Category Archives: Mystery

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz
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Synopsis: In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it…

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.

She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.

It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless.

Review: Lisa Lutz is a writer that I really like. I initially discovered her humorous books with the Spellman series and different genres which are much more serious lately. But whatever she can write, I always take great pleasure in reading her stories and I was, once again, won by The Passenger.

This book highlights some themes that I don’t usually find in my many other readings: running away and identity change and of course with all their consequences. It is in this context that we discover Tanya, a young woman on the run after discovering the body of her husband down the stairs, dead while she was upstairs in their house. But now, the young woman has no alibi, and she can not afford for the police to dig into her past for fear of discovering her terrible secret.

By beginning history, we do not really understand why the young woman fled and why she did not confront the police who should, with good explanations, understand this strange death. No, Tanya runs away and changes her identity by contacting someone from her past who might harm her. From there, the young woman will go from town to town, constantly changing her name, allying herself for a while with a woman who does not necessarily have the same ideas as hers and who guesses that she’s hiding something, a woman who will infiltrate her life and force her to act even when she does not desire it. I loved how our heroine managed to change names, to start a new life and to disappear to start again. I do not and I do not think that it is as simple as it is presented but it was interesting to see how it was featured. Of course, we also try to understand throughout the chapters what Tanya is trying to run from, the reason behind these events and even if we find emails sent between her and a person from her past, it is very difficult to really understand the truth before the last chapters. We understand perfectly that something very serious happened, but is she responsible? Why does she attack the man she speaks with and to whom yet she has feelings for?

This is something very complex that we find here and the revelations are numerous, all her past hides many secrets and even certain she did not expect to discover and neither do we at the same time. The only thing that makes me doubt remains perhaps about the consequences of her situation, or at least the apparent lack of complications compared to everything she has gone through in the legal matter as the identity theft, and other crimes. Did the author decide to keep them out of her history? Is Tanya not punished for what happened? Did her past innocent her once revealed? I admit that these are some points that intrigued me, to know if it is so easily possible to override such actions.

But in any case I had a great time with the story and I was completely carried away by all the events. A new great novel from the author to read now!

 

4

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The Passenger de Lisa Lutz (VO)
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Résumé (traduction personnelle) :Dans le cas où vous poseriez la question, je ne l’ai pas fait. Je n’ai rien à voir avec la mort de Frank. Je n’ai pas d’alibi, alors vous devrez me croire sur parole …

Quarante-huit heures après avoir quitté le corps de son mari en bas de l’escalier, Tanya Dubois encaisse ses cartes de crédit, se teint les cheveux en brun, exige un nouveau nom d’une voix sombre au téléphone, et fuit la ville. Ce n’est pas la première fois.

Elle rencontre Blue, une barmaid qui reconnaît le regard traqué dans les yeux d’une fugitive et lui offre un endroit pour rester. N’ayant que peu d’autres choix, Tanya – maintenant Amelia – accepte. Une alliance compliquée et dangereuse est née.

Il est presque impossible de vivre hors des sentiers battus de nos jours, mais Amelia – maintenant Debra – et Blue ont le courage, l’ingéniosité et le désespoir d’essayer. Voyageant de ville en ville, Debra particulièrement est poursuivie par un secret très sombre … peut-elle dépasser son passé?

Avis : Lisa Lutz est une auteure que j’apprécie particulièrement. Je l’ai tout d’abord découverte avec des livres pleins d’humour avec la série Spellmans, puis avec des genres beaucoup plus sérieux dernièrement. Mais quoi qu’elle puisse écrire, je prends toujours énormément de plaisir à lire ses histoires et j’ai été, une fois de plus, conquise par The Passenger.

