Hotel Pastis

 by Peter Mayle

This book is about a recently divorced ad executive in England who is making lots of money but who is dissatisfied with his life.  He take a vacation for the first time in years and falls in love with a little town in province and a woman he meets there.  He decides to ditch his corporate life and pour money into turning an old gendarmerie building in the Provence village into a boutique hotel.

The story involves intrigues within his company, the man seems to be approached/threatened by a Marseilles "mafia type".

As the hotel is being built and successfully launched there is a robbery being planned by some local criminals.  They plan to rob the local bank on Bastille Day while all the celebrations are distracting people.  The mastermind of the theft gets a team of thieves and has them training to ride bicycles for over a year to get in shape so they can leave the robbery dressed as bike riders.  I can't believe a bunch of criminals would be willing to do this.  The robbery is successful but they are shocked to find that as they leave town an additional rider has joined them on their ride.  He is a young American who has come to France for a year.  He is the son of a client of the main character.  When the rider's find out who he is they add to their "winnings" by kidnapping him and getting $2 million more francs for him.  The thieves buy fake passports and leave the country on a coach bus.

The main character helps to get the young man released.  As this is all going on he realizes he isn't all that busy as a hotel owner and isn't really feeling fulfilled in the role.  The son of the kidnapped boy offers him a consulting job with his company and the man accepts.

As I read reviews of this book I found some people loved it but many were lukewarm or even "dissatisfied".  One person wrote they were disappointed with the ending... no resolution of the lives of most of the characters.  I agree.  Another complained they didn't enjoy the excesses of the rich.  I also agree. 

It was a light read but not a book I would necessarily recommend. I was expecting better. Off to the building library the book will go