Scan barcode
A review by scandleriv
Celine by Peter Heller
4.0
This was an interesting book in that it is a detective story, but one that is not really about the mystery - rather it is about the detective herself.
Celine is not your typical sleuth, although she exhibits many of the skills that frequently characterize fictional investigators. The book focuses on her relationships, past and present, and spends most of its energy describing the people and circumstances that have shaped who she is and what urges her forward in her work. The mystery that opens the chapter of her life that is the subject of the novel appears somewhat hopeless to those of us less experienced than Celine, but as she takes up the chase, the threads that being to slowly (and sometimes fortuitously) come together, weave what turns out to be a somewhat tidy resolution that left me a bit incredulous.
The book was well-paced and kept me invested more than I initially thought it would, but by the end, I still felt like I had merely witnessed one episode in the midst of a much deeper narrative. There’s much more to tell about the person of Celine, the world she inhabits, and the history that has shaped her, but I suppose the unanswered questions are an important part of the underlying themes of the book - as nettlingly tantalizing as that may be.
Celine is not your typical sleuth, although she exhibits many of the skills that frequently characterize fictional investigators. The book focuses on her relationships, past and present, and spends most of its energy describing the people and circumstances that have shaped who she is and what urges her forward in her work. The mystery that opens the chapter of her life that is the subject of the novel appears somewhat hopeless to those of us less experienced than Celine, but as she takes up the chase, the threads that being to slowly (and sometimes fortuitously) come together, weave what turns out to be a somewhat tidy resolution that left me a bit incredulous.
The book was well-paced and kept me invested more than I initially thought it would, but by the end, I still felt like I had merely witnessed one episode in the midst of a much deeper narrative. There’s much more to tell about the person of Celine, the world she inhabits, and the history that has shaped her, but I suppose the unanswered questions are an important part of the underlying themes of the book - as nettlingly tantalizing as that may be.