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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
A distraught Edinburgh police Sergeant returns to his Scottish Outer Hebrides home to solve a murder and finds his past.
After the death of his child and subsequent breakup of his marriage Macleod is an emotionally fragile Edinburgh homicide detective. He is assigned to investigate the murder of a local thug on the somewhat remote Scottish isle he left as a youth and never returned to. There he must liaise with an unfriendly, Glasgow homicide squad and look at old friends as suspects. Despite the efforts of his Glaswegian colleagues and with his local knowledge and contacts Macleod breaks the case. In the process he puts himself back together. Flashbacks to MacLeod's childhood and youth tell an islander's coming-of-age story. Despite the overly theatrical showdown with the perpetrator this was a well written Scottish police procedural, but a better story of a protagonist’s transformation though the inspection of his past.
My dead tree copy was a hefty 390-pages with a 2011 UK copyright. This is the first book of [a:Peter May's|4605488|Peter May|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1295983190p2/4605488.jpg] Lewis Trilogy with Detective Sergeant (DS) Fin Macleod. I read this because I enjoyed The Chessmen (Lewis Trilogy, #3) (my review). Both stories were more literary fiction than detective novels.
Prose was excellent, although a tad too literary for the police procedural sub-genre. Descriptive prose was better than the dialog. The description of the Lewis locale is vividly literary. The author uses a lot of pages to describe Lewis Island . At one point Macleod describes it as a magical place. I came to agree with him. Gaelic and Scottish vernacular are worked into the in the characters dialog. Is a "doon" a "dune"? There is a little help at the beginning of the book with Gaelic pronunciation, but more would have been helpful. Thankfully, the protagonist’s internal narration is in British English. The story was constructed of alternating present and past chapters. There were 18-years between the most recent flashback chapters, but many were from McLeod’s childhood. The flashing back and forth between chapters was well-handled. There were several minor continuity errors. For example, the eponymous Blackhouse is infested with insects much to young Macleod's consternation. Shortly afterward, the insects completely disappear from the narrative. I've never known bugs to give-up so easily.
There was sex, substance abuse and violence in this story. The sex is not graphic, and handled with an eventual fade to black. All the sex was heteronormative. Substance abuse included alcohol and soft-core drug usage. The effects of alcohol abuse were plot element. Alcoholism was rampant on the island. Its description was more graphic than the drug usage. Drug usage was exclusively marijuana. All violence was physical. Note that animal butchery was a major plot element in the story. Physical violence and the resulting trauma were moderately graphic. Most of the physical violence is between the islanders. Body count was modest.
Characters were good. The male island characters were generally a rough lot. The female characters were better than the male characters. I also liked the characters in the flashbacks in which they were children, which was unusual for me. There was a single POV. The protagonist was Fin McLeod ( pronounced Mik-Cloud). He’s damaged goods returning to his remote home after 18-years and with a solid career as a Police Scotland DS. He’s in pieces after the death of his young child and resulting breakup of his marriage The Island is a small place, and everyone knows each other and has some relationship with each other. There is a small cast of island characters, most of them with unpronounceable Gaelic names. There’s Macleod‘s stay-at-home, childhood best friend, and the girl he left behind; now married to his best friend. A friendly Lewis Island, Scottish police detective sergeant aids Macleod in his investigation. Another rebellious, childhood friend of McLeod is now a minister (Church of Scotland). In addition, there were islander NPC s, rough, hard drinking, prone to violence salt-of-the-earth types.
Oddly, except for the minister, ex-girlfriend and the Lewis DC there was only rough overlap between the characters in this book and The Chessmen. I think the author should have been looking further ahead with this character arcs.
