Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
A good read. Recommended by a friend who met the author at a book signing. It's strangely similar in concept to the [a:Dolores Redondo|6888997|Dolores Redondo|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png] Baztan series I've been reading. Ostensibly a murder mystery/police procedural, it isn't really that at all. It's about a place (the Isle of Lewis) and the backstory of the main character, Fin MacLeod, is the story. So if you want a straight police procedural, you may be disappointed. I enjoyed it a lot. May's descriptions of the island and its culture are powerful and ring true. Most of the characters feel like real people. Fin is a complicated character with perhaps a few too many dramatic events in his history. At first I found it disconcerting that the flashbacks to childhood were written in the first person and the present day in the third person, but after the first couple, I realised it worked really well, giving the childhood sections a raw immediacy.
I had a few quibbles with the plotting; too many convenient car accidents, and the death of a child early in the story was quite superfluous and unnecessary to the plot -- in addition, Fin's understated reaction to it was unconvincing. Gruesome description of a post-mortem early on rather overdone (you can skim it, it's not essential to the plot). Some people won't like the sudden reveal of important facts right at the end (another Redondo characteristic!). The six-year olds were a bit too precocious. But I enjoyed it the way I used to enjoy Dick Francis novels; intelligent escapism, and I'll certainly read the other two volumes, probably fairly soon.
I had a few quibbles with the plotting; too many convenient car accidents, and the death of a child early in the story was quite superfluous and unnecessary to the plot -- in addition, Fin's understated reaction to it was unconvincing. Gruesome description of a post-mortem early on rather overdone (you can skim it, it's not essential to the plot). Some people won't like the sudden reveal of important facts right at the end (another Redondo characteristic!). The six-year olds were a bit too precocious. But I enjoyed it the way I used to enjoy Dick Francis novels; intelligent escapism, and I'll certainly read the other two volumes, probably fairly soon.
I've not really read this trilogy in the correct order as I started with the second book and I've now dipped back to the first. And unlike a lot of crime series, this is one that I think you do want to read in order. Yes there is a crime/murder mystery per book, but this is really about the residents of a small village on the Hebridian island of Lewis. So obviously there is a continuing story of these characters throughout the books (I'm assuming the third and final book will continue in such a fashion at this stage!).
May creates such a sense of atmosphere of Lewis. I've not been there (yet) but I really can picture the wilderness and the bleak beauty of parts of the island. As well as the crofter's lifestyle, and the claustrophobic way of village life with everyone knowing everyone else's business. And the way nothing is done on a Sunday. I think with this book in particular, as we see so much of Fin's childhood through the flashbacks, it really shows how stifling life could be. You will be with the same people all your life, so if you don't get on with them in primary school, you're pretty much screwed for the rest of your days.
Fin Macleod has actually been away on the mainland for the past 18 years however, and is working as a detective in Edinburgh. He's sent back to his homeland because a murder committed on Lewis has disturbing similarties with one he'd been investigating a few months ago in Edinburgh. And in coming back to a place he'd been trying to avoid for years he's forced to face up to his own personal history as well.
May creates such a sense of atmosphere of Lewis. I've not been there (yet) but I really can picture the wilderness and the bleak beauty of parts of the island. As well as the crofter's lifestyle, and the claustrophobic way of village life with everyone knowing everyone else's business. And the way nothing is done on a Sunday. I think with this book in particular, as we see so much of Fin's childhood through the flashbacks, it really shows how stifling life could be. You will be with the same people all your life, so if you don't get on with them in primary school, you're pretty much screwed for the rest of your days.
Fin Macleod has actually been away on the mainland for the past 18 years however, and is working as a detective in Edinburgh. He's sent back to his homeland because a murder committed on Lewis has disturbing similarties with one he'd been investigating a few months ago in Edinburgh. And in coming back to a place he'd been trying to avoid for years he's forced to face up to his own personal history as well.
Give me a murder mystery set in any dark cold climate, add in a sprinkling of a language I don’t know, and keep me riveted until the end and I am a happy camper!
This is a crime novel for sure, but it pulled at my heartstrings. After being away for 17 years, Fin returns to the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides to look into a murder with similar attributes to a slaying in Edinburgh. The narrative alternates between the current investigation and Fin's memories as he confronts his childhood. The story, much like the isle itself, is dark and moody but also beautiful. I'll definitely be moving on to the second in the trilogy.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Není to thriller, není to detektivka. Je to velký příběh ze života lidí, kteří mají jiné starosti, než zbytek světa. Výborně napsané, skvěle vystizena atmosféra místa. Ostrov Lewis se vám dostane pod kůži a nebudete chtít odejít. Naštěstí nemusíte, ne hned. Peter May z tohoto prostředí napsal ještě další dvě knihy.
The Black House by Peter May is a dark, brooding kind of murder mystery. It takes place on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, in the Outer Hebrides. Fin Macleod is a detective on the mainland, in Edinburgh. He is dispatched to Lewis, to investigate a murder that has many similarities with a previous murder in the city. Fin was born and raised on the isle, but his homecoming is anything but smooth and welcoming. There is too much emotional baggage there and he had not returned for eighteen years, by choice. The plot is decidedly written to capture the reader’s attention and to then lead them astray.
The investigation leaves Fin confused and wary of some of the inhabitants and some of the inhabitants wary of Fin. This is a classic case of “you can never go home again”. The investigation will lead Fin and the reader in all kinds of directions and the ending is a complete surprise. This is the first book in the Isle of Lewis trilogy and I look forward to reading them as well. Peter May writes atmospheric novels that are unputdownable. Highly recommended.
The investigation leaves Fin confused and wary of some of the inhabitants and some of the inhabitants wary of Fin. This is a classic case of “you can never go home again”. The investigation will lead Fin and the reader in all kinds of directions and the ending is a complete surprise. This is the first book in the Isle of Lewis trilogy and I look forward to reading them as well. Peter May writes atmospheric novels that are unputdownable. Highly recommended.
This was recommended to me as a mystery novel, at which it failed utterly. It was, however, a pretty good gothic thriller, though the first half was verrrryyyy sloooowwww (and I normally do not mind a slower-paced book). The ending offered some hope, but also seemed a little too pat. Still making up my mind whether to read the rest of the series.