Thursday, January 16, 2014

MANNEQUIN - J.Robert Janes


There is a serial killer loose in Paris in 1943. Our heroes are a French detective and a German detective who is in the Gestapo.  These two are tasked to investigate civilian crimes which of course end up involving the occupiers and things become very political.

So its a run of the mill serial killer story and to be honest could be set anywhere and at anytime.  The killings are grotesque and frequent with the two trying to locate the latest victim who is a friend of the Frenchman.

A couple of problems I had with this book are, firstly, the French detective working with the Gestapo, even though its on civilian crimes he is heading for the guillotine come the Germans getting the boot because he is a collaborator. I have no idea how the author will deal with this little problem come the end of the series.

My second problem is this, the book is set in France - one French Policeman ,one German Policeman, now  being a reader of average intelligence I can assume that the majority of the dialogue involving persons in the book will be in french.  It can also be safely assumed that the German will speaking german when speaking to his colleagues.  With that established and the fact that this book is in English, why has the author inserted a "merde" and " Gott im Himmel" every couple of pages, seriously, its like something from "Hogans Hero's" and really annoying.

So, a gruesome murder mystery thats adequate with a couple of really annoying traits that have put me off reading anymore of the series. 

"Gott im Himmel" it just got too tedious.

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