Peter May (1) (1951–)

The Killing Room by Peter May is the third book in his crime series that features Chinese police supervisor Li Yan and American doctor of forensic pathology, Margaret Campbell. In this outing Li Yan has been asked to come to Shanghai to take over the investigation into the death of twenty plus women whose body parts turned up on a construction site. Li Yan requests that Margaret Campbell be brought into the investigation to handle the complicated matching of these body parts and the autopsies.

With a romantic relationship that is almost as complicated as the case they are working on, things are not going smoothly. Li Yan is working with Mei-Ling, the deputy head of Shanghai’s serious crime squad who obviously is interested in more than a working relationship. Margaret is jealous and as always, their cultural differences cause problems between Li and Margaret. The case becomes mired in politics and it is not clear who is helping and who is hindering the investigation.

I can’t believe that I let so much time go by between these books as I really like this series. The characters ring true and the setting of modern day China is fascinating. I still have a few more books of this series on my shelf and I will certainly ensuring that they are read in a more timely fashion.… (more)

Set in November 2051, this novel is not only a murder mystery, but portrays a future affected by global warming after the major powers have failed to meet targets back at the beginning of the century. The world has changed drastically with countries near the equator becoming too hot to live in, sea levels having risen, and the northern hemisphere has entered a new Ice Age.

The body of an investigative reporter has been found entombed in ice near a nuclear power station which supplies all the power for Scotland. It is just days out from a national election in which it is expected that the ruling party will be returned.

A Glasgow detective, Cameron Brodie, has recently received the worst news from his medical specialist, and decides to undertake this investigation which may very well be his last hurrah. He also has some unfinished business which he hopes the journey north will enable him to complete.

This novel has a nicely balanced story, set against this futuristic scenario, where unmanned drones fly people to destinations.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.… (more)

Interesting thriller but one of those books that you can read only once because twist is rather specific that to enjoy the book for the second time you truly need to forget all about it.

Story is about the man who finds himself in the Hebrides on the sea shore wearing all the equipment for sailing but without boat, soaking wet and without any memories. We follow him for a majority of the book as he tries to find out who he is and as he tries to find the proof that he is not some sort of the bad guy - although his gut tells him he just might be a bad guy.

I wont go into details because it would spoil the read for others. I have to admit author truly loves Scotland and Hebrides, untouched nature and paints very vivid pictures of the rugged terrain, mighty mountains, sea-side and tricky mountain tracks. Local people - almost all by definition bind to the sea - are not forgotten and play a central role in the book (although Gaelic names took some time for me to be able to read them).

Author also manages to lead the reader down the cul-de-sac's and leave them wondering what exactly is going on. I truly enjoyed this and had a few aha! moments as story progressed. I am definitely looking for more books by this author.

What I did not quite like was ending that seemed a little bit too rushed to me - after all the buildup, all the tension suddenly it was over and you might wonder what was all the fuss about. I understand that some people are very smart but this sets the bar way higher over any characters in any book I read so far.

All in all good thriller. Recommended.… (more)

This is book 2 in the series begun in The Black House. Fin Macleod has left the police force and returned to the Island of Lewis to begin work on restoring his parents' derelict croft just up the road from where Marsaili, his former love, lives with their son. In the first volume, Fin discovered that this son was also his own. Fin continues to be a depressive character who sees his life as wasted when in reality he can only be about late 30s. He destroyed his relationship with Marsaili when they were about 19 through a combination of disinterest and off-handed cruelty and she had married his friend on the rebound, entering an abusive marriage. Now she is widowed and there is the possiblity that the relationship with Fin will be rekindled but he is aware of how fragile it is and of things not being the same as before.

Then a crime comes to light with the discovery of a bog body from the 1950s, proved to be related to Marsaili's father, a man who supposedly was an only child. Various anomalies soon arise, complicated by the fact that her father is suffering from Alzheimer's. Fin must race against time to discover the truth because a policeman will soon be arriving from the mainland who sees Marsaili's father as the prime suspect.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as volume one, partly because, although the narrative by the father was interesting as well as tragic, I couldn't really believe in such a coherent story being told by someone who, to all intents and purposes, couldn't connect to the real world except in odd bursts of lucidity. These couldn't really be his thoughts which, in reality, would be as disjointed as his behaviour and speech. It would only work if this narrative had been taken as extracts from a journal written before suffering from dementia, but there was no indication of that other than one odd torn page found later by the other characters. And since he refers to people who the reader knows to be Fin or the others who have just come to see him etc, his POV sections are obviously meant to be current. So this overextended the suspension of disbelief for me. Also, considering his narrative was meant to be the viewpoint of someone deprived of almost all education, I found the vocabulary unconvincing - use of terms such as 'penumbrous shadows' didn't sound natural and struck me as more how a university don would express themselves.

The parts with Fin are not very interesting, partly because I've got rather bored with his depressive, negative attitude to everything and the treatment of Marsaili as a victim. The pace finally picks up at the end, but overall I can only rate this at 3 stars.… (more)