The Paris Directive

Written by Gerald Jay

Narrated by Paul Hecht

In Berlin, two former French intelligence agents hire Klaus Reiner, a ruthlessly effective hit man, to eliminate an American industrialist vacationing in southwestern France. Reiner easily locates his target in the small village of Taziac, but the hit is compromised when three innocent people are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Enter Inspector Paul Mazarelle, formerly of Paris but now living in Taziac, charged with bringing his experience in the capital to bear on the gruesome quadruple homicide. Both Mazarelle's investigation and Reiner's assignment become complicated when Molly Reece, a New York City district attorney and daughter of two of the victims, arrives and begins asking questions. Though all evidence points to a local handyman, Mazarelle and Molly have their doubts, forcing Reiner to return to ensure they see things as he has arranged them-and that no one suspects the international political motives behind the murder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781464048517

Reviews for The Paris Directive

[jhgreen_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If I hadn’t agreed to review “The Paris Directive” I probably would have quit reading in the first fifty pages. Much of the early part of the book seems to be involved with character development giving insufficient attention to building enough suspense to keep it moving at a lively pace. Despite early brutality, the story starts slowly and so many characters are introduced that it was hard for me to keep them straight. But I stuck with it and found that it turned out to be worth the effort. As the bad guy, a German named Reiner, bumps off people here and there it's clear that he is a very bad guy, but for me sheer savagery doesn’t build suspense. His contract with two Frenchmen to kill an American tourist appears to have a political connection with a 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Reiner’s first attempt to murder his victim by engineering a car crash is so ill conceived that one has to wonder if his malevolence is matched by his ineptitude. He eventually succeeds, but in a bloodbath that kills more people than were intended and vexes his employers, who wanted the victim’s death to look accidental.The author injects plenty of French words into the dialogue, for what purpose it is difficult to see because otherwise the French speakers sound like Americans, even to the idioms. Well into the book the pace quickens with the introduction of a couple of interesting characters: Molly, daughter of two of the victims, and Mazarelle, a French detective who is despondent over the recent death of his wife. Molly is determined to investigate her parents’ murders, believes the man the police arrested is innocent, gets in the way of Mazarelle, and becomes dangerously close to Reiner, who has assumed a disguise.Mazarelle, Molly, and Reiner dance toward a climax that wraps up the loose ends, but seems contrived and trite like the timely arrival of the cavalry. Molly, an assistant DA from New York displays a lack of good sense, and Reiner doesn’t seem much smarter. Mazarelle is a good enough detective who has his flaws, but isn’t nearly as memorable as a Hercule Poirot. The author suggests that this is the first in a series. Well enough, but we know the detective speaks French without the interminable reminders.

[mysterymax_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is a wonderful experience to read the first book in a new series, by a new author, that is so exceptionally well done and with a character so fully drawn and likeable that you know beyond any shadow of doubt that the character will go on to become a "classic" in the world of fictional detectives.Burlbs on book jackets always tend to be highly praiseworthy, so when I saw that Christopher Reich, an author I enjoy and respect, had compared Inspector Mazarelle to Poirot, Maigret, Brunetti and Zen, I was still doubtful. But Reich is on the mark. Insp. Mazarelle will be a lasting, classic detective.I would not be at all surprised to learn that Gerald Jay is an already well-respected novelist. The writing is too fine, the plot too well orchestrated to be someones 'first' book. If this is Jay's first book then a major new writer has burst into the mystery genre.

