THRILLER OF THE WEEK

Cast Iron Peter May Quercus €18.99

Before Peter May started on the brooding Scottish thrillers that made his name, he was writing a French-set series featuring a forensic expert called Enzo Macleod. Conceived as a series of six linked cold-case investigations, May had only finished the first five when he turned his attentions to the Outer Hebrides. Now he’s completed the saga with a riproaring thriller that resembles an unholy cross between Dan Brown and Stieg Larsson as Enzo’s last cold case leads him all the way to the heart of the French establishment. It doesn’t quite measure up to the Scottish novels – and suspension of disbelief is essential – but this is a thoroughly entertaining yarn. John Williams