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eshulok 's review for:
The Black House
by Peter May
I was conflicted on this as I read it. It was tagged as a mystery, suspense and thriller by the library, but the murder is not the focus of the story.
The story was told alternately from the first person account of Fin's memories from childhood and a third person account of present day events. Fin returns to the island he grew up on but hasn't visited in nearly 20 years. Although he is sent there to investigate whether a murder on the island is related to one he worked on in Edinburgh, he spends his time visiting old friends and contacts as we also learn about his connections to them in childhood.
The prose is incredibly detailed and extensive in parts, but it paints a clear picture of life on the island and as an American who has never been to Scotland, I came to appreciate the vivid depictions Peter May paints.
But it was not a true suspense novel to me, until about 90% of the way through. Things are revealed that I didn't expect. The author laid the groundwork for it, but it wasn't done in a way that would make it easy to guess.
Ultimately, I'm giving it 5 stars because although it didn't have as much suspense as I wanted, it did draw me in and made me want to know what happened to the characters.
The story was told alternately from the first person account of Fin's memories from childhood and a third person account of present day events. Fin returns to the island he grew up on but hasn't visited in nearly 20 years. Although he is sent there to investigate whether a murder on the island is related to one he worked on in Edinburgh, he spends his time visiting old friends and contacts as we also learn about his connections to them in childhood.
The prose is incredibly detailed and extensive in parts, but it paints a clear picture of life on the island and as an American who has never been to Scotland, I came to appreciate the vivid depictions Peter May paints.
But it was not a true suspense novel to me, until about 90% of the way through. Things are revealed that I didn't expect. The author laid the groundwork for it, but it wasn't done in a way that would make it easy to guess.
Ultimately, I'm giving it 5 stars because although it didn't have as much suspense as I wanted, it did draw me in and made me want to know what happened to the characters.