The story moves with two plot lines, present and past. Who killed Angel Macritchie ? Angel was a local thug and childhood bully who has spent the last 30-years making enemies in the small Lewis community. Macleod ratchets through the investigation being helped by the local Lewis police man and hindered by the Glaswegian policemen. As McLeod works his way through The Usual Suspects he flashes back to salient, childhood and youthful memories with each of them. The memories were extraordinarily vivid, considering the frailty of human memory? (They’re a literary construct—I know.) McLeod is forced to confront unwanted truths about his childhood and youth. Eventually, the two plot lines converge in repressed memories and a wild trip out to an even remoter island (An Sgeir A.K.A . Sula Sgeir ) which is the site of an almost pagan rite of passage. The eponymous Blackhouse is found there. Note that Sula Sgeir is only ever referred to by the islander name. It took some research to geo-locate it.
World building was detailed. I was very interested in Macleod’s island life leaving for the mainland. I ended up stalking the action in Crosbost his home village and Stornoway where the present day action was concentrated. I frankly thought the best part of the story was the childhood and youth plot-line. Never having been to the Hebrides, the author’s description made me want to visit. However, I would only interest in visiting in the summer, and not the winter.
This was a good story. However, it was not as good as The Chessmen, which was the last book in the series and the first one I read. I thought the crime solving received short shrift by the author, although I came to think the whodunnit was incidental to the MacLeod coming-of-age story. Yet, the level of both description and characterization was high. I recommend this reading this book more for that, than the crime fiction.
I shall be reading the second book in the series, [b:The Lewis Man|12782865|The Lewis Man (The Lewis Trilogy, #2)|Peter May|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328645011i/12782865._SY75_.jpg|17929545].
After the death of his child and subsequent breakup of his marriage Macleod is an emotionally fragile Edinburgh homicide detective. He is assigned to investigate the murder of a local thug on the somewhat remote Scottish isle he left as a youth and never returned to. There he must liaise with an unfriendly, Glasgow homicide squad and look at old friends as suspects. Despite the efforts of his Glaswegian colleagues and with his local knowledge and contacts Macleod breaks the case. In the process he puts himself back together. Flashbacks to MacLeod's childhood and youth tell an islander's coming-of-age story. Despite the overly theatrical showdown with the perpetrator this was a well written Scottish police procedural, but a better story of a protagonist’s transformation though the inspection of his past.
My dead tree copy was a hefty 390-pages with a 2011 UK copyright. This is the first book of [a:Peter May's|4605488|Peter May|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1295983190p2/4605488.jpg] Lewis Trilogy with Detective Sergeant (DS) Fin Macleod. I read this because I enjoyed The Chessmen (Lewis Trilogy, #3) (my review). Both stories were more literary fiction than detective novels.
Prose was excellent, although a tad too literary for the police procedural sub-genre. Descriptive prose was better than the dialog. The description of the Lewis locale is vividly literary. The author uses a lot of pages to describe Lewis Island . At one point Macleod describes it as a magical place. I came to agree with him. Gaelic and Scottish vernacular are worked into the in the characters dialog. Is a "doon" a "dune"? There is a little help at the beginning of the book with Gaelic pronunciation, but more would have been helpful. Thankfully, the protagonist’s internal narration is in British English. The story was constructed of alternating present and past chapters. There were 18-years between the most recent flashback chapters, but many were from McLeod’s childhood. The flashing back and forth between chapters was well-handled. There were several minor continuity errors. For example, the eponymous Blackhouse is infested with insects much to young Macleod's consternation. Shortly afterward, the insects completely disappear from the narrative. I've never known bugs to give-up so easily.
There was sex, substance abuse and violence in this story. The sex is not graphic, and handled with an eventual fade to black. All the sex was heteronormative. Substance abuse included alcohol and soft-core drug usage. The effects of alcohol abuse were plot element. Alcoholism was rampant on the island. Its description was more graphic than the drug usage. Drug usage was exclusively marijuana. All violence was physical. Note that animal butchery was a major plot element in the story. Physical violence and the resulting trauma were moderately graphic. Most of the physical violence is between the islanders. Body count was modest.
