Confession: (Jacquot 5) Paperback – 2 Sept. 2010

This is inspector Daniel Jacquot the former French rugby star as you don't know him. Working undercover in Marseilles with his pony tail shorn off. By Jacquot standards this is a gruesome tale. It tells the story of young girls kidnapped from across Europe, drugged and delivered to Marseilles for the export trade in white slaves. The interaction between their captors, who are inconvienced by a dock strike, and one of the local crime families is the meat of the story. Be prepared for some quite graphic descriptions of torture and murder by the saadist thugs. The story will certainly hold your attention.I felt though that, like Samson, Jacquot's power was shorn off with his pony tail. The unravelling of this case is driven by the 'visions' of the attractive Marie-Ange and without her role everything would have turned out very differently. Perhaps a little bit of the 'supernatural' adds spice to a plot but I think there is an over-reliance on it in this book. It stretched this reader's patience and devotion to Jacquot. Perhaps in the next book in the series Jacquot will be back on home territory, with Claudine, using his brain and intelligence to solve crime rather than the crutch of the psychic revelations of miss Marie-Ange. Let's hope.

Sorry to be a downer but why on earth did O'Brien take Jaquot back to Marseille? Perhaps selfishly, I'd got to love reminiscing about those little roads, squares and cafes in rural Provence. OK, this is crime fiction and there is more to find in Marseille docks let's face it than up in the hills. I did feel though that Jaquot himself, although technically on home turf wasn't what I believe to be 'himself'. I don't think his burgoning relationship is tackled well and I'm afraid I really really didn't like the return of Marie Ange. I simply cannot accept the 'insight' she apparently brings. I wish he'd left her as a one-off.I wonder if, like me, many read Jaquot for the locale and the atmosphere. [There are, I have to say, better crime novels around.] I have happy memories of Provence, but not of Marseille's docks! And I'm sure many of you know of the up-and-coming Bruno in the Dordogne. Jaquot's been a great trip so far and I hope he bounces back but I do feel this one was a blip.

Being a Francophile, I do like the Jacquot novels and this one was no exception. However, I found myself skipping pages rather quickly because of the extremely unpleasant violence in this book. Admittedly the baddie (female in this case) was not a nice lady at all but I did not enjoy the blow by blow (literally) accounts of her misdeeds. Mr O'Brien tends to cram a lot of action into his books and I sometimes feel that the character development suffers accordingly. Having said that, the series has been generally very enjoyable. I wonder if anyone will start giving books a grading for violent content as we do films? I think my preferred rating would be PG.....

Yes we live in a nasty world where the rich think they are the cats whiskers and the poor, victims of their greed are left to rot. Increasingly the attacks on shared social risk are leaving people hungry and homeless. ..and that's just what their lackeys in Government are doing for them. Companies like Amazon are real scum. They should pay their fair share of taxes like most working people do. Come on Amazon or people will start boycotting you. I'm stuck with my kindle but have stopped buying other products from you. I hope other people will too until you start to pay.

This book is fifth in the Jacquot series and offers a real change of gear; it is very much darker and more violent than the previous books and absolutely not suitable for devotees of the 'cosy' crime genre. It has strong characters and clever plotting but I found some of the violence (lovingly and lengthily described) gratuitous.

Another great thriller however I find that the violence becomes more sadistic and graphic as the book series progresses. It's disturbing to think that there are really people out there in the world like those depicted. How does the author learn about such people or is it all a product of his (vivid) imagination?. However still a great and well written thriller. Real page turner.

Its the well known formula but it works every time. An9ther masterful episode in the unconventional luge of Jaquot. My o ly reservation is that there is just a bit too much graphic violence. Other than that it is atmospheric and captivating. L9ve the character of Marie Ange

I have enjoyed all this series up until this one which was just too violent for me. There are so many horrible things going on in the world today, I could not find this entertaining...