Book Review : "Pars Vite et Reviens Tard"//"Have Mercy on Us All" (F.Vargas)

Here I need a double or triple-Wow! Read in French, you can find it under the English title "Have Mercy on Us All", which could be an interesting reading as the title DO MEAN SOMETHING in the book in French, but I have difficulty to see how it becomes such an English title. Anyway, back to the review. This book is not too heavy and can be read really quick. Not due to its shortness, but because of the story keeping the reader waiting wit bated breath. Japp! I'm good to find those kind of book. And in original version it is always a pleasure.

The story is contemporary and happens in Paris. A town crier gets all kind of crap from his customers, but nothing like those messages lacking of understandable meaning written either in Latin or old French, predicting the arrival of a terrible thing. Does not matter for our crier: he is paid for shouting loud the messages of his customers and this one pays well.
On the other side of the town start to appear strange "4"-signs with no real explanation. The Chief Inspector Adamsberg newly promoted to the Crime Brigade gets his nose on those strange signs even before anything (hear here "Crimes") happens. Indeed his domain of expertise is crime! But when the forst body appears he gets a strange feeling, linking maybe those two strange happenings.

Nonono! You won't here the end from me. : ) The intrigue is permanent in the book, keeping the reader open-eyed and careful in his/her guess about what will go on next. Indeed it is not easy job to try to precede the action. But still the reader cannot avoid it. He/She pleases him/herself in doing so. The book is full with action, suspense, well a little-littlebit of sex (but don't buy it for that. In my view it was almost a waste of the author talent to include a love-story in the book.. butbutbut... It may have a meaning in the following books with this special characters).
The characters are well described and have the "right place" in the book. The end seems a tiny-little-bit out of the blue. But well, you like it or not. Every book needs an end! This one is well worth any other and works well.

So lots of plus (intrigue, characters) and some minus (love story with neither head nor tail, the use of several clichés...). Well, like of or leave it! I DID LIKE IT : )

To summarize, I would strongly recommend this book, for spending time away from any everydaylife, to get a kick and lots of info on theplague (no more said here on this! Read the book ; ) A strong 8/10 and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Have already started another serie of the same author... Soon more about it : )

Book Review : "Et Après" (G. Musso)

Easy reading (in French). The English translated title is "Afterwards". Story of a character who has seen Death and came back... when he was 8. Now he is a famous lawyer in New-York (not sure to understand why the story cannot be in France... But New-York and the States will do!), unfortunately divorced from his longlife friend and with a little daughter.
Well, the promises from the back cover are unfortunately not fulfilled. The book is easy and quickly read and when you reach the end, you cannot recall what was catching you attention at the beginning (I bought this book for a reason, didn't I?). The story is plane and no real action in it. OK, it is no fantasy or criminology involved. But still even I can appreciate a book with none of the two fore mentioned pieces. But this one ... well, no. I saw the author in a French program and there as well they were welling him really much (another reason catching my interest for the book!).
The story is so simple and still kept me reading every page... Must have been something in it!
A bit too cliché for me to have this handsome guy from the poor side of the town falling in love with the daughter of the family where his mom is a made... and this same guy will work his *ss off to become the greatest lawyer ever... you read it well, it felt a bit of a "déjà-vu" (or here "Déjà-lu"!).
But still what kept me reading and reading in this book. No idea. I can even recognise that it was the second time I read it (Yapp! I had borrowed it from my lill' sis a while ago... and forgot to give it back...But now I know!).

To summarize rapidly a book read even quicker, I would not recommend highly this book. If you have a few hours to kill at the airport because your plane is delayed, do like me: Buy it, read it, and well you'll forget it pretty quick as well. But while reading it is still a nice feeling throughout the reading.

So if in search for near-death-experience story, start here (no surnatural or strange stuff, only basc for beginners). I am grading this book with a 5/10 and will actually read another book from the same author and see how it goes...

Ooops! Forgot to mentioned that this book has been "translated" into a movie recently... Any comment on it?