Characters were good. The male island characters were generally a rough lot. The female characters were better than the male characters. I also liked the characters in the flashbacks in which they were children, which was unusual for me. There was a single POV. The protagonist was Fin McLeod ( pronounced Mik-Cloud). He’s damaged goods returning to his remote home after 18-years and with a solid career as a Police Scotland DS. He’s in pieces after the death of his young child and resulting breakup of his marriage The Island is a small place, and everyone knows each other and has some relationship with each other. There is a small cast of island characters, most of them with unpronounceable Gaelic names. There’s Macleod‘s stay-at-home, childhood best friend, and the girl he left behind; now married to his best friend. A friendly Lewis Island, Scottish police detective sergeant aids Macleod in his investigation. Another rebellious, childhood friend of McLeod is now a minister (Church of Scotland). In addition, there were islander NPC s, rough, hard drinking, prone to violence salt-of-the-earth types.
Oddly, except for the minister, ex-girlfriend and the Lewis DC there was only rough overlap between the characters in this book and The Chessmen. I think the author should have been looking further ahead with this character arcs.
The story moves with two plot lines, present and past. Who killed Angel Macritchie ? Angel was a local thug and childhood bully who has spent the last 30-years making enemies in the small Lewis community. Macleod ratchets through the investigation being helped by the local Lewis police man and hindered by the Glaswegian policemen. As McLeod works his way through The Usual Suspects he flashes back to salient, childhood and youthful memories with each of them. The memories were extraordinarily vivid, considering the frailty of human memory? (They’re a literary construct—I know.) McLeod is forced to confront unwanted truths about his childhood and youth. Eventually, the two plot lines converge in repressed memories and a wild trip out to an even remoter island (An Sgeir A.K.A . Sula Sgeir ) which is the site of an almost pagan rite of passage. The eponymous Blackhouse is found there. Note that Sula Sgeir is only ever referred to by the islander name. It took some research to geo-locate it.
World building was detailed. I was very interested in Macleod’s island life leaving for the mainland. I ended up stalking the action in Crosbost his home village and Stornoway where the present day action was concentrated. I frankly thought the best part of the story was the childhood and youth plot-line. Never having been to the Hebrides, the author’s description made me want to visit. However, I would only interest in visiting in the summer, and not the winter.
This was a good story. However, it was not as good as The Chessmen, which was the last book in the series and the first one I read. I thought the crime solving received short shrift by the author, although I came to think the whodunnit was incidental to the MacLeod coming-of-age story. Yet, the level of both description and characterization was high. I recommend this reading this book more for that, than the crime fiction.
I shall be reading the second book in the series, [b:The Lewis Man|12782865|The Lewis Man (The Lewis Trilogy, #2)|Peter May|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328645011i/12782865._SY75_.jpg|17929545].
I quite enjoyed this book, and it would have been 4 stars except for a very corny ending which I cant describe without giving away the plot.
Found it mostly engrossing.
Great locations, nice whodunnit and appreciated the throwaway colloquialisms.
The alternating flashback chapters were very effective.
On the next one already
Great locations, nice whodunnit and appreciated the throwaway colloquialisms.
The alternating flashback chapters were very effective.
On the next one already
I haven't even finished this book yet, but I already think it's terrific. Stayed up after midnight reading it because I couldn't put it down. It's not so much about the mystery as about the truly beautiful writing and fascinating setting. The Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides is described so well I feel I can see it while reading. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.
Friend lent me this trilogy last year and finally got round to reading the first. Well worth it. Atmospheric read and more about life in a relatively isolated and enclosed community and its impact on the island's inhabitants than about a crime.
Peter May's Lewis Trilogy isn't a new undertaking, originally published in 2009, but it's one of those series I've had flagged in my audio book queue for a long time, and recently I've been fortunate enough to have a lot of available listening time and a desire for something that was dark, atmospheric and delivered in my favourite of all accents.