Ce livre met en avant des thèmes que je n’ai pas forcément beaucoup retrouvés dans mes autres lectures : la fuite et le changement d’identité avec bien sûr toutes ses conséquences. C’est dans ce contexte que l’on découvre Tanya, une jeune femme en fuite après avoir découvert le corps de son mari en bas de son escalier, possiblement mort en tombant alors qu’elle était à l’étage. Mais voilà, la jeune femme n’a pas d’alibi et elle ne peut pas se permettre que la police fouille dans son passé de peur de découvrir son terrible secret.

En commençant l’histoire, on ne comprend pas vraiment pourquoi la jeune femme s’enfuit et pourquoi elle ne veut pas affronter la police qui devrait, avec les bonnes explications, comprendre cette mort étrange. Mais non, Tanya s’enfuit et change d’identité en contactant une personne de son passé qui pourrait bien lui nuire. A partir de là, la jeune femme va passer de villes en villes, changeant sans cesse de nom, s’alliant pendant un moment avec une femme qui n’a pas forcément la même morale que la sienne et qui devine qu’elle cache quelque chose, une femme qui va s’infiltrer dans sa vie et l’obliger à agir même quand elle ne le désire pas.

J’ai beaucoup aimé voir comment notre héroïne parvenait à changer de noms, à se refaire une vie et à disparaitre pour recommencer une nouvelle fois. Je ne sais pas et je ne pense pas que cela soit aussi simple qu’elle le présente mais c’était intéressant de voir la manière utilisée. Bien sûr, on essaie aussi de comprendre tout au long des chapitres ce que Tanya peut bien fuir, la raison derrière ces événements et même si on retrouve des emails envoyés entre elle et une personne de son passé, il est très difficile de réellement comprendre la vérité avant les derniers chapitres. On comprend parfaitement que quelque chose de très grave est arrivé, mais Tanya est-elle responsable ? Pourquoi attaque-t-elle tant l’homme avec qui elle correspond et envers qui pourtant elle a des sentiments.

C’est quelque chose de très complexe que l’on retrouve ici et les révélations sont nombreuses, tout son passé cache de nombreux secrets et même certains dont elle ne s’attendait pas à découvrir et nous non plus par la même occasion. Le seul point qui me fait douter reste peut-être les conséquences de toute sa situation, ou en tout cas le manque apparent de complications par rapport à tout ce qu’elle a traversé au niveau juridique, le vol d’identité, et autres crimes. Est-ce que l’auteur a décidé de les garder hors de son histoire ? Tanya n’est-elle pas punie pour ce qui est arrivé ? Son passé l’innocente-t-il une fois révélé ? J’avoue que ce sont des points qui m’ont intriguée. S’il est si facilement possible de passer outre de telles actions.

Mais dans tous les cas j’ai passé un excellent moment avec l’histoire et j’ai été complètement emportée par tous les événements. Un nouveau très bon roman de l’auteur à lire sans plus attendre !

4

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Made to Kill by Adam Christopher
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The L.A. Trilogy, Book 1

Synopsis: It was just another Tuesday morning when she walked into the office–young, as I suspected they all might be, another dark brunette with some assistance and enough eye black to match up to Cleopatra. And who am I? I’m Ray, the world’s last robot, famed and feared in equal measure, which suits me just fine–after all, the last place you’d expect to find Hollywood’s best hit man is in the plain light of day.

Raymond Electromatic is good at his job, as good as he ever was at being a true Private Investigator, the lone employee of the Electromatic Detective Agency–except for Ada, office gal and super-computer, the constant voice in Ray’s inner ear. Ray might have taken up a new line of work, but money is money, after all, and he was programmed to make a profit. Besides, with his twenty-four-hour memory-tape limits, he sure can keep a secret.

When a familiar-looking woman arrives at the agency wanting to hire Ray to find a missing movie star, he’s inclined to tell her to take a hike. But she had the cold hard cash, a demand for total anonymity, and tendency to vanish on her own.

