Extraordinary People (The Enzo Files, 1)

Most definitely one of the best books I read this year!!! Extraordinary People was a book that I picked up because of the Crime Marathon and didn't really think that I would completely and totally fall for! It was incredibly well-written and genius! The story revolved around our main character's, Enzo's, ambition to find out if one of the most famous disappearances in Paris' history was a murder. With the help of a journalist at first, and many other exciting characters that became involved in the process, more and more clues came into focus, while one by one, chests with the victim's bones were discovered in different French cities! Soon, a macabre treasure hunt started! If this original and unique plot didn't hook you into reading the book, a brief scan of the first few chapters and Enzo's brilliance would immediately get you addicted and eager to breathe this novel cover-to-cover in a matter of mere hours! While the anxiety for the outcome of the hunt didn't hit me right from the beginning, it kept on being built stone to stone, at least the events reached a climax I would have never in my wildest dreams thought about! I mean, of course, I had spent many hours thinking about who and what was behind everything, even suspecting a specific someone, but nothing had prepared me for the actual truth! I also loved the fact that the police was always a step behind Enzo, and Enzo was always a step behind "someone" else! Amazing, just amazing! All in all, 10 stars, (5 just doesn't seem nearly enough) for a book that pleasantly surprised me and kept me on the edge of my seat with its brilliance and unexpectedness throughout the whole read!

Lorenzo "Enzo" Macleod lives in the mid-sized city of Cahors, France; an expatriate Scot who left his profession as a forensic scientist 20 years ago to join the love of his life -- who dies in childbirth and leaves him to raise their young daughter. Flash forward, and Sophie is on the verge of leaving the nest, Enzo is restless being confined to teaching biology at a regional university -- when along comes a mystery that the whole family can get caught up in. Enzo, perhaps ill-advisedly, bets that he can solve the decade-old disappearance of scholar and public intellectual (a uniquely French persona) Jacques Gaillard. He gets an unexpected break finding the missing man's head in a forensic lab and identifying it -- and then decodes a series of mysterious items left with Gaillard's skull to locate more body parts -- and the clue to the identity of one of the killers. Along the way, he finally meets a new love interest -- the compelling Charlotte, a criminal profiler with a mysterious personal interest in the case -- and tries to rebuild his ties with his daughter by his first marriage, Kirsty, now herself living and working in Paris. The book's greatest strengths are its fast pace and great characters, as well as May's extensive knowledge of the scene in which he sets his narrative. (Readers will learn about everything from the French tradition of les hautes ecoles -- the great elite post-graduate institutions that turn out crops of political, economic, business and cultural leaders by the hundred each year -- to the catacombs of Paris.) That said, I didn't find the plot as carefully conceived or compelling as those of May's previous books, set largely in China and revolving around a Chinese policeman and a Western forensic scientist, which I immensely enjoyed. I was hoping this would measure up, but it didn't meet that standard. (Certainly, fans of Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta myseries will find this thin fare, relatively speaking.) That aside, it's still a better book than the vast majority of what passes as detective fiction these days. The mandatory revelatory scene at the end came as a bit too much of a surprise -- May didn't lay enough groundwork to make the motive for murder seem logical rather than an out-of-the-blue resolution -- but I found myself enjoying the characters and their quirks so much that I had ordered the second book in this new series before finishing the first. For some reason, oddly enough, I have seen this tagged or identified as a children's read. It's an adult book, with the discovery of multiple sets of body parts, and one or two sex scenes that some parents might not want a pre-teen to read. Both are certainly tame by any adult standards, and I wouldn't have noted this at all were it not for the note in the product details that this is for reading levels ages 9 to 12. Maybe it is (the language & vocabulary, while vivid, is pretty straightforward and without too many polysyllables), but some parents will balk at the content. A note on the book's editing & style; those irritated by tiny typos may find their blood pressure creeping upward, while May has an annoying tendency to repeatedly use French words where they aren't necessary or downright distracting (readers can deduce what a "sejour" is, but why use the phrase when salon or living room would suffice?? We're already convinced he knows Paris & the French.) Overall, I'd urge readers who liked this and have not yet read May's books set in China to seek those out -- they are head and shoulders above what "the Enzo files" have so far delivered. Start with The Firemaker (Murder in China)

On a bet, Enzo MacLeod agrees to look into a ten-year-old disappearance, thinking he might be able to solve it using new technology. This is the early 2000s so he has DNA and the Internet at his disposal. It reads like a non-religious Dan Brown book as he runs around France digging up clues (and bones). I love Mr. May's Lewis trilogy and his other Scottish books. Unfortunately, the plot here was somewhat simplistic in that solutions to improbable clues came too easily. The villain proved easy to determine if you follow the Checkov's gun principle. The characters are okay but the writing has some flaws. I'm willing to cut Mr. May some slack based on his Scottish books, but I find it hard to believe a man who's lived in France for twenty years never heard of the Paris catacombs. Also, I don't mind sex scenes but the ones in this book should be contenders in the #menwritingwomen subreddit, especially when it comes to Nicole's jiggling breasts. Anyway, it's an okay airport/beach sort of read, but I think I'll go back to Mr. May's other series.

May starts out with a bang with his character Enzo on the streets of Paris and never lets up until the end! A great read, mystery, thriller, with clues that lead to the murderer(s) taking the reader all over France like a tourist documentary. I needed a map to see where Enzo was!

This book is the first in the Enzo Files series by Peter May. Our protagonist is an English man living and teaching in Cahors France. He becomes involved in investigating a cold case disappearance and presumed murder of a high-profile French man. The victim was not universally liked so suspects are available. Some of the events and the investigation itself may seem unlikely, but it is a well-written story that held my interest. Most of the action is in Cahors or Paris and the French setting is attractive to me. There is action and suspense along with reasonably engaging characters. The resolution was slightly less than satisfactory to me, but the rest of the book offset that. I have already purchased several of the next books in the series which I expect that both my husband and I will read.

So far love Peter May’s writing.

Alleine schon für die lebendigen Beschreibungen seiner Protagonisten hätte Peter May 10 Sterne verdient. Ich konnte das Buch nicht aus der Hand legen. Es macht Freude Enzo Macleod bei der Lösung des Rätsels zu folgen. Das bleibt bis zuletzt spannend, auch wenn das Motiv für den Mord vielleicht nicht ganz so überzeugend ist. Andererseits, welcher Mord ist schon rational nachzuvollziehen? Dies war mein erstes Buch von Peter May, aber inzwischen habe ich mir weitere dieser Reihe gekauft.

Unfortunately I have read this series out of order, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of this book. I love tge character Enzo and there are lots of twists and turns.

All very good reads excellent stories by very goof story tellers. IIf you like agood yarn, read any of thesr.

This book started off a little slow for me to begin with and I was struggling to engage. However, after persevering, I got into the story and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a proper murder mystery with lots of clues to put together, which was really fun and interesting. I did half guess the guilty one halfway through but then with the twists and turns I thought I’d got it wrong again. Very clever stuff. This is the first of Peter May’s books I’ve read since finishing the Lewis Trilogy including his fourth in the series, The Black Loch - all superb novels so I thought I’d give the Enzo series a go. I’m pleased I did! It was well worth the read!