The Reluctant Matador

To the author: this book could have been so much better; possibly your best Hugo Marston novel. Instead you took what was an interesting plot added more layers of unnecessary events and left your secondary characters hanging. If it had been the first Hugo Marston Novel to come to my attention, it would have been the last. By happenstance, I read your other novels first and know you can do better. I would much rather have quality than quantity.

Mark Pryor's newest Hugo Marston novel is set in Barcelona, where the former FBI profiler/current Paris embassy security chief goes in search of the missing daughter of a close friend.

Amy, who has told her father that she's pursuing a modeling career in Paris, has actually been stripping in a seedy club. When she fails to meet 'uncle' Hugo for breakfast, he and his friends Tom and Claudia follow her trail to Barcelona.

This is the fifth book in the series and is pretty much on a par with the others. Hugo, with his Cary Grant looks and his Texas cowboy boots, is an interesting creation and has more potential than Pryor has yet exhibited. He manages to be a bit bland rather than exciting.

And as in many mysteries, just going with willing show more suspension of disbelief rather than focusing on details leads to more enjoyment.

I like the Marston series and have read all five books. And in each book I've found the first third to be a bit slow and the last third to be difficult to put down.

So keeping all that in mind, what are Pryor's strengths? His books are readable; the prose and syntax are both easy to read and flow; there's nothing awkward or cumbersome. The supporting characters are well-drawn. The settings are interesting and at no time do I get the feeling that I'm reading research; descriptions are well-integrated into the prose. The plots are interest-worthy and, as mentioned, suspense builds to a dramatic conclusion.

I enjoyed "The Reluctant Matador," but it's time for Pryor to up his game.

(This reviewer was given a free copy of the book by the publisher.) show less

A suspense-filled and dark plot has Hugo and Tom in Barcelona, Spain, looking for the daughter of one of Hugo's good friends. Bartoli Garcia, brother of Capitaine Raul Garcia of the Paris police force, plays a major part in the crime solving, along with other characters introduced in past novels. Hugo's cases keep getting better and better. Mark Pryor's writing style puts you right in the middle of the story and doesn't let you go.

THE RELUCTANT MATADOR: A HUGO MARSTON NOVEL by Mark Pryor is #5 in this series.
19 year old aspiring model, Amy Dreiss, has disappeared in Paris. Her father, Bart Denum, pleads with his old friend, Hugo Marston, for help.
The ‘case’ leads Hugo and former CIA agent, Tom Green, to Barcelona.
Lots of tension, detailed characters, a good sense of place with both French and Spanish flair, lots of cooperation between the American Embassy in Paris and police in both Spain and France make this title a good addition to the series and an interesting police procedural.
****

Exciting read with very likeable characters. In this novel Hugo investigates the disappearance of his close friend's daughter, Amy.

I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the others in the series. Tom is getting annoying and the relationship of Mark with Claudia that does not go anywhere is getting too long in the tooth. However, this was not a bad read even though some of the storyline was a bit far fetched to me. Still and enjoyable read.

Good story but a little slow and dragged in the middle. Not a favorite. Not much Tom or Claudia. This one just didn't draw me in.