I am not sure what to make of this novel. The author's style of writing is beautiful and from that aspect the book was a joy to read, but the story seemed to want to go in several different directions and that left me a bit confused. Fortunately, none of the directions went either too far or in too much detail to make the book too big to handle, even with the confusion of plot complications. This was both a gay love story between the diplomat Will and his lover Pedro and an international political-adventure mystery about the kidnapping of the young son, Nico, of a mysterious young woman named Jorie. Setting much of the action of the novel in Paris was felicitous but, except for the career of Will, would not have been necessary to enjoy most of the action. For example, the chance meeting of Will and Nico could have occurred in most any large city. In the end, despite the fine writing and exciting bits of action, I never really cared about any of the characters which left me merely liking a book that had the potential for far more. ( )