Title: The Paris Files
Author: Eva Jurczyk
Genre: Mystery/thriller
Rating: 4.25 out of 5
Genie St. Onge’s heart is broken more often than it’s not—but that doesn’t stop her from diving in head-first when she meets Jacob Ford. Their connection is instantaneous and consuming, and they agree to meet again in Paris. In a heady mix of sugared pastries and rumpled bedsheets, they begin plotting their future together. In the dreamy apartment they’re renting in the 11th arrondissement, they become intoxicated by each other.
Until Jacob disappears.
Genie knows Jacob would never leave her. Not by choice. When phone calls to hospitals turn up nothing, she grows convinced that someone must have taken him. It’s the only explanation.
Under the scrutiny of the French police, however, Genie’s story doesn’t quite hold up—and it sounds like Jacob might not be all he seems, either. Through police interviews with Genie and nearby residents of the 11th arrondissement, the truth remains elusive. She swears has no idea what happened to Jacob – so why doesn’t her story align with anyone else’s?
This was pretty twisty! I wasn’t sure if I was going crazy or Genie was for a long time. The style—the story is told through police reports—was a bit strange to me at first, but it really worked for this story. This is a mystery with a very small setting—a building and its residents and a neighboring shopkeeper—but set against the larger backdrop of Paris. This was a very solid mystery read.
Eva Jurczyk lives in Toronto. The Paris Files is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Viking Penguin | Pamela Dorman Books in exchange for an honest review.)