[remizak · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like most long-time mystery readers, I feel an eager anticipation when I start the first book in a new series, wondering if it will be an introduction to a protagonist who will become like an old friend, revisited each year. In the case of The Paris Directive, just the listing of the first few chapters provided a frisson of excitement:1. Berlin2. Élysée Palace, Paris3. Hotel Adlon, Berlin4. L'Ermitage, Taziac5. Frankfurt6. Dordogne River, Bergerac7. Café Valon, TaziacAh, looks like international intrigue. Sure enough, we begin by meeting Klaus Reiner, hired killer, whose cold efficiency, bland good looks and fluency in German, French and English have put him at the peak of his deadly profession, with the ability to choose the most lucrative contracts.Reiner's newest assignment takes him to the fictional village of Taziac, in France's Dordogne. The beautiful village in summer, with its cafés and restaurants, makes no impression on the all-business Reiner. He just wants to get the job done and move on, with the satisfaction of seeing an impressively large new deposit to his numbered account in Switzerland. But the hit goes wrong and Reiner has to take out four middle-aged tourists, instead of just the one assigned to him.This is where our protagonist enters the scene. Paul Mazarelle, a former Paris police detective now living in Taziac, jumps on the case like a dog on a bone. Mazarelle had moved to Taziac, his young wife's home village, when she became ill, and he is now a widower who doesn't know whether to make Taziac his permanent home or return to Paris. Mazarelle is a comfortably large, middle-aged man with a luxuriant mustache, who enjoys his pipe, good wine and food, and women. But, most of all, Mazarelle likes to sink his teeth into a meaty murder case.Mazarelle's investigation quickly identifies a likely suspect, but he has some doubts and digs deeper, mostly hampered, more than helped, by his men, especially Dutoit, whose job qualifications include stupidity, laziness, insolence, racism and habitual abuse of suspects and witnesses. When a couple of the murder victims' daughter arrives from the U.S. to kibitz the investigation and further inflame the interest of the already-annoying journalists who have descended on the town, Mazarelle's job becomes even more complicated.An intriguing cat-and-mouse game begins between Mazarelle and Reiner, which leads to a tense and dramatic climax. Readers who enjoy inverted mysteries (those in which the culprit is known; not a whodunnit) should enjoy this story--though it has some flaws, mostly in characterization. The reader doesn't get a good feel for what Mazarelle is really like. At first, he seems like a shrewd, avuncular investigator. But later actions belie that image and we don't read anything to reconcile the differences into a fuller understanding of a more complex character. Similarly, Reiner turns from a coldly calculating and controlled, intelligent hitman into something quite different, but with no hint of the reasons for the alteration.Gerald Jay is a pseudonym. Whoever he is, despite these stumbles in characterization, his writing is assured and powerful, leading me to believe he must have some kind of writing experience. Jay is said to be at work on a new Mazarelle book. I'm hopeful that as we get to know Mazarelle better, he will become an old friend.DISCLOSURE: I received a free review copy of this book.

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Paris Directive is another suspense/thriller that I highly recommend for those looking for an excellent summer book. Gerald Jay weaves together deliciously deceptive plots to keep the reader guessing until the very end.

[rosecityreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Paris Directive is the first of a series featuring French police inspector Paul Mazarelle. This initial volume has all the makings of a terrific thriller -- international espionage, embassy bombings, hit men, and a swirl of European cities. It gets a little thin in spots, but grows more solid by the end, hinting at better things to come. Gerald Jay was smart to start this one in the 1990s to give himself some wiggle room for what should be a very long series.

[bas615 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I was very disappointed by this book. Foreign based mysteries are among my favorite reads and I was thus excited to receive a copy of this to review. By the end, I was struggling with whether the book deserved any of my attention. The writing is mediocre. The narration shifts too often and is sloppily done. The characters are not well drawn and they wind up generating little emotional response.However, the biggest problems for me were the moral failings of the detective that were treated with disturbing flippancy. First, a suspect that the detective, who theoretically prizes his gut instinct, thinks probably did not commit the crime is locked up without being charged for several days. During this time the suspect is subjected to light 24 hours a day and is kept in handcuffs the entire time. This is tantamount to torture. Yet, there is never even a whiff of discussion that this might be wrong. In the end this character dies in prison and yet the detective feels no remorse for putting him in that situation. He has no qualms about the fact he has dispensed the death penalty upon this man.Secondly, and more damningly, the detective's second in command attempts to rape a woman. The response to this is anger that the investigation may have been compromised. This is despicable. The police officer should be arrested and brought up on charges but this is never even contemplated. These failings of the detective make me question the standing of the author. How can he think that he has created a character that we want to invest in when this character reacts to rape in this way? This is a police officer, the very people intended to protect us. Rape victims is being systematically marginalized by certain parts of our society. It should never be discussed flippantly or without deep compassion. In this case rape has been decriminalized and turned into merely a potential procedural sticking point. I wish to tell Gerald Jay that this is unacceptable.The plot itself was far fetched even by Ludlumesque standards. There are many great French detectives but they are let down here. Maigret and Adamsberg would find Jay's detective ill-imagined and immoral. I would not recommend this to anyone and am disappointed to hear another volume is already in the works.

[doondeck · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I could never get excited about this book. While Mazarelle is an interesting character in some ways, I found his background disjointed. The story did not hang together very well. There were too many plot lines and not all were cleared up by the end.

