The Judas Pair by Jonathan Gash
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the first of, the English mystery series. ‘Lovejoy’ by Jonathan Gash. It’s also the first I’ve read of the series. A series that is centered around the antique auction trade. If a reader doesn’t care for that atmosphere they will hate this book.

I’d say a quarter of the book details the business of the antique trade. Obviously the intent is to familiarize the reader with the subject and fine details that the character Lovejoy must know. Knowing a bit of the business myself, I could relate. I can’t see how others could get through so much.

The unrelated details of the antique business make getting through this book difficult. The best part of the narrative is that Gash writes as lively as he can with the voice of Lovejoy. Some is much fun, while other parts can be perplexing as Gash illustrates in focused detail Lovejoy’s obsession with antiques.

Ah! Yes! There is a mystery in all this which I partly figured out very early on. I would believe other readers could also tell the troublemaker, too, in the klunky way Gash writes at times.

Seems to me if Gash had focused more on the mystery and less with the extraneous antique details, this could’ve been a better book.

Gash does his best writing describing Lovejoy and his view of life, which some readers, these days, will be offended by. Gash has a series of other characters which are well written and some less so. The area is brushed in a bit simply. Especially considering it does have a part in the mystery.

As much as I generally liked Gash’s writing, I got frustrated with his approach with the story. An editor could’ve better hammered this trouble out.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 out of 10 points.

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