Book number 51 for 2024; 2/5 stars.
This honestly is just not a well-written book. The story, itself, isn’t bad, and the last few chapters keep things a little more engaging. But the writing style is somewhat stilted. The dialogue is awkward and extremely unlikely. People simply don’t talk like that, at least not anywhere that I have seen.
The author is also extremely fond of exclamation points, putting them in places where they are entirely unnecessary. I found at least one dangling participle, when, on page 31, it says, “Being a tourist strip, the waiter spoke English . . .” The waiter was most definitely not a tourist strip.
It also seems highly unlikely to me that the detectives in this novel would constantly be stopping to have luxurious gourmet dinners and breakfasts while their criminal is running halfway around the world. They keep having leisurely meals while he gets further and further away from them. And speaking of “while,” the author also really likes the word “whilst,” which might be an Australian thing, I’m not sure. Most writers use “while,” these days.
I did learn, though, what a “funicular” is. I had never heard of that before. It is a steep railway, such as the one that I once rode to the bottom of the Royal Gorge Canyon in Colorado.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.
TTFN, y’all!
The Constant Reader 