Plunged into a glittering world of fame, fortune, and secrecy, Ray uncovers a sinister plot that goes much deeper than the silver screen–and this robot is at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Review: I’m not a big fan of robots and usually it’s true that I avoid most of the books incorporating them. But this time, I admit that I was intrigued by the synopsis. It must be said that this is not necessarily something hard science fiction, but rather a story that could just as well have staged a very different character. Moreover, the fact that it is a robot brings a big twist here. Yes, it is a strong point of the story with a different atmosphere, Hollywood stars, a survey, a hitman, many elements that intrigue us and keep us in suspense throughout the story .

Ray is the last remaining robot on the planet, one that was designed to be as close to humans but he is also controlled by a super computer that handles the program and recover his memory every night. This is also that super computer that has decided that their private detective company would be more successful if they turned into a hit man business. Besides for that, she altered the general behavior of the robot so he does not develop a conscience. But then, a strange new case comes their way, a young woman looking like Cleopatra hires him to track down and eliminate a movie star. At stake: Many gold bars … strange thing. But money entices particular, especially for such a sum and this is how Ray will end up plunging into a more complex story. Yes, it is a novel combining movie stars, CIA, double agents, Russian agents, nuclear, and a much more intense plot than we would have suspected.

It was a very interesting novel, based on the investigation, although we have a little light science fiction aspect to the rear of the story, I think it is fairly well handled. I must say that I did not expect at all to such a disclosure at the end of history. It was interesting to have different aspects that are not usually found in books, and it is true that we are curious to understand what exactly is going on between all the events.

I found that the author had some really original ideas with this story and, we find ourselves embedded in a global amplitude history. I’m still trying to decide on the supercomputer and her impact on Ray, especially when we know that she gives him his memories every day and can alter everything she wants to.

In short you will understand, I had a good time with the story and I’m curious to find out what the author will present now.

 

4

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Made to Kill d’Adam Christopher (VO)
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The L.A. Trilogy, tome 1

Résumé (traduction personnelle) : C’était juste un autre mardi matin quand elle entra dans le bureau – jeune, comme je le soupçonnais, ils pourraient tous l’être, une autre brunette avec assez de noir autour de l’œil pour correspondre à Cléopâtre. Et qui suis-je? Je suis Ray, dernier robot du monde, célèbre et redouté, ce qui me convient très bien – après tout, le dernier endroit où vous vous attendriez à trouver le meilleur tueur à gage de Hollywood est en pleine lumière du jour.


Raymond Electromatic est bon dans son travail, aussi bon qu’il ne l’était en tant que détective privé, le seul employé de l’Agence de détective Electromatic – sauf pour Ada, partenaire de bureau et super-ordinateur, la voix constante dans l’oreille interne de Ray. Ray aurait pu prendre une nouvelle ligne de travail, mais l’argent est l’argent, après tout, et il a été programmé pour faire du profit. D’ailleurs, avec ses limites de bande de mémoire de vingt-quatre heures, il peut vous garder un secret.

Quand une femme à l’aspect familier arrive à l’agence pour embaucher Ray pour retrouver l’étoile manquante d’un film, il est enclin à lui dire de repartir d’où elle est venue. Mais elle avait de l’argent dur et froid, une demande d’anonymat total, et une tendance à disparaître.

Plongé dans un monde étincelant de gloire, de fortune, et de secret, Ray découvre un complot sinistre qui va beaucoup plus loin que l’écran d’argent – et ce robot est au mauvais endroit, au mauvais moment.

Avis : Je ne suis pas une grande fan de robots habituellement et c’est vrai j’évite la plus part des livres les incorporant. Pourtant, cette fois ci, j’avoue que j’ai été intriguée par le résumé. Il faut dire que ce n’est pas forcément quelque chose de très science-fiction, mais plutôt une histoire qui aurait tout aussi bien pu mettre en scène un tout autre personnage. D’ailleurs, le fait que ce soit un robot apporte une grosse touche d’originalité ici. Oui, c’est un point fort de l’histoire, une ambiance différente, des stars d’Hollywood, une enquête, un tueur à gage, de nombreux éléments qui nous intriguent et qui nous tiennent en haleine tout au long de l’histoire.

