The Critic – (Enzo Files #2) Another Winner from Peter May
So over the last few days I’ve spent a lot of time looking forward to what I want to read and back at what I’ve read. What I have actually missed though is to write about the book that I just finished. Actually, I read the majority of the book in 2016, but I didn’t finish it until New Year’s Day! So it is Book #1 of 2017! Anyway the book was The Critic by Peter May. It is the second book in May’s Enzo Files series featuring Scottish exile and former forensic specialist Enzo Macleod.
i first became acquainted with the writing of Peter May back in 2006 when I read Firestarter the first book in May’s China Thriller series. While the book was a great read, somehow I have never read any of the other books in the series. A few years ago (wow – looking back at my Goodreads bookshelf I see it was 2012) I saw The Black House at the library, remembering that I liked Firestarter, I
checked it out and I have been a Peter May fan ever since. The Black House Trilogy was great! In 2016 I read four Peter May books. The first three were stand alones, Entry Island, Coffin Road and Runaway. They too were all terrific reads! The fourth was my first Enzo MacLeod mystery. It is also the first book I finished in 2017. All I can say, keep’em coming Mr May!!
About The Critic – Enzo Files #2
In this episode, Enzo travels to the small little known wine-making region of Gaillic in southwestern France. His mission is to solve cold case murder. Three years earlier the world’s number one wine critic, Gil Petty, who disappeared while on a tour of the area. His body was found three years ago, strung up like a scarecrow in among the vines of the vineyard. His body has been preserved in wine before being strung up. Petty’s influence was very powerful. And one of his reviews could make or break a winery. Do someone kill him to avoid a bad review? Or is it something far deeper?
My Thoughts About The Book
This book was a fast and enjoyable read for me. While I didn’t think it had the same power as any of the other May books that I’ve read, it was still good. I liked Enzo MacLeod and thought he was a lot like another forensic investigator Bill Brockton of the Body Farm series.He even had a graduate assistant, His is Nicole and Brockton’s is Miranda. Both have lost their wives and now have trouble with the ladies in their lives! and I can see Bill enjoying the vino just about as much as Enzo .So if you like The Body Farm books check out this series!!
I also like it when come away from a book with a little more knowledge than when I started. In this book that knowledge came from the discussions of wine-making. carbonic gases play a big part in the story. Also the discussions on wine-tasting was interesting. I am not a wine drinker I didn’t know so many tastes and smells! Finally, it was interesting that wines differ because of the soils and the overall environment, (i.e what side of hillsides) where the grapes are grown. Therefore an analysis of minerals found in the soil could be used in determining where the grapes that the wine was made from came from!!
Final Rating
All in all, this book was a solid 3.75 out of 5, not quite a 4 star book. And that may be because I am comparing it to other books by Peter May. I will certainly be checking out more of the books that chronicle the adventures of Enzo MacLeod!