Through 46 chapters, this mastodon of a book flattered to deceive. In the beginning I was rooting for
Anna Blanc, the heroine, I still am, but this book left me disappointed. The sad part is that it has a lovable heroine in Anna Blanc, intelligent, passionate and mischievous. But for most part, her intellect is underplayed and where it is described, the author speeds up the description to get it over and go back to describing Anna's feelings and emotions, much like a kid rushing his homework so that he can go out and play.
The story idea is excellent and had a lot of potential. A young passionate and intelligent girl going after a murderer in the California of the 30's. But that is where the idea stops. The story line is handled in a casual manner.
The story is set in the US of the 20s when woman are fighting for their right to vote. Anna is a rich girl who lost her mother when she was a child. She has been brought up by her strict and loving father (nowhere in the book it is mentioned that her father is 'loving', I think I am attributing the 'loving' trait to sate my need for Gestalt). Anna has to behave like a rich woman and do the duties expected of
