Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

So what did you think of the book? spoilers welcome, comments beginning to end.

I've been letting my feelings about the book settle and have commented some final thoughts on the last chapter segment. Earlier Russ made a comment on the 1-15 segment that was something I had thought as well so I will respond here.
I also wondered what significance the singled out flight attendant in the crash description might mean. There were a lot of red herrings throughout the book so that was always a question about the details we learned.
I now think the flight attendant's injuries were meant to show how unlikely a baby could survive the crash unharmed. The entire crash prelude also introduced an anonymous mother with long hair and the strength of ego to defy the flight attendant's instructions to stay seated, a mother with long hair we could later use as a clue that would lead us to Lylie's identity as either Emilie or Lyse-Rose. That was what I initially thought the flight attendant's role was. ;)

I think I'll comment on your point about the flight attendant in a later segment. I haven't finished the book yet but as I am about half way I don't want my current thoughts to cloud this segment :)
Russ wrote: "I agree the prologue was a good tease to keep reading more. I wasn't sure why it focused so much on one flight attendant though.."

Earlier Russ made a comment on the 1-15 segment that was something I had thought as well so I will respond here.
I also wondered what significance the singled out flight attendant in the crash description might mean. There were a lot of red herrings throughout the book so that was always a question about the details we learned."

Agreed. I liked the red herrings and misdirection for the most part, especially in the beginning and the middle of the book. It kept me guessing and wondering what really happened. But after a while all the dead ends and forced delays in revealing information (such as delaying when the reader finds out the DNA test results) started to get a bit tedious for me. About three-fourths of the way through I just wanted it all to end. Not that it was too long or boring, but because I became tired of being jerked around by the secrecy and misdirection.

Ultimately I was also annoyed by the introduction of Melanie at the end. We could not reasonably have guessed her existence. I wish there had been a way to make the fireman pictured in the newspaper the father of the baby. Then I could have slapped my forehead and said, "Of course--I should have known!" But there was no way to know about Melanie.

Russ: Yes, the circuitous nature of the revealing of clues was at times maddening after a while. Luckily I had time to gallop through the last 25% or so of the book so wasn't as annoyed by the delays as I would have been otherwise.

Russ wrote: "Agreed. I liked the red herrings and misdirection for the most part, especially in the beginning and the middle of the book. It kept me guessing and wondering what really happened. But after a while all the dead ends and forced delays in revealing information (such as delaying when the reader finds out the DNA test results) started to get a bit tedious for me. About three-fourths of the way through I just wanted it all to end. Not that it was too long or boring, but because I became tired of being jerked around by the secrecy and misdirection."

Russ: Good point about Melanie and the fact that we couldn't have known about her from the clues and while there were practically hundreds of loose threads, she was out in left field.
I partially forgave that veering to a conclusion for two reasons, it made sense and was a reasonable event and the initial introduction and segments with Grand-Duc alluded to a completely fruitless search for 18 years, that implied all of the clues would lead nowhere - except that he was writing the journal in place of all of his research documentation which he was destroying, so new clues could have been included.
Russ wrote: "Ultimately I was also annoyed by the introduction of Melanie at the end. We could not reasonably have guessed her existence. I wish there had been a way to make the fireman pictured in the newspaper the father of the baby. Then I could have slapped my forehead and said, "Of course--I should have known!" But there was no way to know about Melanie. "

I agree with the tedious part and the late introduction of Melanie Russ. Although I think like Ann it was the way it made sense and the most believable conclusion that helped it come together. I liked the back story to Melanie being told to create sympathy for her situation and helped forgive the last second reveal.
Although I'm surprised it took grand duc 18 years to look into that conclusion and after the dna results he should have put ads in papers asking about it given the lengths he went to in his earlier investigation.
Even though it was tedious in parts I thought the way it came together was great and made it worth the journey.

Jack: I was surprised too and started to wonder how hard Grand-Duc actually worked on the puzzle after the first few years. By the time DNA became a possibility he appears to have gone on auto pilot; I wonder if there was much in those boxes he burned from the last years of research. And I wonder when the idea of defrauding Mathilde for more money came to him. I think he looked for George, just not as hard as he could have done.
Jack wrote: "I'm surprised it took grand duc 18 years to look into that conclusion and after the dna results he should have put ads in papers asking about it given the lengths he went to in his earlier investigation.
Even though it was tedious in parts I thought the way it came together was great..."

I agree with the comments here. It took me longer than usual to get into this book; I wasn't sure I wanted to finish it until I was about 60% done. As @Jack said, it was tedious but it was worth the journey to make it to the end. I enjoyed the character of Marc, and Malvina.

RunnerMelissa: I'm glad we read it too and imagine the audio format helped me over any tedious spots. Malvina alone was such an intriguing character it kept me reading. What could make a grown man like Grand-duc afraid of a child, I had to find out.

Ann, I think you were right on the $$ with choosing the audio book! The story certainly lent itself to that format. I do look forward to next month's selection. I have enjoyed this book club!

I'm enjoying this group, too! Though I had mixed feelings about this particular book, it's been great to talk to smart readers about the same book in close to real time!