This isn't so much a whodunnit crime novel or police procedural as more a psychological study of a small island community and especially of the main character, Fin Macleod. Fin is a Detective Inspector who grew up on the island and left to go to university when he was eighteen. He has only been back once, on a brief visit that following year, to attend his aunt's funeral. Now he is sent back to investigate a grisly murder which bears strong resemblance to a crime committed in Edinburgh. Fin's boss is callous and unfeeling about the recent death of Fin's son, and gives him the ultimatum of going back to Lewis or quitting the force. So Fin departs, leaving his marriage to Mona in tatters.

Gradually, through interwoven chapters set in Fin's viewpoint, the reader learns of his tragic history on the island. He had a chequered relationship with a girl who loved him from when they were both six years old, but he treated her badly and they broke up shortly after joining University due to his unforgiveable behaviour. She returned to Lewis straight afterwards. Fin's own return to the island forces him to confront a lot of home truths and even suppressed memories.

The book is very well written with evocative descriptions of the landscape and lifestyle, and vividly realised characters. It is almost unremittingly grim, however, and requires a trigger warning for themes such as child abuse and animal welfare (a key part of the story is the centuries old custom whereby twelve men carry out an annual slaughter of gannet chicks on a remote rock in the sea (legally permitted to gather a delicacy, and in former times an essential addition to the island's food supply). This apparently is a real-life event. Altogether I would rate this at 4 stars. ( )

OOH. Creepy-good. Sense of evil pervading isolated town, check. Fogginess about motives, check. Unputdownable, eventually check.
I started out having difficulty settling into this book as it changed from present to past, reminiscence to reality. But as the story worked on, I found myself inextricably drawn in and tossed about on the waves of discovery and danger. It helped that it was a foggy few days while I read this and my apartment was wreathed in it - but it was one of those books that made me feel uncomfortable without really knowing why...until the shocking denouement.
So worth reading. I felt in the hands of a master as I was taken along. Highly recommended for a stormy few days at the cottage or maybe in the winter, curled in front of a fire. Even if it is sunny when you're reading it, the mists will encompass you. ( )

Originally posted on my blog http://www.csdaley.com/?p=4209

Finding a new author you enjoy reading is always worthy of a happy dance. Finding one whose stories are set in Scotland is justification for dropping to the ground and busting out my mad break dancing skills. Okay, the break dancing isn't true but everything else is. For years Ian Rankin has sat proudly at the top of my favorite mystery writers' list. Rankin's Scotland is a place I could visit again and again.

Now, I am not going to get crazy here and say Peter May is right there with Rankin yet. One book does not make a long steady career of greatness but it was a damn good book. Set in the Isle of Lewis, this is the first book in the Lewis trilogy. The first half of the book is good. The second half of the book is incredible. As in, I know I should be sleeping because I have to work tomorrow but screw it I need to finish, incredible.

The story follows Fin Macleod back to his small hometown to investigate if a murder there is connected to one he is investigating in Edinburgh. The story weaves the current investigation with flashbacks of his troubled childhood. Both stories are powerful but the flashbacks really pack an emotional punch and give the story the momentum and power which will keep you reading well into the night.

Peter May knows how to write people. I believe Fin's torment. Even more impressive is how May uses the setting to push the story forward. I cared about Fin. I wanted to know more about the Isle of Lewis. I am overjoyed there are two more books for me to read. For me this is a must buy for mystery readers who are fans of Ian Rankin or Tana French. Go pick it up and make sure you have cleared a day to read it. You are not going to want to stop.


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This book was an advance reading copy provided by Quercus Book ( )

Portrays the bleakness and social underbelly of rural Outer Hebrides now and 18 years previous. ( )

Wow phenomenal writing. Makes the reader feel like they are in the Hebrides, windy, constant rain and damp. It’s a murder mystery, sort of, but it is so much more. There are multiple stories wound around each other. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy!
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