The 7th Woman by Frédérique Molay + a Giveaway

Morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on The 7th Woman tour hosted by France Booktours.

First a bit about the book from the publisher:

There’s no rest for Paris’s top criminal investigation division, La Crim’. Who is preying on women in the French capital? How can he kill again and again without leaving any clues? A serial killer is taking pleasure in a macabre ritual that leaves the police on tenterhooks. Chief of Police Nico Sirsky—a super cop with a modern-day real life, including an ex-wife, a teenage son and a budding love story—races against the clock to solve the murders as they get closer and closer to his inner circle. Will he resist the pressure? It has the suspense of Seven, with CSI-like details, giving a whole new dimension to Paris.

When I was contacted about this tour, I was super excited to get on board. The book sounded intriguing and the added bonus of it being an award winner in France was a plus for sure. It also fit nicely with the 2013 Translation Challenge I signed on for. But I think what most drew me to it was the publisher, Le French Book, and what they're doing: translating and distributing previously unavailable French fiction for English readers. How freaking cool is that?!

The Seventh Woman takes place over the course of just seven days, which makes for quite a quick and intense read. Molay throws in a few red herrings - both for the reader as well as the characters themselves - and all in all the mystery itself is fairly well plotted and interesting. I can't say it was all that hard to see around the false leads or to figure out who the killer was, but it was still interesting to see the case unfold for the characters.

My only serious issue with The 7th Woman was the insta-love. It's not usually a big beef of mine - other readers are far less forgiving of it than I typically am - but in this case the progression of Sirsky's relationship was just a bit too quick for me. I understood the need to attach Sirsky to a love interest but it's something that I felt could have been already in progress when the book began as opposed to the overnight infatuation Molay created here.

The 7th Woman is translated by Anne Trager and works quite well. There were some instances where the dialogue and narrative felt a bit simplistic but I'm not at all certain whether that would be chalked up to a basic translation or the actual writing (I'm assuming it would be the writing itself). It wasn't anything that detracted from the reading at all, simply an observation I'd had with the style of the book as a whole.

Rating: 3.5/5

To see more stops on the tour, hit the banner at the bottom of this post.

About the author:
Frédérique Molay graduated from France’s prestigious political science school Science Po and began her career in politics and the French administration. Meanwhile, she spent her nights pursing a passion for writing she had nourished since she wrote her first novel at the age of eleven. After The 7th Woman took France by storm, Frédérique Molay dedicated her life to writing and raising her three children. She has five books to her name, with three in the Nico Sirsky series.

And now for the giveaway. Thanks to the publisher, I'm able to offer up one eBook (epub or mobi available). To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before July 21. This contest is open internationally.


a Rafflecopter giveaway