The novel is a fairly close rewriting of Alexandre Dumas' 'Le Comte de Monte-Cristo' set in the 1980's and 90's. The whole gives a rather strange impression: the story is rooted in our time but the action is sometimes almost anachronistic: in particular the question of arranged and forced marriages in high society with the authors had to do to respect their initial constraint. As in Dumas's 'Le Comte...' avoid focusing too much on the inconsistencies of the story or the too lucky coincidences that punctuate it and enjoy the action. ( )