5 stars out of 5
Anyway, it took a while for them to show up, but I already love leading man Stuart Nash and his “future wife,” Rae-Claire Russo – even though, contrary to almost every other book I’ve read by this author, there’s no courtroom action. Nash is an ex-military man and an assistant U.S. attorney in North Carolina, though, and the soon-to-be dynamic duo “accidentally” meet each other at a cybercrime seminar in Washington, D.C.
Behind the scenes – at least the public ones – Paul and Chelsea Tanner head for Paris for their honeymoon. It’s a dream come true, till it turns into a nightmare for the couple and both sets of parents when they go missing – and said parents get ransom calls from what appears to be a network of criminals asking for millions. The money isn’t a huge issue for Chelsea’s parents – dad is an orthopedic surgeon who is financially savvy – but it’s beyond hope for Paul’s less financially well-off mother and father. And of course, all are warned not to tell anyone what’s going on, especially law enforcement.
As the story progresses, readers see what’s happening from the points of view of both the parents and the victims – and, down the road a bit, of the FBI and CIA, which agree to hold hands for once in an effort to shut down what appears to be a long-running and highly successful operation. Enter Nash and Russo (nope, not gonna explain how that came to pass), and from that point on, the action never stops – and neither did my reading about it.
All told, it’s edge-of-seat exciting, and I hope we’ll be seeing this pair again. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this one!
The French Illusion by John Grisham (Doubleday, September 2026); 352 pp.