The trilogy is based around policeman and child of Lewis Island, Fin MacLeod. Born and raised on Lewis, he was the boy who left for a university education in Edinburgh. Raised in part by an aunt, his parents having died in a car accident when he was young, there's something more buried in Fin's attitude to the place of his birth. When he's sent back home after a murder on the island that bears a resemblance to one he investigated in Edinburgh, he is instantly drawn back into the small, deeply inter-connected and multi-generational complications that are small community interactions and history.
The island setting feels like the archetypal closed community. Insular, inter-related, and externally private, the closed room type setting is further enhanced by the shared history of the investigator, the victim and the investigated, especially as reminiscences start to fill in their shared past. Alternating chapters of past and present help in following the audio version of this book in particular, and the narrator does an excellent job in varying tone, pace and voice all the way through meaning that you don't lose the thread of who is talking, thinking or reminiscing. And it doesn't hurt at all that the Gaelic contributions are lyrical and absolutely beautiful to listen to.
There's a hefty dose of romantic entanglement in this book as well with just about everybody carrying a sad burden and a hefty dose of love lost, loved ones dead, regret and much longing. After now listening to the first couple of books in the trilogy this is a theme that continues forward and may be a little heavy-handed for some readers (listeners) as you really do find yourself being dragged back down into the personal on a lot of occasions. Given the eventual solution, and motivation for the crime(s) that have occurred in the two books so far, it kind of makes sense that the personal is a strong component, and an incredibly messy one to boot.
Ultimately though, THE BLACKHOUSE was an atmospheric, dark, brooding, overwhelmingly sad story, which worked really well as an audio book. Especially if it's tweaking the same sorts of cultural memory (longing) that it did for this reader.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/blackhouse-peter-may
The trilogy is based around policeman and child of Lewis Island, Fin MacLeod. Born and raised on Lewis, he was the boy who left for a university education in Edinburgh. Raised in part by an aunt, his parents having died in a car accident when he was young, there's something more buried in Fin's attitude to the place of his birth. When he's sent back home after a murder on the island that bears a resemblance to one he investigated in Edinburgh, he is instantly drawn back into the small, deeply inter-connected and multi-generational complications that are small community interactions and history.
The island setting feels like the archetypal closed community. Insular, inter-related, and externally private, the closed room type setting is further enhanced by the shared history of the investigator, the victim and the investigated, especially as reminiscences start to fill in their shared past. Alternating chapters of past and present help in following the audio version of this book in particular, and the narrator does an excellent job in varying tone, pace and voice all the way through meaning that you don't lose the thread of who is talking, thinking or reminiscing. And it doesn't hurt at all that the Gaelic contributions are lyrical and absolutely beautiful to listen to.
There's a hefty dose of romantic entanglement in this book as well with just about everybody carrying a sad burden and a hefty dose of love lost, loved ones dead, regret and much longing. After now listening to the first couple of books in the trilogy this is a theme that continues forward and may be a little heavy-handed for some readers (listeners) as you really do find yourself being dragged back down into the personal on a lot of occasions. Given the eventual solution, and motivation for the crime(s) that have occurred in the two books so far, it kind of makes sense that the personal is a strong component, and an incredibly messy one to boot.
Ultimately though, THE BLACKHOUSE was an atmospheric, dark, brooding, overwhelmingly sad story, which worked really well as an audio book. Especially if it's tweaking the same sorts of cultural memory (longing) that it did for this reader.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/blackhouse-peter-may
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At first, I was disappointed that this was not another of the "Enzo Files". I had decided not to read it, but finding some time on my hands after Thanksgiving dinner-I picked it up...and barely put it down until it was finished. Dark and brooding, the movement between present day and Fin's past made an exciting trip through the story. An unexpected twist at the end has me curious about the next book in the series!
"A brutal killing takes place on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland: a land of harsh beauty and inhabitants of deep-rooted faith. A MURDER. Detective Inspector Fin Macleod is sent from Edinburgh to investigate. For Lewis-born Macleod, the case represents a journey both home and into his past. A SECRET. Something lurks within the close-knit island community. Something sinister. A TRAP. As Fin investigates, old skeletons begin to surface, and soon he, the hunter, becomes the hunted."
"A brutal killing takes place on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland: a land of harsh beauty and inhabitants of deep-rooted faith. A MURDER. Detective Inspector Fin Macleod is sent from Edinburgh to investigate. For Lewis-born Macleod, the case represents a journey both home and into his past. A SECRET. Something lurks within the close-knit island community. Something sinister. A TRAP. As Fin investigates, old skeletons begin to surface, and soon he, the hunter, becomes the hunted."
Wow! 'The Blackhouse' by Peter May is fantastic! I LOVED this noir mystery! It is the first in the Lewis trilogy, but it can be read as a standalone.
Every main character is haunted by disappointment. None of them feel they got the life they wanted. Plus, secrets, lots of secrets. It takes a shocking murder to begin cracking characters, and old animosities, open like rotten eggs....
Thirty-seven-year old Finley Macleod has been asked to return to his hometown. His parents had lived half a mile outside a small village called Crobost, part of a community named Ness. Ness is on the extreme northern tip of the Isle of Lewis, the most northerly island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Finley was a child in the 1960's and 1970's, and he grew up speaking Gaelic until he started school. Because a man has been murdered in Crobost in exactly the same manner as a murder he is investigating in Edenburgh, and because Finley speaks Gaelic, he is sent to assist in the Crobost investigation.
Finley left Crobost eagerly eighteen years ago, hoping to begin a new life after graduating from Glasgow University. Instead he flunked out after his first year. Now a detective inspector, DI in the Edinburgh Police, he is eager to go back to the island - not because he is homesick, but because his eight-year-old son was killed a month ago in an accident. His wife Mona wants a divorce. And Finley is wrecked, not showing up regularly to work. So, when his boss, DCI Black, orders him to go, hinting Fin's job might be at stake if he doesn't go, he quickly packs his bag.
The man who was killed, Angus 'Angel' Macritchie, was a bully. Fin knew him well, having been beaten up by him a few times as a child. Seeing Angel's body brings back a lot of childhood memories, most of them sad or bleak. Besides the English language he was forced to learn after starting school, and the schoolyard harassments and beatings, Fin's parents had been killed in a car accident when he was eight years old. He had gone to live nearby with his mother's sister, an aunt, but she had not loved Fin. He had had a cold lonely childhood. Fin had friends, including a best friend, Artair Macinnes, and girls seemed to like Fin, especially Marsaila, who was now Artair's wife. But Fin did not remember anyone being happy with life on the island. Not anyone, except Fin's parents. He certainly was not happy.
From my reading between the lines, life on the island seems ingrown and generally full of small-minded folk, a hothouse of jealousies and conflicts - which are quickly buried by surface social conformity, especially in the more isolated 1960's and 1970's. Everybody knows everybody. The men drink too much. Plus, the weather! Strong winds and storms, no trees, only plenty of rocks and hills, only sheep and fishing as sustenance occupations. Most men were employed at a on oil-fabrication yard, including Fin's dad before he died. For kids, there was not a lot of opportunities to do things if it was not about exploring and playing harsh games on the cliffs and beaches and wild country around them when not doing chores and attending churches regularly.
This is a grim novel, gentle reader.
The one thing most of the men long for is the two-week guga harvest on an island called An Sgeir. Gentle reader, this involves wringing the necks of gannet chicks, then preparing them to eat. The locals consider the cooked birds a food delicacy and the harvest as a manly rite of passage. It was dangerous work as it involved climbing around cliffs, and sometimes bad injuries occurred. Fin had a REALLY bad thing happen - but his memory of it is shrouded, maybe blocked. He doesn't want to know...
The book has two narration timelines - Fin's childhood, which he remembers in first person "I", and the present, which is in third person "he". I did not like this change of voice! Never mind. I got over my annoyance. A little. Sort of.
Anyway.