Ray est le dernier robot existant sur la planète, celui qui a été conçu pour être au plus près de l’homme mais il est aussi contrôlé par un super ordinateur qui s’occupe de le programmer et de récupérer sa mémoire chaque soir. C’est aussi ce super ordinateur qui a décidé que leur entreprise de détective privé serait plus fructueuse si elle se transformait en une de tueur à gages. D’ailleurs pour cela, elle a altéré le comportement général du robot pour ne pas qu’il développe une conscience propre. Mais voilà, un nouveau cas étrange se présente à eux, une jeune femme à l’allure de Cléopâtre, l’engage pour retrouver et éliminer une star de cinéma. A la clé : de nombreux lingots d’or… étrange. Mais l’argent appâte particulièrement, surtout face à une telle somme et c’est ainsi que Ray va se retrouver plonger dans une histoire des plus complexes. Oui, c’est un roman mêlant stars de cinéma mondiales, CIA, agents doubles, agents russes, nucléaire, et un complot bien plus intense qu’on ne pourrait le suspecter.

C’était un roman très intéressant, basé sur l’enquête bien sûr principalement, même si on a un petit aspect science-fiction léger à l’arrière de l’histoire qui est, je trouve, assez bien amené. Il faut dire que je ne m’attendais pas du tout à de telles révélations en fin d’histoire. C’était intéressant d’avoir différents aspects que l’on ne retrouve pas habituellement et c’est vrai qu’on est curieux de comprendre ce qu’il se passe exactement entre tous les événements.

J’ai trouvé que l’auteur avait eu des idées vraiment originales avec cette histoire et sur quelque chose qui partait simple, on se retrouve embarqué dans une histoire d’amplitude mondiale. J’essaie encore de statuer sur le super-ordinateur et sur son impact sur Ray, notamment quand on sait qu’elle lui donne ses souvenirs chaque jour et peut donc altérer tout ce qu’elle désire.

Bref vous l’aurez compris, j’ai passé un bon moment avec l’histoire et je suis curieuse de découvrir ce que l’auteur nous présentera de plus à présent.

4

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Omens by Kelley Armstrong
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Cainsville, Book 1

Synopsis: Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.

Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.

Review: Kelley Armstrong embarks us on a whole new genre after the end of her urban fantasy series and I admit that I was intrigued. It’s true that the great reviews appearing everywhere also made me want to try it. I need to finally thank Carien for giving me this first volume (she is a wonderful friend). Oh yes, because I had a great time with the story, much more than what I would have thought, and I was completely caught up in the early chapters, eager to finish it off to see all the events.

Olivia Taylor-Jones is a heir of a wealthy family and her life is already mapped out! She is engaged to a man of her rank who is preparing to become a senator and the wedding is scheduled for the month after. Alas, an event will shake up her life and put everything in question. One evening when she returns home, she learns that she was actually adopted when she was still a child. This is something that is shocking in itself because everyone saw in her the likeness of her adoptive parents, but in addition to this, she also discovers that her biological parents are a couple of famous murderers who killed for no reason 4 couples. You will understand that it’s many things to learn at once. It could have been ok with the support of her mother who was not aware of the situation, or even with her boyfriend … unfortunately, this is not the case … The first reaction of her fiance is to postpone the wedding, something that Olivia accepts difficultly, and she so returns her engagement ring. As for her mother, the woman decides to “abandon” her daughter to go on a trip to Europe, so things can be a bit forgotten. It’s a really difficult moment for a person who understands that her life is a lie and that people she loved and thought would always been there for her, run away. While denying the charity of her family, Olivia leaves as well, trying to hide from everyone and so ends up Cainsville. This is also where she will meet with Gabriel, a lawyer determined to get hired by our heroine.

