Switcheroo

Gideon Oliver has been one of my favorite characters for years and I always eagerly anticipate a new story. Switcheroo began with a really interesting look into what happened to the Channel Islands during World War II, focusing on a wealthy family who engineered the first “switcheroo” in order to save their sickly child from certain death under German rule. We soon learn that the two boys who were switched were also part of an unsolved murder from the 1960s. When Gideon meets the grandson of one of the switched boys, he agrees to visit the Channel Islands and examine bones that were recovered from a tar pit, supposedly belonging to one of the boys. Of course, Gideon discovers all sorts of family secrets and subterfuge, leading to what, unfortunately, was a conclusion I spotted chapters before the end. And that’s my quibble. In a story where clever plotting abounds, the end was just…unremarkable. But, still, it’s Gideon Oliver and Aaron Elkins, which always means an entertaining couple of hours. Just not the best in the series….