Review by Booklist Review
When retired police detective Mathias Taillefer wakes up in a Paris hospital, the first person he sees is young medical student Louise Collange. She wants Taillefer to investigate the recent death of her mother, a famed Paris Opera prima ballerina. Taillefer--jaded, cynical, and world-weary after a lifetime of disappointments and hard living--refuses at first but can't seem to help himself as his investigative habits kick in. Did Louise's mother die by suicide, or was she pushed to her death from the balcony of her apartment? This unlikely but very likable Boomer/Gen Z duo work together, traveling from Paris to Venice to bring justice to a wily killer, both aided and thwarted along the way by a sinister cast of noir-worthy secondary characters. Popular French suspense novelist Musso (The Stranger in the Seine, 2023) delivers a solid thriller made even more satisfying by the surprising secrets Taillefer and Collange discover about themselves as they race to a shocking conclusion.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
French suspense novelist Musso (The Stranger in the Seine) sets this captivating if crowded mystery in Paris during Christmas 2021. Retired police officer Mathias Taillefer wakes up in a hospital after suffering a mild heart attack and finds 17-year-old Louise Collange at his bedside. Knowing that Mathias is a well-regarded investigator, Louise asks him to look into the death of her mother, retired prima ballerina Stella Petrenko. Louise does not believe her mother's death is an accident or a suicide, as the police suggest. Instead, she thinks it might be linked to a murder in Stella's apartment building. Musso unfolds the story along three parallel tracks: one follows Mathias and Louise as they spar, investigate, and learn more about the victims and each other; another follows an anonymous killer, offering up psychological justification for their crimes; a third examines the events leading up to Mathias's early retirement and the tragic love affair that has shaped his life. Everything converges in a finale that serves up jaw-dropping twists, even if it doesn't quite justify the whiplash of the book's convoluted structure. Still, Musso's fans will have a Gallic good time. (Jan.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