[jnwelch_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Paris Detective by Gerad Jay was an LT Early Reviewer book, and as I read some fairly wooden prose in the first few pages I thought, oh no, I made a mistake on this one. But then affable Inspector Mazarelle appeared on the scene, and the author and the reader both perked up.Gerald Jay is the nom de plume of the first time author, and he's written an entertaining beginning to a projected series featuring Mazarelle. The inspector is a widower who has left a successful career in Paris to work in the rural village of Taziac, and finds himself joyfully distracted by his favorite pasttime, a challenging murder investigation. We know from the book's beginning that the murderer is a hired German professional assassin, so this isn't a whodunnit, but a canhecatchhim. All clues point elsewhere.There are some authorial stumbles along the way. After we learn the inspector considers his strength to be intuition, not observation, and that he has little fashion sense, he meets a woman who "was wearing a cerulan Chanel - straight shoulders and indigo buttons down the front - her long black hair pulled back into a tight chignon." Really? And the main characters develop in rough jump cut ways at times - the inspector is more complex than we're initially led to believe (which is good, overall) and the killer less cold and less adept (not so good, in my view). The killer acts in some ways that don't seem to fit his character.But these are basically quibbles in a suspend-your-disbelief genre. I expect this author, who is obviously capable, will smooth out some of the rough spots in subsequent books. This one is continually entertaining, with a fun battle of wits for the reader having inside knowledge. It features well done suspense, and characters we do care about, especially Molly, the daughter of one of the victims, an assistant prosecutor from New York who insists on being involved in the investigation. Her conviction that they're being misled brings her into the killer's target sights, and drives the book to its nail-biting conclusion. I hope she shows up in subsequent books.

[readafew · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I don't even remember what about the blub made me cautious but there was no need. I enjoyed it a lot. Inspector Mazarelle is an interesting character, he's still grieving for his wife who recently succumbed to cancer. He had moved back with her to her home town and joined the local police force. A brutal murder happens in this lazy little vacation town and it's hurting the local economy so everyone wants a quick resolution. Unfortunately, Mazarelle likes to do the job right.The daughter of one of the murdered couple comes to claim her parents, she happens to be a criminal attorney and decides to stick her nose into the pot and doesn't like how it's turning out, so she starts poking around. Little do either of them know the murderer was a hired assassin and is unhappy that neither of them are accepting the patsy he worked so hard frame.Overall, a pretty decent read much better than many of the mysteries out there, but still had plenty of it own holes if you really looked. The good news is they weren't so obvious that it wrecked the book. I enjoyed reading it and I think I'll keep an eye out for the next one.

[realfish · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book in a new series by author Gerald Jay featuring the intrepid French inspector, Paul Mazarelle. Mazarelle has recently left Paris for Taziac (France) and finds himself bored and down on his luck (what detective isn't?). Mazarelle soon finds himself in the middle of a quadruple homicide and the mystery begins. While the plot is fairly standard for a detective mystery, Jay shines in his character development and in the pacing of his writing. I was especially drawn to the antagonist Klaus Reiner, a truly evil villain. I also enjoyed reading how Mazarelle handpicks his detectives. Jay also incorporates a nice mixture of humor in his writing. I felt that the story got stronger as the book progressed so my recommendation is to give this book a chance and I think you will be pleasantly surprised! I know that I am looking forward to next Mazarelle mystery.

