Review of The Romanian Incident

[Olga Markova]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Romanian Incident" by Simon King.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The Romanian Incident by Simon King is a captivating story deftly crafted to thrill fans of crime fiction. The story swished me away to the 1970-ies and unfolded in a secluded hotel in the scenic mountains of Romania. Raging through the night, a winter blizzard cut the hotel off from the rest of the world. The morning saw Dan Steel, the agent of Isabella Manson, a withering American actress, dead in his hotel room. A young Soviet KGB agent and a retired British MI6 spy were boarding at the hotel and started investigating Dan Steel’s death. Before long, a member of the hotel’s staff was brutally murdered in the hotel’s kitchen. What was going on?

The Romanian Incident gripped me instantly with the atmospheric winter sceneries followed by an excursion to the history of the hotel and snapshot introductions of its guests. I enjoyed investigating the deaths of Dan Steel and the hotel’s handyman, shadowing the sleuths as they were interviewing the guests and exploring the clues. The story’s secluded setting in a hotel reminded me of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, but Simon King’s sleuths outwitted me in resolving the mysterious deaths. I liked the motley crew of international guests from all walks of life and their life stories. But most of all, I liked the sophisticated and witty sleuths.

I disliked nothing about this fascinating book. This suspenseful novel has a well-measured pace and focuses on the interviews of the hotel guests and the discovery of clues. I suspected a completely different outcome of the investigation, and the climax took me by a jaw-dropping surprise. Apart from typographical errors that invite another round of thorough editing, I cannot fault any aspect of this book. So, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. Fans of Agatha Christie will be thrilled by this brilliant work of crime fiction. Any chance for a sequel?

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The Romanian Incident
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[Jennifer Coxon]

A great review. This sounds like a good, get your brain working, read. I like it when the author manages to keep the big reveal a surprise. I also like the cloak-and-dagger era of the KGB (big Jack Ryan fan although I know that starts in the 80’s). I think I need to give this one a go.

[NetMassimo]

I can see the reasons for the comparison to Agatha Christie and there seems to be a bit of spy story for an intriguing mix that should keep the reader's attention until the end, so I hope the author does proper proofreading to make it excellent.

[Trungdn]

Tôi rất thích cách Simon King xây dựng cốt truyện của cuốn sách. Các tình tiết được đan xen một cách khéo léo, khiến tôi không thể đoán được điều gì sẽ xảy ra tiếp theo. Tôi cũng rất thích cách Simon King xây dựng nhân vật Sam Walker. Walker là một nhân vật rất phức tạp và thú vị. Anh là một nhà báo giỏi, nhưng anh cũng có một số nhược điểm. Tôi thấy mình có thể đồng cảm với Walker và tôi muốn biết điều gì sẽ xảy ra với anh ấy.

[7033255157]

Could it be in a fight? -from the summary of the review I got interest to know what's captivating about the investigation. The setting of the story telling is appealing to explore more as the content is of no doubt suspense filled. I really appreciate the reviewer and author for their commitment