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A review by si0bhan
The Critic by Peter May
4.0
This is such a hard one to rate and review. A part of me wanted to give it just three stars but, in the end, I was not able to do such a thing. In general, I love Peter May’s work far too much to do that. Moreover, certain aspects of this book improved upon factors I disliked with the first. That being said, certain things I enjoyed with the first in the series vanished. Ergo, it’s a complicated one.
I’ll start by saying you should probably read Extraordinary People before reading The Critic. Whilst it is easy enough to follow – we’re given details relating back to the first one – quite a bit of understanding will be lost. So much happened in the first book, without reading it you will be lacking in the background information and unable to enjoy the overall story.
So, if you have gone back and picked up the first one – and you now want more – I will go on.
The Critic follows on with the intriguing premise from Extraordinary People, following Enzo Macleod as an earlier wager leaves the once forensic expert on a quest to solve notorious unsolved crimes of France. Onto the second of seven cases, we have a bit more fun this time around. After all, people are now aware of Macleod and his antic meaning people are less than willing to play his little game.
I now hear you asking what makes it such a mix of good and bad, something that is rather difficult to explain in the linear way I was hoping for.
Once again, Peter May is wonderful at setting the scene. The detail was on par with the first one – so a little bit too much at times – yet it seemed to work better in this book than it did the first. Perhaps it was simply that I had grown accustomed to it, or maybe it was merely more necessary. Either way, the scene is set in the usual Peter May way.
Fortunately, the details of the surroundings and the journey down memory lane were not overshadowing the story to the same degree this time around. We have more on the mystery-solving element. It is still far from the near perfect level we are given in his Lewis Trilogy, but it is a massive improvement on the first.
That being said, the wine details. Oh my gosh… over the top is an understatement. That is where I lost it with this one. I’m not a wine drinker. To me wine tastes like vinegar. I do not understand why so many people enjoy it. I have tried one kind of wine and it was enough to put me off for life. To make it worse, that one sip of wine was of French wine (don’t ask me for the kind as I cannot say, all I know is that my flatmate brought it over with her when she headed home for Christmas and let us all try it). So, as you can imagine, my one taste of French wine was enough to put me off it for life and this book is based upon the French wines. There is endless talk of taste testing. They can taste this, they can taste that, there is a hint of these things… For me, it wasn’t enjoyable. I forced my way through these parts. I had to silence my ‘but it all tastes of vinegar’ mental commentary on more than one occasion.
Still, if you’re a wine lover you may enjoy this. I merely go against the grain through being a wine hater.
I could rant about the wine for a while, though, so I’ll move on.
The mystery for this one was a better-paced one than the last. Moreover, we follow more characters this time around. Interesting characters from the first are fleshed out more as they work towards solving the mystery. To make it even better, the whodunit was not as blinding obvious as it was in the first book. We’re given plenty of traps to fall into again, and even if you don’t fall for them (as I managed not to this time), we’re still given plenty of questions to ask ourselves.
The ending is a nice preparation for what else is to come, too. A more satisfying ending than that in the first book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I disliked the first (there were a number of aspects I enjoyed more with the first), I merely found this one to have a more satisfying impact at the end – if only because it left me wanting to read on to the next one.
Overall, a nice addition to the series. The Enzo Files are still no Lewis Trilogy, but they’re decent enough reads for Peter May fans.
I’ll start by saying you should probably read Extraordinary People before reading The Critic. Whilst it is easy enough to follow – we’re given details relating back to the first one – quite a bit of understanding will be lost. So much happened in the first book, without reading it you will be lacking in the background information and unable to enjoy the overall story.
So, if you have gone back and picked up the first one – and you now want more – I will go on.
The Critic follows on with the intriguing premise from Extraordinary People, following Enzo Macleod as an earlier wager leaves the once forensic expert on a quest to solve notorious unsolved crimes of France. Onto the second of seven cases, we have a bit more fun this time around. After all, people are now aware of Macleod and his antic meaning people are less than willing to play his little game.
I now hear you asking what makes it such a mix of good and bad, something that is rather difficult to explain in the linear way I was hoping for.
Once again, Peter May is wonderful at setting the scene. The detail was on par with the first one – so a little bit too much at times – yet it seemed to work better in this book than it did the first. Perhaps it was simply that I had grown accustomed to it, or maybe it was merely more necessary. Either way, the scene is set in the usual Peter May way.
Fortunately, the details of the surroundings and the journey down memory lane were not overshadowing the story to the same degree this time around. We have more on the mystery-solving element. It is still far from the near perfect level we are given in his Lewis Trilogy, but it is a massive improvement on the first.
That being said, the wine details. Oh my gosh… over the top is an understatement. That is where I lost it with this one. I’m not a wine drinker. To me wine tastes like vinegar. I do not understand why so many people enjoy it. I have tried one kind of wine and it was enough to put me off for life. To make it worse, that one sip of wine was of French wine (don’t ask me for the kind as I cannot say, all I know is that my flatmate brought it over with her when she headed home for Christmas and let us all try it). So, as you can imagine, my one taste of French wine was enough to put me off it for life and this book is based upon the French wines. There is endless talk of taste testing. They can taste this, they can taste that, there is a hint of these things… For me, it wasn’t enjoyable. I forced my way through these parts. I had to silence my ‘but it all tastes of vinegar’ mental commentary on more than one occasion.
Still, if you’re a wine lover you may enjoy this. I merely go against the grain through being a wine hater.
I could rant about the wine for a while, though, so I’ll move on.
The mystery for this one was a better-paced one than the last. Moreover, we follow more characters this time around. Interesting characters from the first are fleshed out more as they work towards solving the mystery. To make it even better, the whodunit was not as blinding obvious as it was in the first book. We’re given plenty of traps to fall into again, and even if you don’t fall for them (as I managed not to this time), we’re still given plenty of questions to ask ourselves.
The ending is a nice preparation for what else is to come, too. A more satisfying ending than that in the first book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I disliked the first (there were a number of aspects I enjoyed more with the first), I merely found this one to have a more satisfying impact at the end – if only because it left me wanting to read on to the next one.
Overall, a nice addition to the series. The Enzo Files are still no Lewis Trilogy, but they’re decent enough reads for Peter May fans.