Fata Morgana

In 1861 Paris Inspector Paul Picard is investigating a con man and magician named Ric Lazare. As he tracks Lazare's movements throughout Europe Picard becomes aware that Lazare has had previous names and lives, and there's a suggestion of immortality about him.

Picard is an especially rich character with many flaws. His warning to a doctor early in the story, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," comes back to haunt him, and becomes his own undoing.

The story is atmospheric, dreamlike, and has aged well.

Didn't love this ... not the plot, not the characters, and it would be only two stars if it weren't for the actual writing which was occasionally lovely.

This book falls into a genre I think of as 1970s sensual foggy pseudo-fantasy ... it doesn't read as sharp and crisp (think Jane Austen) but more dreamlike and swoony (which in other hands can be terrific--I loved The Unconsoled, for instance).

But this story ... it may have seemed edgy when written (and I've been meaning to read it since then!) but now, just kind of draggy, not sexy, not interesting (when I picked up my Kobo I kept feeling disappointed that it was still this book), and the ending was infuriating.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = very good book, 3 = a decent read, show more 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm good at picking ones I'd like so I do end up with a lot of 4s!) show less

A very fine novel--kind of like Robertson Davies' World of Wonders meets Maigret in the 19th century.