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Review
‘It had me purring with pleasure’ Daily Telegraph
‘An entertaining read, moving at a clip towards a pleasingly unpredictable conclusion… there are some fine ideas, a rich sense of unfolding history and some nicely judged moments of philosophical whimsy and dry wit… amusing’ Time Out
‘A smooth translation… exciting’ TLS
‘Discriminating general readers as well as whodunit fans will enjoying this outstanding puzzler… de Santis conjures up a veritable Justice league of master sleuths… intelligent and entertaining’ Publishers Weekly
‘A beguiling historical whodunit’ New York Times
‘Murder and mayhem… colourful characters and cases create a hazy atmosphere of intelligent escapism’ Washington Post
‘A complex whodunit that provokes thought as well as entertainment’ San Francisco Chronicle
Review
'It had me purring with pleasure' Daily Telegraph 'An entertaining read, moving at a clip towards a pleasingly unpredictable conclusion! there are some fine ideas, a rich sense of unfolding history and some nicely judged moments of philosophical whimsy and dry wit! amusing' Time Out 'A smooth translation! exciting' TLS 'Discriminating general readers as well as whodunit fans will enjoying this outstanding puzzler! de Santis conjures up a veritable Justice league of master sleuths! intelligent and entertaining' Publishers Weekly 'A beguiling historical whodunit' New York Times 'Murder and mayhem! colourful characters and cases create a hazy atmosphere of intelligent escapism' Washington Post 'A complex whodunit that provokes thought as well as entertainment' San Francisco Chronicle
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was drawn to 'The Paris Enigma' by a favourable review in 'The Times', but unfortunately it failed to meet my expectations. Being a fan of historical thrillers, I was enticed by the setting (fin-de-siecle Paris), but it was the novel's audacious premise that really appealed. The planet's greatest detectives convene at the World's Fair, in order to show off their prowess. One of the super-sleuths is killed, and the hunt is on to find his killer.
It turns out, that this intriguing premise is the novel's weakness. The author has created twelve idiosyncratic detectives, and another dozen equally unique acolytes, but in this relatively short novel, there is no time to give them any substance. A single detective with peculiar proclivities (Poirot, Holmes) works fine, but a dozen over-stretches the bounds of credibility. I felt that I was reading what would have made a good comic novel, but the author plays everything very straight. In the early stages of the book, the overwhelming number of characters, distracted me from the plot, and I found it hard to care what was happening.
There are some great things about this novel. Paris, with the newly built Eiffel Tower looming over it, is brilliantly realised, the central mystery is intriguing and builds to a satisfying conclusion. There is a wonderful meditation on the nature of crime-solving, and the author poses interesting questions about 'who watches the watchmen' that resonate with current world events.
The novel's climax is by far the strongest section. At this point, the confusing cacophony of personalities ceases to matter, and the enigma can take centre stage. De Santis leaves things open for a sequel; it will be interesting to see where he goes next.
A final aside - the rather splendid Tolouse-Latrec style cover shown on Amazon at the time of writing (for the PB version), is not the same the book I received. Mine had a rather insipid blurred Eiffel Tower in the background, with an indistinct grey man in the foreground. Far inferior to the picture shown.
It turns out, that this intriguing premise is the novel's weakness. The author has created twelve idiosyncratic detectives, and another dozen equally unique acolytes, but in this relatively short novel, there is no time to give them any substance. A single detective with peculiar proclivities (Poirot, Holmes) works fine, but a dozen over-stretches the bounds of credibility. I felt that I was reading what would have made a good comic novel, but the author plays everything very straight. In the early stages of the book, the overwhelming number of characters, distracted me from the plot, and I found it hard to care what was happening.
There are some great things about this novel. Paris, with the newly built Eiffel Tower looming over it, is brilliantly realised, the central mystery is intriguing and builds to a satisfying conclusion. There is a wonderful meditation on the nature of crime-solving, and the author poses interesting questions about 'who watches the watchmen' that resonate with current world events.
The novel's climax is by far the strongest section. At this point, the confusing cacophony of personalities ceases to matter, and the enigma can take centre stage. De Santis leaves things open for a sequel; it will be interesting to see where he goes next.
A final aside - the rather splendid Tolouse-Latrec style cover shown on Amazon at the time of writing (for the PB version), is not the same the book I received. Mine had a rather insipid blurred Eiffel Tower in the background, with an indistinct grey man in the foreground. Far inferior to the picture shown.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
From the philosophy of loyalty to the philosophy of detection, it is no great leap in the hands of the Argentinian author Pablo de Santis. His account of the development of the twelve Master Detectives followed by a brutal series of murders in the run-up to the inauguration of Paris's World Fair, you know, the one that unveiled the Eiffel Tower, is ponderous and pondering. The Paris Enigma describes a secret club comprising the top detectives of the world and their faithful assistants, and reports their petty machinations for power and influence, and discusses the classification and analysis of crime. The structure of the detectives' club ostensibly mirrors society at large: the detectives are supposedly men of high social status, while the assistants are commoners; women are excluded; but it also analyses the possibility of upward mobility and reveals that a detective is only as good as his assistant. The novel reads somewhat jerkily as it attempts to intersperse a criminal investigation with a larger rumination on the art of detection; the two halves of this narrative would be fairly trite individually, but together form a sort of clumsy completeness. I was somewhat bemused at the end, having neither liked it much nor disliked it.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
'Never judge a book by its cover', my Mum told me this when I was a little boy and I suppose she was right. This book has a fantastic cover from the boffins at Harper Collins, elegant, Parisian and a cheeky back cover, all of which lead one to expect the book to be elegantly written and a little retro in pacing and style. Sadly the book never really takes off Pablo De Santis (translator Mara Lethem) rips through his plot at such a pace that the narrative never really settles. We meet Sigmundo Salvatrio, son of a shoemaker who is eager to become an assistant to one of the "Twelve Great Detectives". After attending a school for assistants with a great Argentine detective he is dispatched to Paris to attend the first ever meeting of "the twelve" in place of his mentor, as his mentor is suffering ill health. Once in Paris the twelve meet and we are introduced to their petty ways, their rivalries and also their thoughts on the art of detection. It is here that Mr De Santis is at his most leisured and literary, he reflects on crime, the nature of crime and it is here in the Paris section that the narrative itself comes under the most amount of strain. De Santis doesn't seem clear on how he wants the novel to be, does he want it to be an Umberto Eco like postmodern novel? A retro thriller with hints of The Alienist or The Interpretation of Murder or simply a right of passage story dealing with the Paris exhibition. I won't go into the major plot strands as this book is without doubt worth reading, it just leaves the reader wanting a clearer drive from the book. In summary if the text was as much fun as the cover I think I would have given it five stars, as it is I have rated it three. A good read, a solid read but in the final analysis it never really takes flight in the way that one always feels it could...and should.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Entertaining locations and ideas
Sigmundo Salvatrio is the son of an Argentinian shoemaker, his father wants him to be a shoemaker also but Sigmundo has other ideas. Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2010 by Mick Read
An interesting debut
The first thing to say about The Paris Enigma is that it is stunning to look at. Not just the front cover - the back is in the style of a newspaper trailing the contents of the... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2009 by Fleur Fisher
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