Basic Law: A Mystery of Cold War Europe
By: J. Sydney Jones
Rating: 4.5 of 5
“Basic Law” is the first book I have read by J. Sydney Jones. It took me a few pages to get caught up in the book but once I did so, I really could not put it down. I wonder if the use of present tense interfered with my initial enjoyment of the book – it is a recent trend that I have noticed in suspense/mystery books and one that I am not entirely comfortable with as yet.
The story is set in primarily Germany during the early to mid 1990s. I mention this because I had to gleam it from the book as I read along. I thought at first that it was set in the present but that would make the protagonist a man in his sixties and that didn’t match his actions and physical abilities. The action races across Germany, Austria, Crete, and the Czech Republic and back again.
For the most part, the male characters are very well drawn and are memorable. The females are less so. While one female is a primary plot point, as she is only “remembered” it is hard to get a grasp on what she was really like. She appears as each other character experienced her and they experienced her in wildly different roles. The men are so well drawn, I think that I could recognize them if I met them in the street and since the story is about them, it makes for a good character study story.
Sam Kramer is the protagonist. He is a disillusioned American expat liberal who has ended up as a newspaper writer in Austria. He finds out his old love (Reni) has committed suicide and he has a hard time believing it. From that disbelief springs the story of his trying to find real answers about how Reni really passed away. He is joined in his quest by his old friend Randall who was part of a group of seven young radicals (the Magnificent Seven) from the old days who included Sam, Reni, Randall and others we meet as the story progresses.
The story covers everything from war crimes during WWII to the racial and ethnic crimes of the 1990s and other crimes in between. As a reader, it took me all over the map both literally and figuratively – who committed what crime when and where and for what purpose? I was surprised by the various endings but only because I failed to make the necessary connections. The clues were there but with so much going on, I latched onto other information. The surprises were good because the endings made sense. The characters behaved as they should given who and what they really were by the end of the book.
The book is as much a suspense thriller as it is a mystery. I appreciated both in the story and would recommend it to anyone who likes either or both types of story. As I mentioned, it too me around 50 pages to get caught up in the story but once I did, I really enjoyed it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
“Basic Law” is the first book I have read by J. Sydney Jones. It took me a few pages to get caught up in the book but once I did so, I really could not put it down. I wonder if the use of present tense interfered with my initial enjoyment of the book – it is a recent trend that I have noticed in suspense/mystery books and one that I am not entirely comfortable with as yet.