The Winner Stands Alone

"The Winner Stands Alone" is totally disappointing if you know and like Coelho´s other books, and in my opinion it is his worst book so far (I have read all of his books). If you have never read a book by Paulo Coelho and if this is his first book you read, then I believe you don´t want to read any of his other books. The story is not convincing, lacks a proper "message" like in his other books, and somehow feels unfinished when you have read the last chapter. The story tries to be kind of a thriller, since the main character and narrator is a killer, but Coelho badly fails in the attempt. The only good part of the book is Coelho´s short text on "normality" (two pages of the whole book!) which is absolutely worth reading, but the rest is almost a waste of paper...The setting in Cannes and the theme of the illusions of celebrity life, fame, etc. might have been a good point to start from for an inspirational story, but here Coelho sadly fails to inspire. I cannot really recommend this disappointing book, his other books are much better.