Fin's backstory is interesting and important for the later reveals. The murder which he is investigating has everything to do with the past, so the personal history is important to read. I suspect some readers might feel the backstory slows down the action, and it does, but it is integral to solving the murder. When things begin to bust open, it starts a series of Big Exciting Events! The last chapters are thrilling! I could not put the book down!
Caution: animals are killed, violence is graphic, child abuse occurs.
Every main character is haunted by disappointment. None of them feel they got the life they wanted. Plus, secrets, lots of secrets. It takes a shocking murder to begin cracking characters, and old animosities, open like rotten eggs....
Thirty-seven-year old Finley Macleod has been asked to return to his hometown. His parents had lived half a mile outside a small village called Crobost, part of a community named Ness. Ness is on the extreme northern tip of the Isle of Lewis, the most northerly island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Finley was a child in the 1960's and 1970's, and he grew up speaking Gaelic until he started school. Because a man has been murdered in Crobost in exactly the same manner as a murder he is investigating in Edenburgh, and because Finley speaks Gaelic, he is sent to assist in the Crobost investigation.
Finley left Crobost eagerly eighteen years ago, hoping to begin a new life after graduating from Glasgow University. Instead he flunked out after his first year. Now a detective inspector, DI in the Edinburgh Police, he is eager to go back to the island - not because he is homesick, but because his eight-year-old son was killed a month ago in an accident. His wife Mona wants a divorce. And Finley is wrecked, not showing up regularly to work. So, when his boss, DCI Black, orders him to go, hinting Fin's job might be at stake if he doesn't go, he quickly packs his bag.
The man who was killed, Angus 'Angel' Macritchie, was a bully. Fin knew him well, having been beaten up by him a few times as a child. Seeing Angel's body brings back a lot of childhood memories, most of them sad or bleak. Besides the English language he was forced to learn after starting school, and the schoolyard harassments and beatings, Fin's parents had been killed in a car accident when he was eight years old. He had gone to live nearby with his mother's sister, an aunt, but she had not loved Fin. He had had a cold lonely childhood. Fin had friends, including a best friend, Artair Macinnes, and girls seemed to like Fin, especially Marsaila, who was now Artair's wife. But Fin did not remember anyone being happy with life on the island. Not anyone, except Fin's parents. He certainly was not happy.
From my reading between the lines, life on the island seems ingrown and generally full of small-minded folk, a hothouse of jealousies and conflicts - which are quickly buried by surface social conformity, especially in the more isolated 1960's and 1970's. Everybody knows everybody. The men drink too much. Plus, the weather! Strong winds and storms, no trees, only plenty of rocks and hills, only sheep and fishing as sustenance occupations. Most men were employed at a on oil-fabrication yard, including Fin's dad before he died. For kids, there was not a lot of opportunities to do things if it was not about exploring and playing harsh games on the cliffs and beaches and wild country around them when not doing chores and attending churches regularly.
This is a grim novel, gentle reader.
The one thing most of the men long for is the two-week guga harvest on an island called An Sgeir. Gentle reader, this involves wringing the necks of gannet chicks, then preparing them to eat. The locals consider the cooked birds a food delicacy and the harvest as a manly rite of passage. It was dangerous work as it involved climbing around cliffs, and sometimes bad injuries occurred. Fin had a REALLY bad thing happen - but his memory of it is shrouded, maybe blocked. He doesn't want to know...
The book has two narration timelines - Fin's childhood, which he remembers in first person "I", and the present, which is in third person "he". I did not like this change of voice! Never mind. I got over my annoyance. A little. Sort of.
Anyway.
Fin's backstory is interesting and important for the later reveals. The murder which he is investigating has everything to do with the past, so the personal history is important to read. I suspect some readers might feel the backstory slows down the action, and it does, but it is integral to solving the murder. When things begin to bust open, it starts a series of Big Exciting Events! The last chapters are thrilling! I could not put the book down!
Caution: animals are killed, violence is graphic, child abuse occurs.