Friday, August 24, 2012

The Bookseller-Mark Pryor

The Bookseller


Mark Pryor

Prometheus/Seventh Street, Oct 9 2012, $15.95

ISBN 9781616147082



In Paris, former FBI profiler Hugo Marston enjoys the City of Lights while working as the head of security at the American embassy. However, while touring the city, his idyllic time ends when he watches in horror as someone with a gun abducts elderly book dealer Max Koche from the victim’s Seine bouquiniste. Hugo becomes frustrated with the local gendarme who seems disinterested in attempting to rescue the kidnapped Max.



Not one to sit idly on the sidelines, the Texan expatriate investigates. He obtains help from sort of retired CIA agent Tom Green and soon learns Max is not the first bookstall owner kidnapped. Evidence mounts that the bouquinistes are victims of gang warfare as they become Seine floaters. Hugo and journalist Claudia de Roussillon begin a romance that is in peril when he learns Max was a Nazi hunter with a stunning tie to Claudia’s father.



This is enjoyable French investigation in which Paris as seen through Hugo’s eyes comes to life. Hugo is a solid hero though his inquiry may make him persona non grata and expelled from France. Although the violent abductions and homicides are somewhat muted, the storyline is fast-paced from start to Hugo and Tom confronting their adversary who expects their visit.



Harriet Klausner



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