Check out our Most Anticipated Books for 2025

What do readers think of Blacklight Blue by Peter May? Write your own review.

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

Blacklight Blue by Peter May

Blacklight Blue

The Third Enzo Files

by Peter May

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Nov 2008, 326 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Reviews

Page 3 of 3
There are currently 20 reader reviews for Blacklight Blue
Order Reviews by:

Write your own review!

Roberta

Good thriller, but....
The ending left me cold. I'm not going to put any spoilers here, but the ending definitely brings to light that this is number 3 in a series. The main detractor in this novel was the fact that it was written in flashback style, which is much more effective on film than it is in print. It had a disjointed feeling at points. This is definitely NOT a mystery, but is indeed a thriller. As someone who has not read any previous Enzo File novels, it left me wishing for more mystery and less "Grisham".
Sandy

A fast paced thriller
A quick, entertaining read filled with mystery, humor and family drama. The third Enzo installment in the Enzo chronicles plays out in Paris and small towns in France and Spain, a fascinating backdrop that held my attention. The action is fast paced and non-stop, if not a tad far-fetched and predictable at times. I have not read the other two books in the Enzo files series but plan, in particular, to seek out "The Critic" which involves the disappearance of a famed wine critic in a French vineyard. "Blacklight Blue" is recommended for mystery buffs … although it might be wise to read the first two in the series for additional character development and background.
Kevin

Blacklight Blue by Peter May
Enzo MacLeod, a Scot teaching on a faculty in southwest France, confidently bet that he could use his expertise to crack seven notorious murders described in a book on cold cases by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin. Enzo has in fact solved the first two crimes.

But the third is far from his mind right now: he has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and he has become the victim of someone who seems intent on destroying his credit and his relationships as well as getting him arrested for murder.

Having established a safe house to protect his loved ones he sets to work. Are his personal woes somehow connected to the digging he has done into the brutal murder of a boy in a Paris apartment sixteen years ago? Can he stay alive long enough to catch the long-hidden killer? This is the third installment in the series.

The plot line sounds great. The main character has worked well in other books. The author has written many novels. In my opinion this book simply falls flat.

There is a lot of violence in the book where one looks on dispassionately. The author fails to make the reader care enough about the victims to be as shocked as we should be. The best suspense in the book is in the personal lives of Enzo and his daughter not in the actual murder mystery.

I truly enjoyed the descriptions of Strasbourg and Paris, France. The author did a good job of bringing the city to life. The setting for the book is very well done.

Overall, I felt the writing did not flow well. A chapter is ended without pulling the reader to the next chapter. It was supposed to be a thriller but failed to thrill me. I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars.
Shirley

Sorry
Rarely, if ever, has it been necessary for me to skim descriptive pararaphs to finish a book, but this was the only alternative in finishing this book. The plot unbelieveable, the redundancy of fact unnecessary made this a difficult read. The characters not compelling, the coincidence of circumstance hard to believe, the writing poor. The ending leaving a path for future books too obvious. Not having read the previous installments of this series, it seemed unbelievable that this being the third the protagonist was so predictable.
  • Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

Read-Alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Absolution
    Absolution
    by Jeff VanderMeer
    Ten years ago, the literary landscape was changed forever when Jeff VanderMeer became the "King of ...
  • Book Jacket: The Message
    The Message
    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    It does not surprise me that Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Message is one of the most important books I've ...
  • Book Jacket
    The House of Doors
    by Tan Twan Eng
    Every July, I take on the overly ambitious goal of reading all of the novels chosen as longlist ...
  • Book Jacket: The Puzzle Box
    The Puzzle Box
    by Danielle Trussoni
    During the tumultuous last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, a 17-year-old emperor known as Meiji ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

X M T S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.