Customer Reviews

Extraordinary People (Enzo Files)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book succeeds on many different levels.
In common with May's other books, the research if first rate: the story takes the reader on an enthralling journey deep behind the scenes with France's ruling elite.
It's a fascinating mystery and scavenger hunt with ingenious puzzles to solve.
It's a fast-paced thriller with suspense building inexorably through the second half to an absolutely breathtaking denoument in the catacombs under Paris.
It has romance, humour, and a cast of thoroughly engaging characters to keep you entertained. And as it's the first in a series, the complexities of the hero Enzo Macleod's personal life are nicely set up for continuing developments in future episodes.

But as well as being entertaining, this is a beautifully written book, intelligent, perceptive and thought-provoking.

This is the first book I've read by Peter May and I loved it. Beside being familiar with all the streets he was traversing in Paris as well as cafe's, the plot and the characters kept me enthralled. I can't wait for his next Enzo MacLeod book.

In 1996 Paris, Ecole Nationale d'Administration teacher and politician Jacques Gaillard vanishes without a trace. His disappearance has become a legendary cold case never resolved.

University Professor Enzo Macleod left his wife Linda and daughter Kirsty behind in Scotland two decades ago to start a new family in Cahors. He has a second daughter Sophie, but remains estranged from Kirsty who accuses him of deserting her. He makes a bet with a friend that he can solve the mystery of Gaillard. He follows clues that seem to go nowhere and everywhere as he and his team travel to Germany and all over France finding body parts. Enzo's efforts bring him to the attention of cold blooded killers who want Gaillard to remain a legendary cold case.

Though some implausible events occur, readers will appreciate this delightful western European mystery due in part to the solid cast especially Enzo and to the clues that tell much about the life of Gaillard just before he vanished. The story line is fast-paced as Enzo and his team follows the leads to Germany and much of France. The climax is a fabulous finale that will leave readers clamoring for more inquires by the Professor and his team.

Harriet Klausner

i enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and the story was fast paced with lots of twists and turns until the very end. This is the first book of his that i've read but I will definitely get another. He doesn't seem to publish for kindle which is a little inconvenient, but i'm sure they have their reasons for that.

Peter May is a wonderful writer. I am collecting all his books, and so far have not been disappointed in any of them. I don't know why he isn't better known in the US. I can see many of his books as movies. What are you waiting for, Hollywood?

First Sentence: He finds himself in a cobbled courtyard, breath hissing back at him from buttressed walls.

Enzo Macleod left his first wife, daughter Katie and job as a career in forensics in Scotland and is now a teacher in Cahors, France and father to Sophie after losing her mother in childbirth. He is trying to reconnect with Katie, now living in Paris and is worried about 18-year-old Sophie and her boyfriend. He has accepted a high-stakes bet from his childhood friend, Simon, now a lawyer, to solve a 10-year-old closed case.

Jacques Guillard was a graduate of the prestigious Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), and an advisor to the Prime Minster when his book on the History of French Cinema caused him to be `instructed' to become an teacher at ENA. Then, he disappeared.

Now, due to construction in Paris, a tin truck has been unearthed containing a skull and several other items which lead him on a path to other trunks, more bodies and, possibly, his own death.

This is the first in a new series of Enzo File books by Peter May in which the protagonist works to solve cold cases. There were quite a few characters in the story. While each was distinguishable in their own right, there wasn't as much character development as I'd have liked beyond the protagonist. I did like that Enzo did not operate completely on his own but that others participated in uncovering the meanings behind the clues. I also liked that he wasn't Mr. Macho and occasionally had too-stupid-to-live moments, which added to the suspense.

The story is interspersed with delightful, humanly comedic scenes. There are a lot of coincidences but the story was engrossing enough that I forgave them. There is a graphic sex scene but it does serve a purpose. The story takes place in a lot of different locations around France, but I felt the sense of place could have been stronger. The author has included fascinating historical information without overpowering or disrupting the story. There is, however, a huge hole in the plot, which did bother me and a geographic inaccuracy which better editing should have caught.

There is some very good suspense, particularly toward the end. The story had some very good twists. I didn't realize the villain even though I probably should have. All-in-all, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more Enzo Files books.

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)

Reviewed by Sondra Fowler for Reader Views (9/06)

Twists, turns and a whirl wind tour of France await the readers of Peter May's "Extraordinary People". This is a smart and engaging story that digs into the countryside for clues and dips into the history of France for answers leaving the reader with a little more knowledge than when he started.


A bet between friends inspires Enzo Macleod, a biology professor with a back ground in forensic science, to try to solve the unresolved case of Jacques Gaillard, an eccentric yet brilliant man who went missing in 1996, by using modern techniques. Enzo makes a connection between an unidentified skull found in the catacombs of Paris and Jacques Gaillard then the fun begins. He sets out on a tour of France searching for answers in a strange treasure hunt that could prove deadly to Enzo and those close to him.


Peter May does a wonderful job of engaging the reader and encouraging them to become part of the hunt for answers. You want Enzo to succeed; you want Jacque's case to be solved. The cast of characters is diverse and colorfully written. This is an intelligent story that every mystery fan should read. I hope to see more of Enzo Macleod and his friends.

Received book free of charge.

Hoped for a higher level Da Vinci Code, but got a weak mishmash of stilted characters with banal dialogue. A plodding plot accentuated by silliness and guided by tedium.

Perhaps I'll try writing a novel someday. It can't be as hard as it looks if this is a published specimen.

Save your money.