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THE GOLEM OF PARIS is a well written, compelling thriller that melds detective fiction with Jewish mysticism, fantastical part-human creatures and heart-wrenching personal histories. In the hands of lesser writers than the Kellermans, this tale would not be a successful book, but the father and son authors are skilled in what they do. By creating characters we care about and suspense that is maintained throughout, the authors make us suspend our disbelief, even as the wall between reality and fantasy is breached.
Members of the police force who are also members of another sort of force are shadowing Jacob Lev, an LA detective. They are not quite human. Taller than most people, they do not like to eat and are descended perhaps from Biblical angels. They are watching Jacob because he is the love object of a formless creature, a sort of mythical Jewish golem. This creature, called Mai, wants Jacob and will not let him be close to any real woman. The watchers want to kill Mai because she is powerful and can be used as a tool, perhaps for destructive ends although that is not clear.
The current work builds on characters and incidents that were introduced in an earlier book, THE GOLEM OF HOLLYWOOD. There is enough explanation and reference to what happened previously, however, to allow the reader to engage in the present story without having read the other. That is not to say that any of this makes sense. Jacob is doing a boring job of cataloging old cases, while at the same time watching out for random insects. Mai is often in the form of a large beetle, and she may be hanging around him.
Then he discovers an unsolved case that he wants to investigate. A mother and son were murdered and then mutilated after death. Jacob wants to become involved with this investigation to give him a respite from dealing with the watchers and with his own unhappy family. His mother is in a mental institution and we are given the horrifying history of the trauma that put her there. Jacob is not aware of this information, but he suspects that she may have some connection with Mai. Jacob travels from LA to Paris to track down the murderers of a mother and son who were killed in the same way as the pair in LA.
Once in Paris, Jacob has to work with members of the French police, who seem to have their own agendas. There is mayhem and murder galore. Although Mai seems to be angry with Jacob, she swoops down and saves his life more than once. At the book’s end we are still dealing with supernatural creatures that defy logic, but the Kellerman’s will assuredly have an eager audience for more installments of the Golem series.
§ Anne Corey is a writer, poet, teacher and botanical artist in New York's Hudson Valley.
Reviewed by Anne Corey, November 2015
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