GAUDI AFTERNOON - Barbara Wilson


Cassandra Reilly works as a translator. She's an American, living in London, when a friend (of a friend), Frankie Stevens, calls and asks for her help. The friend (of a friend) needs someone who is fluent in Spanish to accompany them to Barcelona to locate her missing husband, Ben. Cassandra sees this is an easy assignment and jumps at the chance to go to Barcelona on someone else's dime for some simple translating work. But it doesn't take long for Cassandra to realize that she may have been lured to the job under false pretenses as truths about the situation may have been withheld or obfuscated altogether.

While finding herself caught up in the search for Ben amid the lies and deceit, Cassandra finds herself reconnecting and caught between two former lovers, Ana and Carmen, making her Barcelona visit anything but the fun adventure she was expecting.

I thought that the beginning few chapters of the book, the set-up of our central characters ("Frankie reminded me of a young Irish Setter, Leggy, friendly, frisky") and the plot, was interesting and definitely had me looking forward to reading on. But the further I got into the story, the less cohesive it became. The character of Cassandra, who at first was quite interesting, and who has the potential to be a fascinating, quirky amateur detective, doesn't seem to stay focused enough to be worth following.

I didn't think anything of the lesbian relationships between Cassandra and Ana and Carmen. It did not feel gratuitous and was actually an interesting sub-story.  I think, though, if I had picked up this book BECAUSE of the lesbian or LGBTQ theme, I'd have been disappointed.  I guess, in large part, I can't imagine reading a book, or NOT reading a book, because of the character's sexual orientation (unless, of course, one is reading porn or erotica, in which case it probably makes a difference).

Overall, despite a great start, I was quite underwhelmed with this book. I see that there's a series of five Cassandra Reilly books and I'd likely read one or more of them if I happened to have a copy, but I wouldn't go out of my way to look for another book.

I see, also, that a movie was made of this in 2001. Haven't heard of it? That probably should tell you something.

Looking for a good book? Gaudi Afternoon by Barbara Wilson is a light mystery with a light LGBTQ connection. It is not exciting in any sense.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Gaudí Afternoon

author: Barbara Wilson

publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller

ISBN: 9781480455313

Kindle Edition, 232 pages


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