I must say that I was not very comfortable with the title of the book and almost did not request it. The storyline promised something different, so I overcame my initial apprehension and picked it up. I still do not like the title but the book, on the other hand, was quite entertaining.

Paul Burke is a retired pro cyclist. He has settled in a picturesque town that he lost his heart to, during his cycling days and spends his days drinking it away. He also blogs/writes columns for a living. (On a side note, his editor continues calling an individual post his ‘blog’ for the day instead of a post/blog post. I have never come across this usage before, do a lot of people use it?). Things start to change for him when a man he knew turns up dead. This does not have Paul scrambling to investigate but just to evaluate his life and habits and start to chip away at his lethargy with small changes that eventually lead to bigger ones. It was a very natural transformation that felt good to watch unfold.

Since Paul is both in the journalism industry as well as someone who knows the inner workings of Professional Cycling, he asks the right questions and even sometimes comes up with the correct answers. His investigation happens in spurts between an evolving social life as well as disturbances in his locality which may or may not be connected to the deaths in the town. The descriptions could do with a little more editing just to be more succinct in some places, it will definitely help the speed of the read ( for example, three lines to describe that his friend was calling him seemed to take away from his mental process at the time)

Overall a very different take on a mystery, with a focus on a sport which I had no prior knowledge of. I would definitely pick up the next book in the series if given a choice.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This book was a lot of fun to read: it's well written, fast paced and kept me hooked till the end.
I liked the characters and the descriptions. The mystery is solid and kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This book is totally void of suspense, the plot very simplistic, and the storytelling rather naive. The author has captured the joy of cycling in France, which I've done a lot of, but I was surprised by the factual errors in the descriptions of the TDF.