Dreamland Review Archive

Rogue in Paris (A)

Title: Rogue in Paris

Author: SydPanda5 

Chapters Reviewed: 1-4

Cover: It's good! Personally, I'm not a fan of the color scheme for it, but somehow, it's still fitting. It would've been neat if there had been more color, especially red, as it would make the blood drops stick out more. Upon a first quick glance, it almost gives me romance vibes rather than spy thriller vibes.

Title: It's really fitting for a spy thriller and not something common, so that's great. It kind of reminds me of a novel I liked written by James Patterson. Private Paris.

Blurb: I love it! This is an excellent example of what should be included in a blurb. You give us just enough details about what the story will be about all while leaving bits of suspense, making us wonder what will happen on this mission. It already has me excited to start reading this story!

First Impression:

This story reminds me a bit of the spy series by Daniel Silva with the American spies. Your premise already had me hooked and wanting to read more. In the first chapter, things start out much differently than I expected with Harper speaking to a therapist, paid by the organization she works with. She seems to not care for sharing her thoughts and feelings, then ends up sharing a rather large backstory with us. It was rather contradictory there, and I can't say I'm a fan of starting off with a backstory either.

While I liked the backstory, I do wonder if there's a better placement for it or perhaps a better way to incorporate it so suddenly into the story. My suggestion would be starting out on the day that backstory takes place, but I understand if that's not possible due to the plot. Otherwise, I'd suggest waiting until we're further into the story to show it.

Chapter 1: This chapter was a nice introduction into her life. We start off in a therapy session, then things skip back to six months prior. It's usually not advised to have a time skip happen so soon, especially within the first chapter like I mentioned above, but it works well enough here. I do feel like the transition was a bit sudden, jumping from her not wanting to open up to the therapist to suddenly bringing out this substantial backstory, and wonder if there could be a way to incorporate it a little smoother into the chapter if you want to keep it in Chapter 1. The information provided was important to the plot, it seems, and quite interesting!

But is there a reason it couldn't have been shown first rather than in a therapist session? Perhaps the time skip will be relevant to the present as well? Like, could you not have started this first chapter off on the day the time skip occurred six months ago with the Russian assassin? There's quite a bit of detail in the backstory, and by the way it's inferred, she confides in all of this to the therapist. Which seems a bit odd, considering she never opens up about her emotions but mentions her slight panicking, needing to count.

I did really like the idea of the Russian spy taking the suicide pill already hidden in his mouth! That was quite clever and felt so realistic for him to do under those circumstances. It has me curious about the other types of cases they'll handle.

One thing I found a little odd is the use of italics in thoughts when it's in first person perspective. We're already in the head of the main character. While I understand this might be a stylistic choice, it was just something I found to be a little strange. I usually only see it when in third person.

Chapter 2: I have to admit, toward the end, I got a little lost in this chapter. You start off with details about their mission and prepare to head out to Paris, then about halfway through you have "Chapter 2" written like a scene break and we get a nightmare/slight backstory. You keep mentioning a "he" without a name, which makes it much more difficult to sympathize with the deceased character when we don't even know who he is. It would help tremendously in empathizing with that character, as it's hard to feel much for a nameless, faceless guy.