Marci S. (MarciNYC) reviewed on 9/12/2005

Helpful Score: 1

I nearly gave up a few times, but am glad I stuck it out to the end. I found the archaic spellings in this book to be a bit difficult to follow at times, but more annoying were the numerous French phrases tossed about by Pigalle with NO TRANSLATION.

Now, I'm a former French major and I understand a lot of French, but I was puzzled a few times. I hate when authors bandy about foreign phrases with reckless abandon. It smacks of pretentiousness and that doesn't sit well with me. Still, those phrases seemed to fade away as the book progressed and the last 75 pages or so had my on the edge of my seat. I couldn't stop reading until I was finished.

Overall, a good read, chockfull of history/historical characters which I like. I'd probably read more by the author should they fall into my lap.

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