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A review by fictionfan
Cast Iron by Peter May
4.0
Secrets of the past...
Back in book 1 of the Enzo Files series, Scottish forensic expert Enzo Macleod, now living in Toulouse, took on a bet that he could use modern forensic techniques to solve the seven unsolved murders that were described in a true crime book written by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin. A few years on, he is now beginning his investigation into the sixth murder, of a young girl, Lucie Martin. Lucie disappeared one day back in 1989, and no trace of her was found until the great heatwave of 2003 when her skeleton showed up in the dried-out shore of the lake near her home. Her parents believe she was murdered by a notorious serial killer who was active at that time, but he had a cast-iron alibi for the time she disappeared. Enzo has very little to go on as he reopens the case, but it soon becomes clear someone is out to stop him from finding out the truth...
Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know that I'm a big fan of Peter May's work, going all the way back to his China thrillers. I admit, however, that the Enzo Files is the one series of his to which I've never really taken. In fact, I haven't read them all – just the first two, then this one. But this is really due to a matter of personal preference than any real criticism of the books. May's usual protagonists tend to be unencumbered by family ties, or to develop relationships as the series progress. But Enzo comes with a lot of family baggage, which gets added to in each book. Having left his first wife and their daughter, he moved to France with his new love, who then died giving birth to another daughter. So in the early books there's a lot of working out of resentments with his first, abandoned daughter, Kirsty, and by the time of this book, both daughters have acquired lovers who featured in earlier cases.
Enzo meantime picks up women at a rate that would make George Clooney jealous, so that by the time of this book he has tense relationships with more than one ex. And in each story, some or all of his extended family get involved in the investigation. May does it very well, and keeps all the various personal storylines ticking over, but it's just not my kind of thing – I find all the relationship stuff takes away from the focus on the plot (and I frankly don't see what it is about Enzo that apparently makes him so irresistible to women). But I wouldn't want to put other people off – what I don't like about this series may well make it particularly appealing to people who like their protagonists to have a 'real' life beyond the immediate plot.
As Enzo begins his investigation by visiting the victim's family, he is unaware that his daughter Sophie and her boyfriend Bertrand have been abducted, until he receives a warning to stop if he wants to get them back safely. Naturally, this only makes him redouble his efforts! The strand involving Sophie and Bertrand's imprisonment and attempts to escape is my favourite bit of the book. It takes us into traditional thriller territory with plenty of action and mounting tension, and May excels at this type of writing.
The main plot regarding Lucie's murder is also excellent, showing all May's usual skill at creating strong characters and interesting settings, and managing to have some credible emotional content to offset the action thriller side of the book. However, there is also an overarching plot to the series which comes to a climax in this one, and I felt there was perhaps a little too much going on and too many coincidental crossovers between the various strands. But May's writing is a pleasure to read as always, and he manages to bring all the threads together well in the end. Some aspects of this work as a standalone, but because it reveals so much about the background plot, I would strongly suggest this is a series that should be read in order. Reading this one first would undoubtedly spoil the earlier books in a significant way. The first book in the series seems to be known as [b:Extraordinary People|3043530|Extraordinary People (The Enzo Files, #1)|Peter May|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1267731596s/3043530.jpg|3074175] now, though it was originally published under the title Dry Bones.
I hope my relatively lukewarm review won't put people off trying this series. Even with favourite authors, we all prefer some of their stuff to others, but any Peter May book is still head and shoulders above most of the competition. And this is as well-written and strongly plotted as always, while the French setting gives it an added level of interest. So, despite my personal reservations, I still recommend the series, especially if the complicated family relationships aspect appeals to you.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Quercus, via MidasPR.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Back in book 1 of the Enzo Files series, Scottish forensic expert Enzo Macleod, now living in Toulouse, took on a bet that he could use modern forensic techniques to solve the seven unsolved murders that were described in a true crime book written by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin. A few years on, he is now beginning his investigation into the sixth murder, of a young girl, Lucie Martin. Lucie disappeared one day back in 1989, and no trace of her was found until the great heatwave of 2003 when her skeleton showed up in the dried-out shore of the lake near her home. Her parents believe she was murdered by a notorious serial killer who was active at that time, but he had a cast-iron alibi for the time she disappeared. Enzo has very little to go on as he reopens the case, but it soon becomes clear someone is out to stop him from finding out the truth...
Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know that I'm a big fan of Peter May's work, going all the way back to his China thrillers. I admit, however, that the Enzo Files is the one series of his to which I've never really taken. In fact, I haven't read them all – just the first two, then this one. But this is really due to a matter of personal preference than any real criticism of the books. May's usual protagonists tend to be unencumbered by family ties, or to develop relationships as the series progress. But Enzo comes with a lot of family baggage, which gets added to in each book. Having left his first wife and their daughter, he moved to France with his new love, who then died giving birth to another daughter. So in the early books there's a lot of working out of resentments with his first, abandoned daughter, Kirsty, and by the time of this book, both daughters have acquired lovers who featured in earlier cases.
Enzo meantime picks up women at a rate that would make George Clooney jealous, so that by the time of this book he has tense relationships with more than one ex. And in each story, some or all of his extended family get involved in the investigation. May does it very well, and keeps all the various personal storylines ticking over, but it's just not my kind of thing – I find all the relationship stuff takes away from the focus on the plot (and I frankly don't see what it is about Enzo that apparently makes him so irresistible to women). But I wouldn't want to put other people off – what I don't like about this series may well make it particularly appealing to people who like their protagonists to have a 'real' life beyond the immediate plot.
As Enzo begins his investigation by visiting the victim's family, he is unaware that his daughter Sophie and her boyfriend Bertrand have been abducted, until he receives a warning to stop if he wants to get them back safely. Naturally, this only makes him redouble his efforts! The strand involving Sophie and Bertrand's imprisonment and attempts to escape is my favourite bit of the book. It takes us into traditional thriller territory with plenty of action and mounting tension, and May excels at this type of writing.
The main plot regarding Lucie's murder is also excellent, showing all May's usual skill at creating strong characters and interesting settings, and managing to have some credible emotional content to offset the action thriller side of the book. However, there is also an overarching plot to the series which comes to a climax in this one, and I felt there was perhaps a little too much going on and too many coincidental crossovers between the various strands. But May's writing is a pleasure to read as always, and he manages to bring all the threads together well in the end. Some aspects of this work as a standalone, but because it reveals so much about the background plot, I would strongly suggest this is a series that should be read in order. Reading this one first would undoubtedly spoil the earlier books in a significant way. The first book in the series seems to be known as [b:Extraordinary People|3043530|Extraordinary People (The Enzo Files, #1)|Peter May|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1267731596s/3043530.jpg|3074175] now, though it was originally published under the title Dry Bones.
I hope my relatively lukewarm review won't put people off trying this series. Even with favourite authors, we all prefer some of their stuff to others, but any Peter May book is still head and shoulders above most of the competition. And this is as well-written and strongly plotted as always, while the French setting gives it an added level of interest. So, despite my personal reservations, I still recommend the series, especially if the complicated family relationships aspect appeals to you.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Quercus, via MidasPR.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com