As I said I loved the novel! The universe is completely fascinating! First, we have Cainsville, this mysterious city that holds many secrets. It starts with all the gargoyles that are found everywhere on the buildings or even those that appear only at night. But we also have those strange birds, the elders who are very interested in our heroine, or even a cat looking more than what it seems. Yes, we are left with many questions throughout the chapters and although very few answers we are given, I am very curious to read more in order to discover the truth.

And then we have Olivia … or Eden. How not having an identity crisis when so many things fall on her at the same time? Realizing that a part of her life was hidden from her is very difficult but now everyone calls her with a different name, expecting to see two opposing people. But in addition to this, Olivia realizes that memories rise to the surface, without really knowing if she sees what really happened. This is something very confusing! Our heroine is able to read the omens in everything she sees, she even sometimes have visions and interpretations that nobody sees. It was fascinating to find out all that. I knew about  some but it’s true that I have found some new ones here. Sometimes it’s funny to discover some of which we would never have thought of. It reminds me a bit of the things to myself I’m careful about, because I was raised like that, such as not to put bread upside down, not to open an umbrella inside of a building, not to break a mirror … Those are not here, but we still discover many others and I‘m curious to know more, to know what this gift also means for Olivia and so to see what she will become.

Then there are the Eden / Olivia’s parents… the real parents. We do not meet her father (although I am curious to see what will happen exactly when she will), but we have the chance to discover her mother several times here. Is she innocent? I think this is something that we would all like to know, but what I found particularly interesting is the fact that our heroine and the author does not idealize everything. Of course, we would like all to be rosy, that life would be perfect and that her parents were finally wrongly accused. But there is always an element of doubt as the answers are not found. Therefore Olivia and Gabriel will team up, seeking to understand what is really going on, at least for one of the murders and they will end up in a much larger and complicated story than we could have expected.

So yes, as you can see, we have a lot to discover in this novel and Kelley Armstrong has issued an original story full of ideas and difficult to put down. I can only advise you to try and I hope you will be as delighted as I was with this first volume. I now look forward to reading the following novel which I’m sure will be just as great!

4-5

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A Talent for Trickery by Alissa Johnson
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The Thief-takers, Book 1

Synopsis: The Lady is a Thief

Years ago, Owen Renderwell earned acclaim—and a title—for the dashing rescue of a kidnapped duchess. But only a select few knew that Scotland Yard’s most famous detective was working alongside London’s most infamous thief…and his criminally brilliant daughter, Charlotte Walker.

Lottie was like no other woman in Victorian England. She challenged him. She dazzled him. She questioned everything he believed and everything he was, and he has never wanted anyone more. And then he lost her.

Now a private detective on the trail of a murderer, Owen has stormed back into Lottie’s life. She knows that no matter what they may pretend, he will always be a man of the law and she a criminal. Yet whenever he’s near, Owen has a way of making things complicated…and long for a future that can never be theirs.

 

Review: I saw some great reviews about this novel and I confess that it made me curious. It must be said that the story puts forward many characters with a historical novel based on an intriguing mystery, all complemented by a little romance.

We discover Charlotte, a young woman who tried to rebuild her life and the one of her family after the death of her father, a famous thief. A death that could have cleared their names, (since her father died while trying to save a young woman), has only benefited to one man, Owen Renderwell, who received all the credit. While she greatly appreciated the policeman when he worked with her dad, the feelings evolved into anger and sadness of such an act. But now, a new murder takes Owen back to Charlotte to have more information on her father and so to discover the identity of the killer and his motives. Alas, the welcome she reserves him is quite cold but after so many years of hard feelings, the young woman is this time determined to help the detectives, if she does not subsequently falls in love again. But as the secrets are revealed, Lottie will understand that her father was not the man she thought he was and that he hurt more people than what she thought.

I appreciated to see the relationship between our two main characters evolve over the chapters. I was quickly swept away by the events at the beginning of the novel, but it is true that once passed half, I had a harder time hanging on to what was happening … the pace of the plot became slower without a lot of event happening and I had a little trouble to go back in the story.

