When you read this - you want to give it to your friend. When they read it, they want to pass it on. It is by word of mouth I got this, and it was so gripping.

We enter the putrid fetid streets of Paris described with such earthy deliberation - the genius Grenouile is born. How rare - a book all about man's least appreciated and talked about sense - dissected to perfection.

The author seems to have a penchant for young red headed beauties - and it is so improbable, that they could smell the best, but what if the best smell was created? What subtleties lie in smells that we cannot ever articulate as we think it's all because of what we see and hear that we strongly like or dislike palpable stimuli?

Absolutely wonderful stuff and I'm afraid I found myself identifying with the protagonists shy tendencies and his dislike of humanity and its self importance - much as in the last chapter of Gulliver's travels where horses are seen to be superior to us.

Suskind is a shy brilliant writer and this book is now being filmed for a motion picture.