(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Lawyer Robert Tarza is surprised when his young, beautiful and wealthy French girlfriend, Tess, proposes marriage. It’s not that he doesn’t love her, but even after five years, there’s a lot about her he doesn’t know.
But Robert has to put his personal life on hold when his friend Oscar Quesana shows up outside Tess’s Parisian apartment clutching a mysterious package, with a thief hot on his heels. Oscar has somehow acquired a priceless old book.
When Robert and his former protégée, Jenna James, see Oscar shoved into a car and abducted, they find themselves entangled in unexpected intrigue. Robert, Tess and Jenna must quickly determine who is friend and who is foe in order to rescue Oscar before it’s too late. Along the way, Robert might just make some astonishing discoveries about those he holds dear.

*3.5 stars*

This was the third book in the Robert Tarza series of legal thrillers. However, this was probably more just straight-up thriller than anything else.

The story hits a lot of the right notes for me: a priceless book, a kidnapping, the French culture, and other things that made this book quite a pleasure at times. I liked that Robert and Tess weren't a "perfect couple" - that their lives were quite complicated was a positive for me. As was the added understanding of how the French judicial system works (to a degree.) I am always interested to learn other cultures.

However, there were a few bad points for me. One of the bigger issues was the really slow pacing of this one. I thought that with a decent editing, this could have been solved. The "slow burn" was probably about 50 pages too long and I really had doubts at times whether I would get to the end. The other thing was the massive cast. It seemed that every second page introduced a new character, who had another thread to add to the weave of this "mystery" - it just became a bit too muddled for me.

Overall, I do think this author can write a good story. I would recommend it if you enjoy mystery and thrillers in the same story.


Paul
ARH

Last year I really enjoyed "Write to Die" and when I saw "Paris Ransom" was available, I leapt at it. "Paris Ransom" is also a legal story but set in France. It is enjoyable enough, for its view into the French legal system that derives from a wholly different tradition from the US and UK common law, but I found the dialogue stilted and that detracted from my pleasure at the book.

I received a review copy of "Paris Ransom: The Robert Tarza Series Book 3" by Charles Rosenberg (Amazon Publishing) through NetGalley.

https://www.amazon.com/review/RHZO48KMTH9TG/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm