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Fin Macleod, now head of security on a privately owned Lewis estate, is charged with investigating a spate of illegal game-hunting taking place on the island. This mission reunites him with Whistler Macaskill - a local poacher, Fin's teenage intimate, and possessor of a long-buried secret. But when this reunion takes a violent, sinister turn, Fin realizes that revealing the truth could destroy the future.Tags
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I had a couple of issues with this book, the final volume of the Lewis Trilogy, but the quality of the overall story and writing won me over. A number of flashbacks were a bit confusing, and a detailed past for Fin that was never mentioned in the first two books suggested the author didn't plan well. That Fin chose to keep information to himself throughout the investigation was unreasonable and would have got him bumped off taking the secret to the grave in many other mystery novels. However, May's characters are excellent and he describes the Hebrides so well that it's almost like being there. For that he gets credit.
The ending doesn't suggest any additional volumes but doesn't exactly close the door on the idea, leaving me with hope show more that I'll read about Fin and Mairsaili at some later date. show less
The ending doesn't suggest any additional volumes but doesn't exactly close the door on the idea, leaving me with hope show more that I'll read about Fin and Mairsaili at some later date. show less
If you’re the kind of reader that emotionally invests in characters, you will probably have a love/hate relationship with this book and the others in the Lewis series. May has no compunction killing off characters; the body count is high. The characters, though, they’re the heart of the books and Fin is at the center of some pretty tangled connections. Again there is a murder, but this one is almost two decades old. It’s Fin’s old friend from college, Roddy, and he’s found in his small plane which was only found because the bog became unstable and drained a small lake.What appears to be a straightforward accident turns out to be much, much more.
If this is the end of the Lewis books, I don’t mind. Things wrapped up for many show more of the islanders, Fin included, but are open enough to imagine life going on for everyone. Well, the people May left alive at any rate. The books are satisfying on a lot of levels; the writing is sound, the location is a character itself, pacing is good, not breakneck and not ponderous and dialog rings true. Even if there are no more Lewis books, these won’t be the last I read from this author. show less
If this is the end of the Lewis books, I don’t mind. Things wrapped up for many show more of the islanders, Fin included, but are open enough to imagine life going on for everyone. Well, the people May left alive at any rate. The books are satisfying on a lot of levels; the writing is sound, the location is a character itself, pacing is good, not breakneck and not ponderous and dialog rings true. Even if there are no more Lewis books, these won’t be the last I read from this author. show less
The Chessmen concludes Peter May's Lewis Trilogy, which follows the adventures of Detective Inspector Finlay Macleod (ex-Detective Inspector in the final two novels) as he solves puzzling murders, settles old scores and chases personal demons on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides. In this book Fin has resettled on Lewis and is living with his childhood sweetheart Marsaili Macdonald--though their relationship is still somewhat tenuous--as he continues restoring the house where he grew up. The previous novels dig into Fin's past, and The Chessmen does the same, exploring the time Fin spent as roadie for a Celtic band called Solas. Fin has re-connected with Whistler Macaskill, a friend from his youth who played flute for the show more band but later quit when the band left the island to seek fame and fortune on the mainland. Whistler has been eking out an existence poaching on an estate where he lives in a rented croft and Fin has been hired to provide security by the estate's owner and put an end to the poaching. In May's novels the past is usually better left lying where it rests, and the main action of The Chessmen is set into motion when an unusual natural occurrence known as a bog burst empties a loch of its water, revealing a crashed small plane which has obviously been there for a long time. Fin and Whistler recognize the plane as the one flown by their friend and the leader of Solas, Roddy Mackenzie, who went missing with his plane 17 years earlier and, though his body was never found, was presumed dead. The discovery of the plane, and the conclusion of the medical examiner that the body inside was the victim of murder, set into motion a series of events that bring Fin into conflict with Whistler and others involved with the band as he tries to find out what happened to Roddy. As with The Black House and The Lewis Man, The Chessmen (the title refers to the Lewis chessmen, a set of 12th-century chess pieces discovered in the 1830s on the Isle of Lewis) the writing is often brilliantly atmospheric and the story satisfying on several levels. However, the sheer amount of flashback often cripples the story's momentum, and some passages are weighted down by excessive detail. The result is a novel that is perhaps longer than it has to be and somewhat less compelling than its companions in the series. But this takes nothing away from Peter May's accomplishment in The Lewis Trilogy, which remains significant and noteworthy. show less
In the conclusion to the Lewis trilogy, Fin MacLeod is no longer a police officer, but works as head of security on a private estate, a job which brings him back into contact with an old school friend, Whistler Macaskill, a poacher who knows every blade of grass on the island. When an unusual phenomenon causes a loch to drain and the wreckage of a small plane containing a body is revealed, Fin and Whistler realize that it must be keyboard player Roddy Mackenzie, who disappeared without a trace in his plane seventeen years earlier. There's enough of Roddy left to tell them that his death was not an accident, and soon an investigation is under way.
The discovery prompts Fin to think back over the people and experiences which bound the show more three men together as teenagers. As teenagers, the group were united in their desire to get off it the island but by middle age, all were drawn back or had never left. Interspersed with flashbacks to happier times, when Fin worked as a roadie for Roddy’s band, the book weaves along with everyone operating in a state of functioning unhappiness, while Fin works to unravel the mystery of Roddy’s death. The promise that life beyond the island once held for a gang of teenagers has evaporated for each one of them and there’s a sadness as we close in on the final chapters.
Vivid descriptions of the barren landscapes and cruel weather will have many faithful readers dreading the last of Fin and of the series that’s made Lewis almost as much of a lead character as the troubled ex-cop. The Chessmen is well up to the high standard of its two predecessors with tight plotting and complex characters. This series was a pleasure to read and I'll definitely be looking for more Peter May books. show less
The discovery prompts Fin to think back over the people and experiences which bound the show more three men together as teenagers. As teenagers, the group were united in their desire to get off it the island but by middle age, all were drawn back or had never left. Interspersed with flashbacks to happier times, when Fin worked as a roadie for Roddy’s band, the book weaves along with everyone operating in a state of functioning unhappiness, while Fin works to unravel the mystery of Roddy’s death. The promise that life beyond the island once held for a gang of teenagers has evaporated for each one of them and there’s a sadness as we close in on the final chapters.
Vivid descriptions of the barren landscapes and cruel weather will have many faithful readers dreading the last of Fin and of the series that’s made Lewis almost as much of a lead character as the troubled ex-cop. The Chessmen is well up to the high standard of its two predecessors with tight plotting and complex characters. This series was a pleasure to read and I'll definitely be looking for more Peter May books. show less
Fin Macleod is fully settled back in his childhood home on the isle of Lewis. He is now working as head of security on the estate of a wealthy landowner. His work, which consists mainly of stopping poachers, brings him into conflict with Whistler, a friend from his childhood. When a natural phenomenon drains a nearby loch, the two discover a small plane which had been owned by musician and friend, Roddy McKenzie, and which had disappeared some two decades earlier. Inside the cockpit, they find a corpse and clear indications that whatever happened all those years ago, it wasn’t an accident.
The Chessmen is the third and final installment in author Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy and, like the first two books, it’s much more than just a show more simple thriller. The story alternates between Fin’s past and present. As he searches for the solution to the crime, we learn more about his relationships with the people of Lewis, his early life, and what about this isolated island at the far end of the Hebrides keeps bringing him back. Much of the story takes place off the island as we learn more about why Fin drove Marsaille away when they were at school together in Edinburgh. Like the first two novels, The Chessmen could be read as a stand-alone as each solves a mystery while giving the reader details of Fin’s past. However, The Lewis Trilogy is more than the sum of its parts: separate, each is a complex and fascinating combination of mystery, coming-of-age, and literary fiction but, together, they create a powerful and, admittedly, bleak picture of a unique environment and culture. Throughout my reading of the trilogy, I developed a strong sense of the island and the people who inhabit it and, although I was anxious to see how Fin’s story would play out, I will sorely miss them. show less
The Chessmen is the third and final installment in author Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy and, like the first two books, it’s much more than just a show more simple thriller. The story alternates between Fin’s past and present. As he searches for the solution to the crime, we learn more about his relationships with the people of Lewis, his early life, and what about this isolated island at the far end of the Hebrides keeps bringing him back. Much of the story takes place off the island as we learn more about why Fin drove Marsaille away when they were at school together in Edinburgh. Like the first two novels, The Chessmen could be read as a stand-alone as each solves a mystery while giving the reader details of Fin’s past. However, The Lewis Trilogy is more than the sum of its parts: separate, each is a complex and fascinating combination of mystery, coming-of-age, and literary fiction but, together, they create a powerful and, admittedly, bleak picture of a unique environment and culture. Throughout my reading of the trilogy, I developed a strong sense of the island and the people who inhabit it and, although I was anxious to see how Fin’s story would play out, I will sorely miss them. show less
The atmospheric setting of the Outer Hebrides, the characters, and the story kept me glued to the page. If setting is important to you, Peter May's Lewis trilogy is tailor-made for you. The Isle of Lewis should be listed in the cast of characters, and May always seems able to find something about it that will illuminate and set the mood. In The Chessmen, it's the frightening and eery bog burst. As the water drains out of the loch, secrets are uncovered, and Macleod will have his hands full with one secret after another throughout the book.
The Lewis trilogy has dealt with other secrets, and this final book is no exception. It's as if Macleod has to clear everything up from his past before he can really make a fresh start. (Just as we do show more in real life.) Here the secrets revolve around his late teens and early twenties when he was a roadie for an up-and-coming Celtic rock band. Whistler Macaskill was a member of the band, and his life has also been shadowed with secrets that will have an effect on his young daughter Anna Bheag ("wee Anna").
It's fascinating to see how the lives of all the various characters mesh together, and how each secret has made a lasting mark on them. The entire book is a feast, but the highlight for me was Fin's speech before the church board at the end. It was filled with truth, it was emotional, and it was oh so right. I would've cheered when Macleod was finished, but the lump in my throat was too big.
You could probably read The Chessmen as a standalone without too much difficulty, but I wouldn't advise it. The entire trilogy is a reading experience that should not be missed. show less
The Lewis trilogy has dealt with other secrets, and this final book is no exception. It's as if Macleod has to clear everything up from his past before he can really make a fresh start. (Just as we do show more in real life.) Here the secrets revolve around his late teens and early twenties when he was a roadie for an up-and-coming Celtic rock band. Whistler Macaskill was a member of the band, and his life has also been shadowed with secrets that will have an effect on his young daughter Anna Bheag ("wee Anna").
It's fascinating to see how the lives of all the various characters mesh together, and how each secret has made a lasting mark on them. The entire book is a feast, but the highlight for me was Fin's speech before the church board at the end. It was filled with truth, it was emotional, and it was oh so right. I would've cheered when Macleod was finished, but the lump in my throat was too big.
You could probably read The Chessmen as a standalone without too much difficulty, but I wouldn't advise it. The entire trilogy is a reading experience that should not be missed. show less
From Amazon:
Living again of the Isle of Lewis, the ex-Detective Inspector Fin McLeod is working as a security officer for a local landowner. While investigating illegal activity on the estate Fin encounters the elusive poacher and former childhood friend Whistler Macaskill.
But while Fin catches up with Whistler, the two witness a freak natural phenomenon--a 'Bog Burst'--which spontaneously drains a loch of its water, revealing a mud-encased light aircraft with a sickeningly familiar moniker on its side.
Both men immediately know that they will find inside: the body of Roddy Mackenzie, a friend whose flight disappeared more than seventeen years before. But when Whistler's face appears to register something other than shock, an icy chill show more of apprehension overtakes Fin. What secret has Whistler been hiding from him, and everyone else on the island? Fin is unprepared for how the truth about the past will alter the course of the future.
My Thoughts:
I believe these three books are by far Peter May's best work, and this last one may even be the best of the three. May's description of the rugged landscape and sense of the people that inhabit it is as always simply wonderful. The bleakness and yet beauty of this harsh weather-beaten landscape, the way of life and traditions of the islanders, the still strong grip of the ultra-conservative Church...all of these are woven seamlessly through the story. And the story once again is focused on shadows of the past coming back to haunt the present. For anyone who is new to the series, I would urge you to read them in order starting with The Blackhouse and then The Lewis Man, since there are aspects of this book that could give away the plots of the previous ones. My only disappointment is that this is billed as the last of the Lewis books. I hope Peter May can be convinced to reconsider since I for one...and I don't believe for a minute I am alone...believe there is yet more mileage in these characters and this setting. If not, then this is a thrilling ending to what has been a truly great trilogy. show less
Living again of the Isle of Lewis, the ex-Detective Inspector Fin McLeod is working as a security officer for a local landowner. While investigating illegal activity on the estate Fin encounters the elusive poacher and former childhood friend Whistler Macaskill.
But while Fin catches up with Whistler, the two witness a freak natural phenomenon--a 'Bog Burst'--which spontaneously drains a loch of its water, revealing a mud-encased light aircraft with a sickeningly familiar moniker on its side.
Both men immediately know that they will find inside: the body of Roddy Mackenzie, a friend whose flight disappeared more than seventeen years before. But when Whistler's face appears to register something other than shock, an icy chill show more of apprehension overtakes Fin. What secret has Whistler been hiding from him, and everyone else on the island? Fin is unprepared for how the truth about the past will alter the course of the future.
My Thoughts:
I believe these three books are by far Peter May's best work, and this last one may even be the best of the three. May's description of the rugged landscape and sense of the people that inhabit it is as always simply wonderful. The bleakness and yet beauty of this harsh weather-beaten landscape, the way of life and traditions of the islanders, the still strong grip of the ultra-conservative Church...all of these are woven seamlessly through the story. And the story once again is focused on shadows of the past coming back to haunt the present. For anyone who is new to the series, I would urge you to read them in order starting with The Blackhouse and then The Lewis Man, since there are aspects of this book that could give away the plots of the previous ones. My only disappointment is that this is billed as the last of the Lewis books. I hope Peter May can be convinced to reconsider since I for one...and I don't believe for a minute I am alone...believe there is yet more mileage in these characters and this setting. If not, then this is a thrilling ending to what has been a truly great trilogy. show less
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- Canonical title
- The Chessmen
- Original title
- The Chessmen
- Original publication date
- 2013
- People/Characters
- Fin Macleod; Whistler Macaskill
- Important places
- Lewis, Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland, UK
- Epigraph
- ‘Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.
- The Rubaiyat of Oma... (show all)r Khayyam, xlix - Dedication
- In loving memory of wee Jennifer
- First words
- Prologue:
He sits at his desk, grey with fear and the weight of this momentous step which, once taken, cannot be taken back.
One:
When Fin opened his eyes the interior of the ancient stone dwelling which had sheltered them from the storm was suffused with a strange pink light. - Quotations
- “Remember that beach party we had the summer before we left for university On that wee island somewhere off the coast of Great Bearnaraigh.” It had seemed idyllic. Campfires and barbecues on the beach, drinking beer an... (show all)d smoking dope beneath a firmament filled with bright stars shining like the hopes they’d all had for themselves. “Our whole lives ahead of us, and nothing to lose but our virginity.”
The return of all seventy-eight Lewis chessmen to their last resting place for just one day. Sixty-seven of the chess pieces were permanently housed in the British Museum in London, that repository of stolen artefacts from a... (show all)round the world. The remaining eleven were kept in Edinburgh, but still a long way from home. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And he knew that it could only be him.
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