Budapest is a city of secrets, a place where everything is opaque and nothing is as it seems. It is to this enigmatic city that a young American couple, Annie and Will, move with their infant son shortly after the fall of the Communist regime. For Annie, it is an effort to escape the ghosts from her past; for Will, it is a chance to try his wings as an entrepreneur in Hungary’s newly developing economy.

But only a few months after moving there, they receive a secretive request from friends in the US to check up on an old man who also has recently come to Budapest. When they realize that his sole purpose for coming there is to exact revenge on a man whom he is convinced seduced and then murdered his daughter, Will insists they have nothing to do with him. Annie, however, unable to resist anyone she feels may need her help, soon finds herself enmeshed in the old man’s plan, caught up in a scheme that will end with death.

My Thoughts:

I am sad to report I could not finish this book. I tried my best but to no avail I couldn’t get into it and my eyes kept glazing over. I mean no disrespect to the author. Some aspects were interesting but not enough for me.

When I first came across this book on NetGalley it caught my attention straight away and I adore the cover! I thought surely I won’t be able to put this book down! Alas, there was a lot of unnecessary explaining in this book and I felt the plot wasn’t moving fast enough. The premise is a good one but not enough for me to finish the story. The characters didn’t stand out to me and my impression of them was not favorable. As for the mystery, it wasn’t solid enough in my opinion.

Having said all of this, I feel there are many who would enjoy this story.

I will not be rating this book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a review copy. I won’t give up on the author’s other work!

Stephanie M. Hopkins