Christine Mangan

Louise is running from her past. She has found a bundle of money, and Henri has been tasked with getting it back from her. As she travels across Europe, with Henri tracking her, she notices him. She goes on the offensive, sharing information with him about her past. Henri is haunted by his life as a gendarme in Algeria, and he begins to sympathize with Louise. However, the money was stolen by Louise, and the powers that be want it back. They are also in pursuit of the pair.
Henri and Louise make an unlikely pair, but I found myself rooting for them. I enjoyed the ending.… (altro)

This is a cat and mouse chase of a story. Think Tom and Jerry but in slow motion, on trains moving around Europe. Henri is an ex-gendarme and Louise is a woman released from duty by the death of her father. Somehow. Louise managed to pick up the money Henri was supposed to collect for his family, they are criminals, and he then followed her on a journey around Europe thinking he was going to get the money back but not doing so.

The structure is a before and after one and so the story moves forward in one section and then back again in the next - 2 steps forward, 1 step back, which is quite clever but a little confusing for the reader. I can see how the structure zig zags to replicate the chase but this combined with the dual voiced narration complicated things for this reader.

About two thirds of the way through the story I just wanted Henri to get the money and for the situation to be resolved. I couldn't bear the thought that they would just get on another train and go somewhere else with the problem no nearer its conclusion. I did think the characters were interesting and the slow reveal of what Louise had done was engaging as were the places that they visited. It had a slight Agatha Christie feel but set in the 60s when things were just starting to loosen up a bit and a woman's role was not at home in the kitchen.

There used to be an advert for railways that said 'It's quicker by train'. Not in this book it isn't.

This is a book from my local library and so fits into the A-Z challenge where I must read a book from each letter of the alphabet without reserving it. The books must be on the shelves in my local. This one fits under M (going by author's surname).… (altro)

Alice Shipley y Lucy Mason eran inseparables: aunque con pasados totalmente opuestos, sus días en la universidad se sucedieron entre risas, aventuras y libros. Hasta que algo sucede que las aleja para siempre. Alice pronto se casa y, en un arrebato de amor, se traslada a vivir a la tormentosa Tánger de 1956, un Marruecos que se acerca peligrosamente a su fin colonial y bulle repleto de conspiraciones. Pero la ciudad blanca no es lo que Alice esperaba: con John siempre ausente, ni el exotismo de sus calles ni la fragancia de sus aromas logran despertar su interés.
Pero un buen día Lucy llamará a su puerta; su aparición será un maravilloso soplo de aire fresco y juntas descubrirán un Tánger muy diferente, más misterioso, mucho más peligroso.
Cuando el pasado vuelva a acecharlas y la sombra de un asesinato se cierna sobre sus vidas, Alice y Lucy se darán cuenta de que sus días felices en Tánger se han acabado para siempre.… (altro)