The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

Booksellers are interesting creatures.  Most are a bit odd, have an unearthly air about them, and follow their own drum.  I know.  After all, I am one.  When we have our heads in books all the time, it changes it.  But Max, the bookseller in this story, had books with secrets in them...

Seventh Street Books sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  It sounded fascinating and I appreciated the opportunity to read it.  This book was published earlier in October, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

Max is an old man selling books from a stall.  Hugo Marston is his friend who sometimes buys a book from him, sometimes just chats.  Hugo is also head of security at the US Embassy in Paris.  When he sees Max abducted at gun point, he's determined to save him.  However, the police come up with several people who swear he left willingly and peacefully.

Hugo remembers one old woman who had been annoyed by a man while he was visiting with Max.  He goes to back to talk to her, but she's evasive.  He finally gets some facts.  And then she's dead, too.

This author takes a mix of ex-Nazi's, high crime, and crooked policemen and adds Hugo.  Americans view things differently from Parisians, at least those on the wrong side of the law.  The fact that Hugo is almost powerless as an Embassy employee in this case doesn't help.  But he finds some friends and investigate they do.

This story is fast paced, has a nice flow, and Mr. Pryor makes it interesting even with some facts thrown in.  He also takes that spider web he's created earlier in the book and wraps it down into a knot by the end.  I enjoyed this story.  Why not visit France and take a walk with Hugo by the river?  Be sure to hold his arm...

If you'd like to get my copy of this ARC, leave a comment here on my blog and then email me at info at bookfaerie.com with your name and address and why you'd like to win it.  I'll pick a name in about a week.

Happy reading.