Review: Catch Me if You Can by LB Gregg

I have to admit that I was a little unsure as to whether I was going to like this book.  I knew it had an element of comedy to it which always makes me nervous because one person's hilarity is another's tumble-weed moment.  I also wasn't entirely sure I was going to like the main hero, Caesar Romero, although I'm not entirely sure what it was about him that I didn't think I'd like - possibly because the name conjured up a whole host of Italian clichés.   In the end, I shouldn't have worried.  This is the fourth book by this author and she just keeps getting better and better.

The book begins with our hero, Caesar, who is the assistant to a gallery owner, running an event at the gallery.  The artist creates busts of famous people by using bits and pieces and gluing them together.  The party is getting out of control and Caesar's desperate efforts to keep order are severely hampered by the appearance of his ex-lover, a deeply closeted actor; a strange police detective, Dan Green, who has gatecrashed the party ; and the artist who seems to be encouraging everyone to take off their clothes.  The next day, Caesar discovers that one of the artist's pieces - a bust of Justin Timberlake - has been stolen from the gallery.  Added to this is a missing painting from another gallery, a blackmail plot and the fact that detective Dan seems to be following him, and Caesar's well on his way to losing his job, and perhaps his sanity.

May I suggest that you take a deep breath when starting this book because you won't be able to stop to take another one!  The pace is swift and the scenes follow each other one after the other at such speed, that I felt wholly propelled along by the action.  This is much how Caesar feels too as he bumbles around from situation to situation, trying to sort out the mess in his life and hampered at every turn by the personal problems of all his friends and acquaintances.  No-one is as they first seem and everyone is keeping secrets.  Some of these secrets Caesar is aware of and is forced into keeping, the others are revealed as the story continues.  The fast pacing in the book is a highlight of the book for me, because I like books which pick you up and carry you along at breakneck speed, but I can see how those of you who like a gentler pace to your romance may not enjoy this as much as I did.

As with all first person narratives, the strength of the book relies heavily on the narrator.  In the case of this book I found Caesar a complete delight.  He's perfectly aware that on the outside he's a bit of an Italian cliché, with his Mediterranean looks, his restaurant owning family and his habit of waving his hands about erratically when he speaks (something which causes him no end of embarrassment), but on the inside he's much more than that.  For a start he's a genuinely funny guy who also cares a great deal for his friends and family.  He's independent and refuses to accept money from his family.  He's got an outward confidence which belies his inward lack of self-esteem.  I liked him a great deal and I'm glad this is going to be a series because I'm already looking forward to reading more of this character.

The character of Dan was less well defined.  This is mostly because we see him only from Caesar's point of view, and Caesar doesn't really understand him, or his motivations, especially at first.  I thought they worked well as a couple with Dan's measured personality counterbalancing Caesar's habit of rushing into a situation with little forethought.  It will be interesting to see how their relationship develops in future books, especially as we leave the pair at the tentative beginnings of their romantic relationship.

The plot itself is difficult to pin down as there is so much crammed into it.  There's a whole gallery of different characters, all of whom are connected in some way.  There's several storylines going on at the same time and sometimes it was a little difficult to keep track of what was happening and who was connected to who and how the mysteries were intertwined.  This meant that, if I have any criticism, it's that the frantic pace and the huge cast of characters made me lose sight of the mystery plot a little.  Still, everything was concluded satisfactorily and made sense after the big reveal and all the loose and connected threads were tied up so that by the end I'd pretty much caught up with it all.  In many ways it is proof of the skill of the author that she was able to keep so many balls in the air throughout the story and managed to catch them all successfully by the end.

Overall this book was a riot from start to finish. You can't go wrong with a book which makes you laugh out loud, and I did on several occasions.  If you're looking for a book which will amuse, delight and entertain then you can't go wrong with Catch Me if You Can.  I enjoyed it a great deal and it gets a grade of 'Excellent'.

Buy this book HERE.