently has a lot more patience than I do!
