125Pages

The Case of Lisandra P. is hyped as perfect for lovers ofThe Girl on the Train which I am, so I was so excited when I began reading. Then the excitement went down, chapter by chapter. Now The Case of Lisandra P. is not a bad book, but it is no The Girl on the Train. I am actually getting tired of publishers hyping books as the next Gone Girl or whatever, because those books transcend their genres and are truly powerful. It sets the reader up to expect such amazing things, things that are not easily attained. I am learning that the more a book is compared to others, the less powerful the reading is; I will have a certain expectation and if not met I am disappointed. Even if the book was great in its own right I am disappointed as it was not as good as I had hoped.

The world built was vibrant, an Argentina recovering from things no nation should have to, with a vibrant cityscape. The pacing was swift and kept rolling to the end in a swift clip. The plot was interesting, the murder of a woman who, from the outside, had the perfect life. Her husband’s patients are alternately suspects and detectives. Hélène Grémillon was able to mix the history of the Argentinian atrocities into the psyche of her characters. Unfortunately she was not able to build likeability into them. Almost across the board the players were so self-absorbed that they could not see the outside world for their internal blinders.

I see The Case of Lisandra P. as more of a mystery than a thriller. I was intrigued by the plot and wanted to find out whodunit, but I was not on the edge of my seat, tense and worried by what was next. It was a good read for a mystery but I am not a mystery genre lover. This is why the comparison of book A to book B fails for me. I did really enjoy the blending of history within the plot, and the setting was perfection. If you are a mystery lover I think you will really enjoy this one, for me, I did enjoy it but I didn’t click with it the way I had hoped.

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.