The South Seas Vanishings

Patrick Chastel's The South Sea Vanishings, translated from the French by Vivien Schweitzer, sets out an intriguing premise: a private company is behind a number of mysterious maritime disappearances that were actually planned escapes by wealthy individuals. For his first novel, Frank, a professional writer, enlists a former lover to help research the suspicious deaths of such people as newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell. Frank later falls for an unhappily married woman seeking the company's services, but unfortunately a touch of romance isn't enough to redeem thin characterization, a silly plot twist and some writing that will cause eyes to roll (""It's one of the problems with being a bachelor, you can't be everywhere at once"").