[cathyskye · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First Line: Reiner checked his watch has he waited by the elevator.It's 1999. contract killer Klaus Reiner has just been hired by two former French intelligence agents to eliminate an American businessman vacationing in southwestern France. Reiner specializes in murders that the police file away as accidents. He has no problem locating his target in a house outside the small village of Taziac, but things go pear-shaped when three innocent people are in the wrong place at the wrong time.These murders are assigned to Inspector Paul Mazarelle, formerly of Paris but now living in Taziac. His superiors fully expect him to bring his experience and successful record to bear on this quadruple homicide that's occurred at the height of tourist season.Enter Molly Reece, a New York City district attorney and the daughter of two of the victims. All the evidence points to a local Arab handyman, but after talking to him, Reece has doubts that he's the killer. So does Mazarelle, but Molly's knack of showing up in high profile locations and running her own investigation not only makes Mazarelle's job more difficult, it makes Reiner nervous enough to return to Taziac to ensure the police interpret the evidence the way he wants them to.Author Gerald Jay has taken the threads of the police procedural, the spy novel, and French charm and woven them into a vastly entertaining read. Mazarelle is a big bear of a man who smokes a special blend (Philosophe) of tobacco in his pipe, enjoys a midday cognac, and eats his favorite meals at the Café Valon. Although he believes he's not in the ranks of literary sleuths the like of Maigret or Poirot because his powers of intuition are much greater than his powers of observation, he is known as "the Swiss Army knife of detectives." One of the things he insists upon when given command of the investigation is the power of handpicking his detectives, and it's fascinating to see how he chooses them. During the selection, I felt as though there was one detective in particular that was a weak link, and it was interesting to see if my deduction was correct.Molly Reece adds a strong yet naïve element to the cast of characters, although her intelligence and intuition seems to fade in and out as the story progresses. Klaus Reiner is one of the more interesting villains I've become acquainted with recently, a chillingly attractive blend of ego, intelligence, and psychopathy.There are some excellent mystery series set in France-- especially those written by Cara Black, Fred Vargas, and Martin Walker. How does Gerald Jay's The Paris Directive compare? Very well indeed. I was quite happy to see that he's working on his second Inspector Mazarelle mystery. These talented writers are making France a regular stop in my crime fiction reading.

[michigantrumpet_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Revealed in the first 10 pages, it's no spoiler to learn that a sociopathic assassin (is there any other kind?) has been hired by shadowy French operatives to murder someone in Tazaic, France. The tantalizing mystery of the book surrounds questions of Who is behind the killing? To what alleged political end? Who is the target? How did everything go so wrong? Who is the mysterious functionary from the US Embassy? While the killer improvises, Inspector Mazarelle (a thoughtful widower recently relocated to the countryside from Paris) is called in to head the search for the murderer. Much evidence points to an Algerian immigrant as the culprit. A victim's daughter (predictably ravishing and conveniently a NYC assistant district attorney) meddlesomely inserts herself into the investigation. As we race along to the denouement, we are treated to examples of French rampant bureaucracy and overt bigotry, counterbalanced by ugly American tendencies, and brash insensitivity. The writing skirts the line, almost, but not quite falling into caricature, saved especially by the endearing and humane Inspecter. I found the action and plotting fast paced and largely engrossing. This was a fast read. A fine start in an Inspecter Mazarelle series. I'll be watching for the next installment.

[anniemod · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Set in France (and partially in Germany), "The Paris Directive" is one of those books that should have worked for me - I was looking for an easy summer read. And all elements are there - international scandal, murders, spies, a likable inspector and enough action. And yet, a lot of things were off. To start with, the author made no use of the scenery and the fact that the book is set in south France. It could have been in Small town, Nebraska or in China. Yes, there were a lot of French words and expressions but they were just there - could have been in any language (including English) and nothing would have changed. And while the reason for the killings was believable (in the spies genre anyway), the way things went from there felt rushed - as if the whole story did not want to move in the proper direction and it was forced to. And then the author decided to move the Champions League final to July. I understand that this is fiction but you do not see authors moving the 4th of July to October so that it can fit their plots. Or New Year to mid- March. Or the Super Bowl to September. But the author had set his novel in 1999, using the bombing of the China embassy in Belgrade as a trigger for the story so the time line was set. And when the game did not fit his schedule, it was sent to July. But the game described was the one that really took place in May 1999 and it was used to 'out' the killer to the inspector (in a way). Add to this the first chapter that had no connection at all to anything else (it was too shallow for a back story and could have been incorporated much better to show the huge difference in what happened. And all the people that died - noone seemed to care for these deaths when they were not related to the plot - they were just happening and... forgotten. I did not expect our detective to deal with all of them but still... some of them should have been mentioned. Inspector Mazarelle is likable... and stereotypical - the guy has a dead wife, a new young boss; bad things happen and he somehow survives; he forgets things when needed for the plot but remembers them in the proper time and so on (and mentioning this... the novel relies on coincidences to drive the plot - which would not have bothered me that much if not for the rest of the stereotypes). The rest of the characters are almost caricatures - the young policeman that cannot resist a female that he can have, the Arabs, the French, the German - everyone is what you expect them to be. But in real life you simply do not have so many stereotypes fulfilled in one place... Despite all the novel is enjoyable - it is a light read, in a not so bad style so it works on some level. I will probably check a second book about the inspector if there is one down the road. But it had its problems and I am not sure I can recommend the book at all - there are much better summer reads out there.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately, Mr. Jay simply tried too hard in this debut of Monsieur Mazarelle. It appears he set out to craft a Favorite Detective instead of setting out to write a good crime novel and letting the protagonist become what he would. As you plow through the first half of the book, there's little sense of a character emerging organically from the story. Instead, you can almost hear the checklist being consulted and appropriate paragraphs being fashioned: he must be amiable, so introduce him good-naturedly helping customers when mistaken for the proprietor of a bakery; he must be competent, so have him be a hotshot Paris detective who only moved to the countryside to care for a dying wife; he must have pain, so make that wife rather unfaithful; he must be tough, so give him bullet scars; he must be slightly quirky, so give him mannerisms and an odd, unexplained tattoo; and so on.The rest of the book received less attention. There's a rather mushy plot involving a pair of ex-secret agents who want a certain business man murdered for reasons not quite clear to the reader until the end (and even then you may be skeptical). There's an assassin who is either an extremely competent Jackal-type character or a somewhat incompetent psychotic, the story is not quite sure which. There are a variety of other characters who are colorful on the surface but don't have any real depth. A couple of red herrings are thrown in that are so cursory that the reader pays them no attention.In short, this just didn't work for me very well. You don't get a Maigret or a Gamache the same way that you recreate some dish you saw on Food Network; it's not a recipe. And, while you're waiting for your character to emerge, it helps to have a solid story in which to place them. It's not an unreadable book but I don't see myself picking up the next one.

