5* for Daniel Taylor by Carol Maginn

Saturday Smiles to you!

Although there have been many sad moments recently - my weather woes of yesterday and the need to grieve for an extended family member who died on Wednesday 6th January who will be deeply missed - I've managed to fit in time for some reading.

Here are my thoughts on the mystery - Daniel Taylor by Carol Maginn 

I don’t always read the blurb of a novel, in case it spoils my reading enjoyment, but this just might have been the time when a quick read of the blurb would have prevented me from wondering what was going on in the beginning chapters. 

Momentary confusion aside, there was a lovely compulsion to find out how the slightly obnoxious Russian would react if Diocletian’s ring was never dropped into his slippery palm. As the plot thickened, and I do mean that it got more scarily complicated for Dan and Daniel, I was eager to read on to find out how the simultaneous stories would eventually intertwine to the point of their meeting somewhere across the globe. By then I didn’t really want the Italian, Silvestri, to get the ring either.  

The author has both Dan and Daniel boarding flights at such a fast rate that it made me want to set off to my nearest airport to meet them en route…for somewhere, but especially Rome which I’ve never yet visited but definitely want to!

The writing of this novel is clever; it’s fast paced; and there’s a colourful cast of secondary characters, some of which are described better than others. The author has depicted both Dan and Daniel just sufficiently to satisfy the reader but has also left room for conjecture about their inner feelings and inclinations. The last pages and the denouement made me smile, the quirky twist not completely expected. Though some of the action, and some of the characters, seems slightly exaggerated, it’s a great mystery to get your teeth into.  

(5 stars on amazon) 

Slainthe!