This is sort of a decadent, picaresque novel. Doesn't appeal to me, but I presume that other readers know their own taste. This is billed as a mystery, but is perhaps better described as an occasionally comic thriller. A con-artist arrives in a small French town, and in both deliberate and accidental associations with a motorcycle gang and a self-willed thirteen year old, touches off violence, blackmail, plots and counter-plots. I found it very readable, occasionally amusing, and somewhat disturbing. One piece that I do not think is satisfactorily woven is a resolution of vicious attacks on a group of homosexuals. I don't know whether this reflects the times, the novel is thirty years old, or if I am missing some subtle tie-in. I believe that the relationship between Alba and Gorodish is supposed to be touching, but I'm a little too cynical for it to work. ( )