[diabelli_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A brilliant thriller-- extremely well written with compelling characters and an intriguing, international plot.

[gpaisley_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book with the expectation I would provide an honest review.I really wanted to like this story—I really did. In the end, it felt like it was just mediocre. The writing was uneven and even jarring (not in a good way) sometimes. The pace was fairly even and moved well. There were several plot holes that were fairly easy to look past, but they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.It felt as though the author couldn’t decide which story he was going to write—a “thriller” (whatever that is these days), a mystery, a police procedural, or what. There is some political and corporate “intrigue” that was presented to explain the plot, and while somewhat interesting, ultimately they were made to be completely perfunctory and didn’t do anything to add to the feel of the story.The characters were shallow and I found myself only interested in them because of the people they were: Cop, wife of the accused, embassy representative, assassin, shop-owner, etc. They were rather one-dimensional and lacked any unique personality.The setting in the southwest of France is interesting, but never really adds flavor to the story—it would have been the same story even if set anywhere else.All in all, it was an entertaining read, but not a great book. I honestly don’t know if I would go out of my way to look for anything else by Gerald Jay.Possible spoilers below:The professional assassin in this book was almost a joke. I cannot imagine someone who was more bumbling and inept than this man. Even worse, his ineptness was necessary to have a story. How can someone be a professional killer and leave so much to chance and then risk getting himself personally involved with his targets? It almost removed suspense because you knew he was such an idiot that he was going to get caught. I appreciate that he wasn’t a typical perfect, indestructible, omniscient bad guy that is so common, but his weaknesses were never described in enough detail to understand why he was so flawed.

[velopunk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A German contract killer has killed a Canadian industrialist in a quiet French village in the Dordogne area. The killer, usually efficient, had some problems and ended up killing four people. Inspector Paul Mazarelle, who has relocated to the area because his late wife wanted to die in her hometown, is assigned the case. The duo who bankrolled the murder are not pleased becausethe death was supposed to look like an accident. They don't want to pay the killer and he is not a person to cross. The killer has attempted to frame a Muslim from Algeria. Ali Sedak did steal some money from one of the murdered men and most village residents are ready to hang the crime on him. Sedak is arrested and then commits suicide in jail. I was not all that impressed with the skills of Mazarelle. Without the contract killer coming back to the Dordogne to clean things up to get his fee and then making mistakes it is doubtful that Mazarelle would have solved the case. There will be a sequel and I will be interested to see if Mazarelle is more skillful.

[whitmelb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I looked forward to trying on a new detective, learning his faults, foibles and eccentricities. Unfortunately I found a rather bland character involved in a plot that missed being outlandish by a small amount. Stereotypical characters involved in that the author attempts to make complex by awkward shifts. However, it was a good beach read and perhaps Gerald Jay's next one will mature and we will have another detective to follow. I hope so.