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There are some writers who, you get the feeling, are just too nice to write crime fiction -- and I reckon Jake Lamar is one of them. His considerable strength is his ability to capture the contradiction that is Paris. I read RENDEZVOUS EIGHTEENTH on Eurostar on the way home from the French capital last summer, and it was a perfect portrayal of the city. One year on, marooned in England, I jumped on GHOSTS OF SAINT-MICHEL, but was left disappointed. Yes, it's the Paris I know and love, but I don't read genre fiction just for a travelogue. I like an edge to my books, and sadly Lamar just doesn't have that. You get the feeling he'd fit much more happily into the romantic suspense field if he were to adjust his boundaries slightly. GHOSTS OF SAINT-MICHEL promises a lot. Marva Dobbs is a 62-year-old African-American woman who's lived in Paris for 39 years and is married to Frenchman Loic. They have a 23-year-old daughter Naima, who has left France and is a film studies student with a promising holiday job on a Los Angeles movie set. Marva is a legend who runs her own illustrious restaurant and knows everyone who's everyone. And then she starts a torrid affair with Hassan, a 28-year-old Arab chef. Suddenly he disappears, and he and his cousin are suspected of involvement in the bombing of the WORTHEE building -- (deep breath) the World Organization for Research into Technology, Health, Education and the Environment. When Marva also goes missing, Loic and Naima have to try to piece together what's going on. GHOSTS OF SAINT-MICHEL in many ways goes through the correct procedures for the genre -- intrigue, murders, a thriller element. But it lacks any kind of edge or tension. It's hard to say much without giving away the flat ending, but one element of the setting, which promises so much and had me convinced there was going to be a grand finale, fizzles out into nothing. I felt more than a little cheated. Lamar has in fact grafted a conspiracy-theory thriller onto Marva's story. And what he's suggesting is pretty controversial, but there's not enough punch to the story for it to be terribly effective. Lamar also handicaps himself by taking his most interesting character off-stage for much of the novel. Marva is a strong creation -- not easy to like, but someone you want to know more about. Grey, insignificant Loic and 20-something by numbers Naima are no replacement for her. If you read your crime fiction for the setting, you may be able to forgive GHOSTS OF SAINT-MICHEL its many faults. And if, as I do, you admire Lamar for his niche market -- showing African-American expats trying to make a life in Paris -- you may find it worth a read. Just don't expect too much.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, August 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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