Interesting, amusing and clever adventures of a gentleman thief.
He is somewhat incredibly bodily and mentally apt, but he also encounteres
all possible obstacles and unforseen difficulties, so following his
exploits keeps your attention.
The author has another rare virtue, at least I see it as one: he never tells twice the same thing, he never repeats anything that has been already explained, except obviously when he refers to some circunstance that was mentioned many pages before, so the narrative maintains the tension and suspense.
There are also a good sense of humour, noble feelings, well defined and
somewhat grotesque characters, attractive luxury settings and, thank God!, no romance.
Highly enjoyable page-turner.
A clever and suspenseful story, a complexe intrigue, interesting characters and magnificent central personnage, a lawyer detective, who works in a taciturne and reflexive manner.
There are also some curious secondary argumental lines.
Most characters are as interesting to know and to follow as the intrigue itself.
A highly enjoyable and intense read.
It's a second book by Charles Willeford that I read, and I've become, definitively, a fan of this writer.
A great sense of humour, a clever plot, an accelerated rhythm of the
action, ingenious twists and turns, and the main characters that engage
you to become their friends.
If it must be qualified as pulp fiction, it's a pulp fiction in its Golden Age, never to be surpassed.
You can't put the book down and you enjoy every word of it.
Certainly: don't pay attention to the cover design: doesn't have anything to do with the story, if only figuratively.
Very imaginative stories, interesting and clever characters, but regrettably the plots aren't too consistent and the solutions come too easily.
There is also a questionable presentation: the typos are abundant and some of them, flagrant, so that you can't avoid thinking that the integrity of the text may be affected, that some plot's inconsistencies aren't such but there could be words, phrases and maybe whole paragraphs missing.
Nonetheless, the imagination ganes: the cases are unusual and get your attention.
The narrative style gets to you and the action is quick-paced.
So you keep reading with interest and curiosity, you get somewhat disappointed at the solution of a case but then the next one offers some surprise at the beginning and you continue reading.
Certainly, I loved another book by this author, "The Abandoned Room".
The book begins like a pure pulp fiction, with a usual set of gangsters
but as the action goes on, a very good story emerges and the characters,
while very pulp, acquire interesting features.
I'm not a gangsters stories fan, I downloaded this book as I was intrigued by the sheer number of five-stars reviews, and when I was through half a
book, I couldn't put it down.
A magnifiscent adventures story (not a mystery or detective one).
As any book of this genre, there are some unavoidable topics, like a
treasure map, but the author enriches them with unusual details and
follows a meticulously logical plot scheme in external and, the most
interesting, some emotional events.
Also, the author gets the personages in really difficult situations, none
of their problems gets an easy way out.
And the characters, interesting and vibrant, you really want to follow
them in their adventures.
Suspense and good company.
Sometimes it can strike you that the main characters are too good-hearted,
with exaggeration even, but when you think that the book was written while
the Great War was beginning to show its horrors, you'll see such
exaltation as justified and sincere.
Finally their goodness operates in you something like a therapeutic effect.
The intrigue is slow to start and isn't too impressive but it is very well conducted, with a good ability to create great moments of suspense.
A highly enjoyable read.
A very good story, with the makings of a modern thriller, or very near to
that.
Regretfully I couldn't find the original French text, and I'm afraid some of typical French rhetoric may seem somewhat lengthy and less fluid than they are in French.
All the same, the plot is original and interesting, has good twists and turns, the characters have life in them, there are two or three good
historical reminiscences and when some sentimental lines seem too...
sentimental, you may expect a quick change to an unexpected event on the
next page.
A curious and satisfying read.
One couldn't expect less from Arsène Lupin creator.
An irregular book, that to the end changes from just acceptable to good.
The first eight chapters (out of fifteen) narrate very plain, moderately complicated detective cases, none of them original.
The main disappointment are the characters, most of them defined either as ordinary people or gentlemen, they just have names, but no personality.
All is very dry in those chapters, the text is practically a script yet to be made in a narrative.
From the chapter IX on you get good characters, better plots, some curious
observations and the telegraphic style results in convenient concision
securing a fast and enjoyable action.
