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Title: What a huge disappointment
Review: I'm surprised by these glowing reviews. I've been a huge fan since FLANDERS PANEL but this new one is suspect. The mystery is entirely predictable, and lasts only a hundred pages. The villainess is stereotypic (a sexy, husky-voiced, athletic, dark-eyed vixen who was molded/manipulated by an older man in her youth) and any other supporting cast of any interest is non-existent. And Don Jaime is a pathetically transparent, clueless, and utterly unlikeable character. It's one thing to have a protagonist who's faulted, another to have a bumbling, clueless idiot.I dearly hope Mr. Reverte is not thinking he can blueprint the rest of his mysteries, giving it a hook that readers will think is 'cool' -- chess, books, religion, fencing -- and plastering mediocre plotting around it. However, judging from the feelings below, he can, which is too bad, because he's far too talented for that.
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