Une île dorée ("A Golden Island")

As soon as there was a lull of obligatory reads and I had a chance to choose my next read, I figured a little detective story would be perfect. I had Anne Fleischman's new novel in my pile, and as her debut novel, Cuba Librehad entertained me well, hoped that the second one would brighten up another confined weekend. I was not mistaken.

Summary

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a cheerful retired gynecologist, decides to return to Golden Island, where he used to spend his summers when he was young. With his black skin, his plastic bag and his canary yellow jacket, he stands out in the middle of the millionaire tourists, white of skin and clothes, who started flocking to the island a few years ago. He had hoped to find everything as he remembered it: he will soon realize how naive he was. As soon as he arrives, he becomes intimately involved in a murder that will reveal that behind the glamour of Golden Island, all is not so golden...

Impressions

From the very first lines, I found the style I had discovered in Cuba Libre The story is a bit goofy, not taking itself too seriously, but catchy and well put together. I can see an editor's touch: when someone would have mentioned the smell of fried food, she says "graillon", when someone would have mentioned plants, she says "scirpe". Nothing too complicated, I assure you: just enough to keep you awake. The characters are vivid, the images are vivid, and as with any good mystery novel, I panted in the last few chapters until the end.

So I had a great time, and I recommend Une île dorée ("A Golden Island") to all those who want to escape for a few hours from the gray of confinement.