**SPOILERS** Implausible to the point of silliness

I'm willing to apply a bit of the ol' "suspension of disbelief" in order to enjoy a fun story, but Le Cercle Rouge pushed me right over the edge into the territory of sheer ludicrous plot construction. Consider:

A) Crossing a small stream directly to the opposite bank is enough to throw scent hounds (German Shepherds? Really?!?) off the trail. "Sorry, Monsieur. He got clean away. We never thought of going directly to the other side and letting the doggies have a quick sniff."

B) The whole coincidence of Vogel just happening to pick Corey's trunk at the diner. 'Nuff said about that.

C) Corey assesses the situation at the diner (remember, he saw Vogel climb into his trunk and deduced that he must be the fugitive) and then decides that a high profile fugitive with the entire French police force setting up roadblocks and conducting public stops would be a perfect partner for his little caper as he has to continue driving along the public highways, with a high probability of more roadblocks.

D) The policeman wanders off to check on an angry truck driver when Corey tells him he can't seem to open his trunk, at a roadblock specifically looking for the possibility of their fugitive hiding out in passenger cars. Then another policeman quickly waves Corey through (before the cars in front of him have even started moving).

E) The two hoods in a quiet, remote forest location with no surrounding noise can't hear the opening of the trunk and Vogel climbing out and walking up behind them.

F) A carefully constructed heist timed to the second relies on a concierge unconcernedly admitting a stranger in a bowtie and carrying a guitar case to enter a building after midnight that houses a bank and a jewelry shop. Jansen's plan is to hope that the concierge won't bother looking at him as he takes off his shoes, puts a bag over his head, and sneaks back down two landings to the jeweler's door (which is opened at exactly that second as prearranged... It's a good thing the concierge didn't engage Jansen in thirty seconds of polite chitchat.)

G) A security guard hears a small noise outside a closed window that causes him to go investigate, but he doesn't hear a glass etcher, tapping on the window, the small break of the pane as it comes away from the rest of the window, or two men crawling through and dropping to the floor.

H) There is no foot or automotive traffic anywhere on the streets of Paris during the entire approach and exit to the heist location. I don't care what time it is... Paris is like the Manhattan of France. People are out at all hours.

I) An experienced marksman carries in a full tripod arrangement, carefully sets it up and sights in the rifle, then decides to rip the gun off the mount and whip off a snap shot, just for the fun of it. What is this guy, terminally macho?

J) Not a single light comes on in any surrounding buildings for about thirty seconds after the alarm bell is loudly ringing and the car is squealing loudly around the roundabout to pick up the robbers.

K) Santi's kid, brought in on a trumped-up drug charge, turns out to really be involved in drugs - much to everyone's surprise. And then he decides to attempt suicide in the police office.

L) Vogel manages to get from the street, through a walled and gated barrier, across open land and directly to the room where the deal was going down. A second later, the woods and fields around the house are full of many dozens of police who were obviously surrounding the place to prevent a fast escape. These guys are not the sharpest eyes or ears on the force!

M) Vogel crashing through a glass and wood door does not make enough noise to cause one of the undercover police officers in the house to stick his head in and ask if everything is okeydokey in there. Nor do any of the outside guys elect to blow their cover and come running in to protect the chief inspector from an armed and dangerous fugitive who has just broken into the house.

I'm sure there are others I'm not remembering at the moment, but half the alphabet is enough. Why not just play the chase scene from Monty Python's Life Of Brian and have the robbers get away by falling onto a passing spaceship?