A brilliant, clever, ironic and suspenseful book.
The story, or more exactly, the stories differ from the usual detectivesque pattern but the mysteries get only more tense and, if I may say so, more mysterious.
It reminded me of Chesterton's The Club of Queer Trades but with a plot
that is more imaginative, accomplished, intense and even more human.
It's one of those rare books that make you regret when it ends, you don't want to say goodbye to it.
Lena’s book reviews
He is somewhat incredibly bodily and mentally apt, but he also encounteres
all possible obstacles and unforseen difficulties, so following his
exploits keeps your attention.
The author has another rare virtue, at least I see it as one: he never tells twice the same thing, he never repeats anything that has been already explained, except obviously when he refers to some circunstance that was mentioned many pages before, so the narrative maintains the tension and suspense.
There are also a good sense of humour, noble feelings, well defined and
somewhat grotesque characters, attractive luxury settings and, thank God!, no romance.
Highly enjoyable page-turner.
There are also some curious secondary argumental lines.
Most characters are as interesting to know and to follow as the intrigue itself.
A highly enjoyable and intense read.
A great sense of humour, a clever plot, an accelerated rhythm of the
action, ingenious twists and turns, and the main characters that engage
you to become their friends.
If it must be qualified as pulp fiction, it's a pulp fiction in its Golden Age, never to be surpassed.
You can't put the book down and you enjoy every word of it.
Certainly: don't pay attention to the cover design: doesn't have anything to do with the story, if only figuratively.
There is also a questionable presentation: the typos are abundant and some of them, flagrant, so that you can't avoid thinking that the integrity of the text may be affected, that some plot's inconsistencies aren't such but there could be words, phrases and maybe whole paragraphs missing.
Nonetheless, the imagination ganes: the cases are unusual and get your attention.
The narrative style gets to you and the action is quick-paced.
So you keep reading with interest and curiosity, you get somewhat disappointed at the solution of a case but then the next one offers some surprise at the beginning and you continue reading.
Certainly, I loved another book by this author, "The Abandoned Room".
but as the action goes on, a very good story emerges and the characters,
while very pulp, acquire interesting features.
I'm not a gangsters stories fan, I downloaded this book as I was intrigued by the sheer number of five-stars reviews, and when I was through half a
book, I couldn't put it down.
As any book of this genre, there are some unavoidable topics, like a
treasure map, but the author enriches them with unusual details and
follows a meticulously logical plot scheme in external and, the most
interesting, some emotional events.
Also, the author gets the personages in really difficult situations, none
of their problems gets an easy way out.
And the characters, interesting and vibrant, you really want to follow
them in their adventures.
Suspense and good company.
with exaggeration even, but when you think that the book was written while
the Great War was beginning to show its horrors, you'll see such
exaltation as justified and sincere.
Finally their goodness operates in you something like a therapeutic effect.
The intrigue is slow to start and isn't too impressive but it is very well conducted, with a good ability to create great moments of suspense.
A highly enjoyable read.
that.
Regretfully I couldn't find the original French text, and I'm afraid some of typical French rhetoric may seem somewhat lengthy and less fluid than they are in French.
All the same, the plot is original and interesting, has good twists and turns, the characters have life in them, there are two or three good
historical reminiscences and when some sentimental lines seem too...
sentimental, you may expect a quick change to an unexpected event on the
next page.
A curious and satisfying read.
One couldn't expect less from Arsène Lupin creator.
The first eight chapters (out of fifteen) narrate very plain, moderately complicated detective cases, none of them original.
The main disappointment are the characters, most of them defined either as ordinary people or gentlemen, they just have names, but no personality.
All is very dry in those chapters, the text is practically a script yet to be made in a narrative.
From the chapter IX on you get good characters, better plots, some curious
observations and the telegraphic style results in convenient concision
securing a fast and enjoyable action.
The story, or more exactly, the stories differ from the usual detectivesque pattern but the mysteries get only more tense and, if I may say so, more mysterious.
It reminded me of Chesterton's The Club of Queer Trades but with a plot
that is more imaginative, accomplished, intense and even more human.
It's one of those rare books that make you regret when it ends, you don't want to say goodbye to it.