For the rest of the book, it’s a pretty good story, and I was curious and surprised about the revelations of this family which we do not necessarily expect. The end was also quite nice and I was eager to find out why the family had been targeted this time.

It was a good story even though I expected a little more I have to admit. However, I am curious to see what will happen afterwards if we have one sequel.

 

3-5 

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A Talent for Trickery de Alissa Johnson (VO)
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The Thief-takers, Tome 1

Résumé (traduction personnelle) : La Dame est une voleuse

Il y a des années, Owen Renderwell a acquis une réputation et un titre pour le sauvetage fringant d’une duchesse kidnappée. Mais seuls quelques-uns savaient que le plus célèbre détective de Scotland Yard travaillait aux côtés du plus infâme voleur de Londres … et de sa brillante fille, Charlotte Walker.

Lottie n’était comme aucune autre femme de l’Angleterre victorienne. Elle lui a fait face. Elle l’a ébloui. Elle lui a fait se poser des questions sur tout ce qu’il pensait et tout ce qu’il était, et il n’a jamais voulu quelqu’un d’autre. Et puis il l’a perdue.

Maintenant, détective privé sur la piste d’un meurtrier, Owen a pris d’assaut la vie de Lottie. Elle sait que, peu importe ce qu’ils font, il sera toujours un homme de loi et elle une criminelle. Pourtant, chaque fois qu’il est près, Owen a une façon de compliquer les choses … de même que leur avenir.

Avis : J’avais vu de très jolis avis de ce roman et j’avoue que ça m’a rendue assez curieuse. Il faut dire que l’histoire mettant de nombreux points en avant avec un roman historique basé sur un mystère intrigant, le tout agrémenté d’une petite romance.

On découvre ainsi Charlotte, une jeune femme qui a essayé de reconstruire sa vie, ainsi que celle de sa famille après la mort de leur père, un célèbre voleur. Cette mort qui aurait pu blanchir leur nom, (dès lors que son père est décédé en essayant de sauver une jeune femme), n’a profité qu’à un seul homme Owen Renderwell qui en a reçu tout le mérite. Alors qu’elle appréciait grandement le policier quand il travaillait avec son géniteur, les sentiments se sont mués en colère et tristesse d’un tel acte. Mais voilà, un nouveau meurtre ramène Owen auprès de Charlotte afin d’avoir plus d’informations sur son père et ainsi découvrir l’identité du tueur ainsi que ses motivations. Hélas, l’accueil qu’elle lui réserve est assez froid mais après tant d’années de rancune, la jeune femme est cette fois décidée à aider les détectives, si elle ne reperd pas son cœur une nouvelle fois. Mais alors que les secrets se dévoilent, Lottie va comprendre que son père n’était pas celui qu’elle pensait et qu’il a manipulé bien plus de monde qu’elle ne le pensait.

J’ai apprécié voir la relation se créer doucement entre nos deux personnages principaux et évoluer au cours des chapitres. J’ai été très vite emportée par les événements au début du roman mais c’est vrai qu’une fois passée la moitié, j’ai eu un peu plus de mal à accrocher à ce qu’il se passait… l’intrigue a commencé à tirer en longueur sans qu’il ne se passe pas forcément quoi que ce soit et j’ai eu un peu de mal à retourner dans l’histoire aussi bien qu’au départ.

Pour le reste, c’est une assez bonne histoire, j’étais curieuse et surprise au sujet des révélations de cette famille dont on ne s’attend pas forcément. La fin aussi était assez agréable et j’étais impatiente de découvrir pourquoi cette famille avait été prise pour cible cette fois-ci.

C’était une bonne histoire même si j’en attendais un peu plus je dois avouer. Je suis cependant curieuse de voir ce qu’il se passera dans la suite si nous en avons une.

3-5 

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